After the trauma (for some) of the Pension Transfer Review most IFAs ceased to offer advice to people considering transferring their benefits away from a final salary pension scheme. Even advisers who could subsequently comply with the introduction of a requirement for the ‘G60’ qualification avoided giving advice in this area of business.

Even now, most larger IFAs and ‘networks’ have a central transfer unit which, in some firms looks only or primarily to critical yields before deciding whether or not to recommend a transfer.

So what’s the difference between this and the service offered by The Pensions Office?

The Pensions Office respects the importance of critical yields, of course, and regulatory guidelines provided in this respect. I have repeatedly stressed the importance of subjective (‘soft’) factors in reaching a recommendation, balanced with the critical yield, including:

• significantly higher tax free cash
• ability to take tax free cash and defer drawing pension
• significantly higher death benefits
• flexibility of nomination for death benefits
• ability to ‘phase in’ pension benefits
• desire for self investment
• desire or need to take benefits before normal retirement age
  (where the scheme does not allow this)
• accept enhanced transfer value and/or cash bribe to transfer within a
• restricted period of time
• desire to severe all ties with previous employer

It might surprise you to note that I have left “severe all ties…” until last, but that’s because The Pensions Office does not accept this desire, in isolation, as an appropriate reason to recommend a transfer. Of course, this might prove to be a client requirement as an ‘insistent client’, and that will be subsequently be taken into account in our final recommendation.

Finally, we will – in exceptional circumstances – accept ‘execution only’ instructions but only where, for example, deadlines are looming too close to complete our enquiries or the client is terminally ill and desperate to transfer to a personal pension to obtain much higher death benefits.

Please contact The Pensions Office if you think we may be of assistance.

The Pensions Office has worked closely with introducers for more than ten years, providing bespoke advice to pension scheme members with an agreed share of remuneration. The Pensions Office takes all compliance and regulatory responsibility and introducers therefore do not have to be authorised to give this advice. Contact us now to discuss either a particular client or a likely regular flow of introductions.