Scottish Widows’ service levels for intermediaries have “dropped off a cliff” since the Budget, advisers have said, with many citing long delays and erroneous communication.
David Curley, Sam Caunt, Paul Jones and Neil Liversidge have all stated they have been getting a poor service from the provider in recent months, with basic queries taking a month to turn around.
Mr Curley, an adviser at Lancashire-based Logic Wealth Planning, said: “I have outstanding pension policy information I need from Scottish Widows to provide for my clients. However, every time I phone it takes 40-50 minutes to get through. In some cases, the clients have not come back to us as they think it is us who is messing them about.”
According to Mr Caunt, a partner at Northamptonshire-based Kingston PTM, the service has become “poor”. He said: “We have had to phone Scottish Widows every day just in relation to one query over an annuity. I would like Scottish Widows to take action to provide the service for clients.”
Paul Jones, an adviser at Nottingham-based Integral Financial Planning, said he had experienced a 30-day turnaround when requesting a simple fund valuation on a pension.
Mr Liversidge, principal of Castleford-based West Riding Personal Financial Solutions, said: “My operations manager was on the phone to Scottish Widows for ages. We did eventually get the issue resolved, but it took nearly an hour on hold.
Ronnie Taylor, pensions and investments director at Scottish Widows, said: “Like most of the industry we have seen an increase in calls and requests for information following recent pension and savings reforms.
“We recognise our recent service levels have fallen short of our normal high standards and have increased our staffing levels and will continue to do so, with training programmes in place. We have worked to build strong relationships with advisers and we value their support.”
