We are committed to delivering a cost effective, personal and high quality pension administration service to meet the needs of all our customers.
In this document we have set out our normal service standards in working days for our SIPP arrangements. The indicative timescales below start from the first working day following receipt of your request. Note that we cannot guarantee we will meet our service standards.
Administration
Processing a new application – 2 days
Processing transfer forms – 2 days
Illustrations – 1 day (we also have an online facility for financial advisers to produce their own)
Annual Review – within 5 working days of plan anniversary
Valuations – 2 days
Scheme Investments – Property/Land
Agreeing suitability of property/land – 6 days
Solicitor instruction – 6 days
Surveyor instruction (if required) – 6 days
Agreeing funding and suitability of borrowing – 6 days
Lender instruction – 6 days
VAT election – 3 days
Buildings insurance (if instructed) – 6 days
Completing legal documentation – 6 days
Transferring funds for purchase – same day and at least one working day prior to completion
Processing and submission of scheme investments
Following receipt of clear investment instructions – 4 days
Banking
Payments in (e.g. contributions, transfers, rent) – 3 days*
Retirement
Benefit calculation and lump sum payment – 6 days
Establishing / amending / ceasing income payment – 6 days**
Pension payroll – 15th or 28th day of the month
*Payments with an incorrect or missing reference can take longer than this to allocate. Note that any payments to your SIPP which are made by cheque will be posted to our bankers and could take a week or more to show as cleared funds.
**Your request for income must have been received by us at least 4 working days before the selected payroll date.
Note that service times generally require each step to be completed in the correct order. For instance, obtaining a valuation may take 2 working days, calculating benefits a further 6 working days and then setting up an income payment may take another 6 working days. Where possible we aim to shorten the overall timescales but we cannot guarantee this.