Personal PensionJul 31 2015

Ombudsman decisions and consultations: The week in news

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Ombudsman decisions and consultations: The week in news

Pensions issues dominated this week’s news agenda, with a couple of ombudsman decisions, a government consultation on exit charges and complaints over a misleading website on qualifying recognised overseas pension schemes.

So if you read one story on our site, make it this one, as here’s what FTAdviser deems to be the five most important things to have happened in the last five days:

1. No summer holiday for Anthony Arter.

While the Financial Ombudsman Service was getting flack for ‘systemic problems’, the Pensions Ombudsman was busy publishing decision notices.

In one decision, linked to pension liberation, ombudsman Anthony Arter warned complainants that they may have to seek court action to get their money back.

Yesterday (30 July), tackling an alleged liberator which refused to act on a saver’s request to transfer out of a pension plan, Mr Arter admitted it was doubtful whether the scheme - run by seemingly uncontactable AC Management and Administration Limited - would ever adhere to the order.

Earlier today, Mr Arter, in a separate decision, noted that if Hornbuckle decided to dispute the £23,000 he ordered it to pay following “woefully inadequate” service, it should be enforced through the county court.

In this case the “maladministration” meant the self-invested personal pension provider now owes not only the complainant’s tax consultancy fees (£10,434), but also IFA Parkland Financial Advisors’ fees (£12,375) and additional compliancy consultancy fees (£257.11).

Not to mention £300 for the “distress and inconvenience caused” as well as to refund £1,000 of fees the complainant paid the provider to administer his pension.

2. Finally some action on exit fees.

After much pre-election bluster and endless consumer campaigns, the government has finally followed through on promises to tackle the high exit fees levied on some over-55s pension schemes who want to access the at-retirement reforms.

Of course nothing can be done without a consultation, so you’ve got 12 weeks to tell the Treasury which of its three proposals will be the most effective, plus you can even spend a few minutes working through an online questionnaire to give more personal experiences of the problem.

To be fair to the current administration, the paper does tackle several of the issues most prevalent on our site since that fateful Budget announcement last spring. Particularly interesting for the adviser industry was mention of additional work around the issue of insistent clients.

It said that, despite the factsheet recently published by the Financial Conduct Authority, on the issue of the pension reforms and insistent clients, industry and consumers may still be unclear on specific circumstances where independent financial advice is required.

As a result, the government wants to understand whether the process for ensuring individuals understand the need for, and importance of, independent financial advice is operating as intended.

Now’s your chance to direct some righteous indignation somewhere where it might actually go to use...

3. Qrops bandwagon rolls on.

Our intrepid Qrops specialist Ruth Gillbe continued her crusade this week, not only reporting on firms in the field experiencing an increase in referrals of business, but revealing a website full of incorrect information on overseas pensions.

Following her investigation, DeVere swiftly suspended the affiliated website - Qrops.net - which described itself as “an association of the world’s leading Qrops advisers”. It listed several bullet points on the benefits of Qrops, which two pension specialists told FTAdviser were factually incorrect and that DeVere admitted were out of date.

4. Will she or won’t she.

Our sister paper Financial Adviser covered one of the most interesting stories over the previous weekend, that of a ruling which overturned a mother’s wish to cut her daughter out of her will.

Digging into what precedence this sets for those solicitors and advisory firms that deal in will writing, the Will Company’s Stephen Oliver said people should continue as they have always done, but if intent in disinheriting a dependent they must emphatically make their case.

“The courts have always had the power to overrule or ignore a will if they deem it unreasonable. It is stipulated in the Inheritance Family and Dependents Act 1975. If for example you have multiple children and leave an inheritance to only two and not the third, the courts can overrule this,” he explained.

5. Half year reporting season starts.

This week also saw the beginning of financial services firms publishing their results for the first six months, with perhaps the most interesting so far coming on Wednesday (29 July) in the shape of wealth management behemoth St James’s Place.

It decided to mark the occasion by splashing £34.2m on Rowan Dartington, adding in excess of £1.1bn of funds under management and some crucial discretionary investment expertise for clients and partners.

Interestingly, rather than subsuming the brand and team, the acquired company will remain ‘whole of market’, with no changes to people or processes.

Rowan Dartington’s executive chairman Graham Coxell told FTAdviser that it’s business as usual for us though, with no change to IFA relationships and all the necessary Chinese walls being put in place.

peter.walker@ft.com