The analysis covers 9,137 requests for information made by Portafina on behalf of 6,423 clients to over 700 different defined contribution and defined benefit pension scheme providers, in the period 1 Oct 2015 to 30 Sep 2016.
2016 results for defined contribution schemes:
Fastest DC schemes based on average number of weeks to provide information
Halifax 1.2 weeks (Also fastest in 2015)
Guardian Financial Services 1.5 weeks
NPI 1.6 weeks
Black Rock 1.6 weeks
Now Pensions 1.7 weeks
Slowest DC Schemes based on average number of weeks to provide information
St James' Place 4.3 weeks (5th slowest in 2015)
Towers Watson 3.7 weeks
Friends Provident 3.7 weeks
Capita 3.3 weeks
Reliance Mutual 3.3 weeks
2016 results for defined benefit (final salary) schemes:
Fastest DB Schemes based on average number of weeks to provide information
Royal Bank of Scotland 1.4 weeks (New entry for 2016)
Diageo Pensions 1.8 weeks
DHL Group Retirement Plan 2.1 weeks
Social Housing Pension Scheme 2.3 weeks
Legal & General 2.3 weeks
Slowest DB Schemes based on average number of weeks to provide information
First UK Bus Pension 10.0 weeks (Also slowest in 2015)
Durham County Council 9.2 weeks
Strathclyde Pension 8.8 weeks
Hampshire County Council 8.2 weeks
Mercer Ltd 8.0 weeks
Halifax once again tops the list for best performing provider, taking on average 1.2 weeks to provide the information necessary to advise clients on its pension. This is a further improvement on its winning 2015 performance of 1.5 weeks on average.
Topping the performance league for final salary schemes is Royal Bank of Scotland which even outperforms all but one of the arguably less complex defined contribution scheme providers, with an average time of 1.4 weeks. That level of service puts into context the average 10 weeks that it takes First UK Bus to provide the same information.
Disappointingly, last year’s wooden spoon holders have hung on to that accolade for another year.
Another company that doesn’t appear to have improved is St James’ Place which has slipped from 5th slowest DC scheme provider last year to the slowest DC scheme provider in 2016. It takes an average of 4.3 weeks to provide the requested information.
Jamie Smith-Thompson, managing director of Portafina, said, “I am not surprised to see Halifax topping the tables again as it is one of the few companies we never have to chase. It is great to see that it takes customer service so seriously and that it is so consistent. Overall we have seen a steady improvement in timescales from 2015 but I think there is a long way to go before the majority of providers are matching customer expectations, in what is now a very connected world.”
What about last year’s slowest DC scheme provider, the government’s NEST scheme? It has improved significantly in 2016 to mid-table respectability by dropping average times from 5 weeks to 3.2 weeks.
Jamie Smith-Thompson reports, “We received a very positive response to the results of our 2015 tables from NEST and it is great to see that it has made such an improvement.
“These timescales really matter to the client, especially when you consider that a similar amount of time is generally required to administer any transfer. That means that for some schemes a client can have everything sorted within a few weeks whilst for others it can mean four months or more of delays simply waiting on their provider. Understandably that can be both frustrating and potentially damaging to the client’s plans.”
|
