“The industry-recognised transfer figures show that our transfer times for last month stand at 18 days. We continually work to reduce these times,” the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Nest said: “At Nest, we’re always looking at ways to improve our transfer process to ensure it is efficient, easy to use, and robust. Our average transfer time is 21 days.
My Pension Expert’s 2023 Retirement Fairness Index is measured from the date an application was submitted to a pension provider to when My Pension Expert received confirmation that the fund had been transferred.
Lily Megson, policy director at My Pension Expert, said the data spans almost 4,000 pension transfers and clearly demonstrates that retirement planners in the UK are having to wait “far too long”.
“It is a significant issue and one that the government and pension sector must work together to address,” Megson said.
“The process is too often slow and opaque, leaving the customer wondering where their funds are and why providers are taking so much time to transfer them across.
“While we must accept that this cannot happen instantaneously – security checks and due diligence is required – we must fight against what has become an accepted notion in the industry that pension transfers can take weeks if not months to be completed. It is not good enough and undermines people’s trust in the pensions sector.”
sonia.rach@ft.com
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