What our Pensions Transfer Gold Standard status means for you

This article was published on: 07/5/19

In April, the Pensions Taskforce launched a brand-new Pension Transfer Gold Standard to help consumers identify high-quality pension advice.

We’re delighted to have adopted the Gold Standard, which the CEO of the Personal Finance Society says demonstrates that we’re prepared to go the ‘extra mile’ in order to foster trust in the profession.

But what is the Pension Transfer Gold Standard? And what does it mean to you?

What is the Pension Transfer Gold Standard?

The new Gold Standard is a voluntary code of good practice for safeguarded and defined benefit (final salary) pension transfer advice.

The Gold Standard is based around a set of nine principles. These are:

1. Helping you to understand when advice is appropriate
2. Ensuring the advice we give supports your overall wellbeing in the context of your stated objectives
3. Ensuring your understanding and acceptance of all charges
4. Ensuring the most appropriate and up-to-date technical skills are applied
5. Transparent management of ‘conflicts of interest’
6. Helping you understand the cost of transferring benefits
7. Avoiding unregulated investments and introducers
8. Transparency in advice processes and outcomes
9. Promoting the Consumer Guide to the Pension Transfer Gold Standard.

We’re one of the first firms to adopt the Gold Standard – so what does that mean for you?

What the Gold Standard means for you

One of the aims of the Gold Standard is to help you find good-quality pensions advice, and to help you understand the nature of this advice.

Gold Standard status means that you can have the confidence that you’re dealing with a company and an adviser who is going beyond the minimum requirements when they provide you with financial advice.

Keith Richards, CEO of The Personal Finance Society, says: “The Pension Transfer Gold Standard helps consumers better understand what good advice looks like and where they can find it, we believe it will represent significant progress towards avoiding a repeat of negative events such as the British Steel debacle of 2018.”

Now we have adopted the Pension Transfer Gold Standard, we must:

• Possess the regulatory permissions for provisions or pension transfer advice. This means we have demonstrated high levels of the financial and technical knowledge required to give you appropriate advice on pension transfers.
• Not currently be under any form of ongoing regulatory sanction by the regulator or accredited body in this field of advice. You can have the peace of mind that we operate to the highest standards.
• Have adopted all the principles of the Pension Transfer Gold Standard without exception. As we have already adopted these principles, you can have confidence in our advice.

So, if you’re considering transferring out of a Defined Benefit pension scheme, it’s important to look for the Gold Standard. By working with an adviser who has voluntarily committed to these standards, you can be confident that you will receive the best possible advice, service and support.

Transferring out of a Final Salary scheme is unlikely to be in the best interests of most people.

Need advice? Email info@simplypensions.co.uk or call us on 01706 212040.