I am 67 and retired. About 20 years ago I consolidated my company pensions into a self-invested personal pension (Sipp). My financial adviser at the time steered me to use a Sipp platform now called Embark Pensions to administer the fund.<\/p>\n
In mid-November I instructed Embark that I wished to make my first full tax-free withdrawal. A month later it has still to even look at my account let alone authorise the release of the funds.<\/p>\n
There is just the one phone number to ring, the customer services team, and the response is always the same: \u201cWe\u2019ve been exceptionally busy because of the budget and we\u2019ll get to your account at some point.\u201d <\/p>\n
The company T&Cs specifically say that such a process should take no more than ten working days. It never returns phone calls, when you get through, staff will not escalate the call nor put you through to the drawdown team, who do not answer emails. I am worried about my money. Please can you help hurry them along as we need this cash?
Alasdair, Edinburgh<\/p>\n
Holly Thomas writes<\/p>\n
Like many others last autumn, you were concerned that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, would use the budget in November to tinker with pensions and withdraw your right to take tax-free lump sums from pension savings.<\/p>\n
After retiring from your busy role as a hospital director, you wanted to use the money to enjoy life, including having big family holidays with your grown-up children and helping your daughter to buy her first home.<\/p>\n
Your communications with Embark were fruitless, but with my involvement things moved quickly. <\/p>\n
Embark said that the delay was related to the paperwork and was not your fault. Regulations require anyone who doesn\u2019t have the help of a financial adviser to read and sign a document that spells out what to avoid when it comes to taking money out of a pension. The idea is that it will help savers to make an informed decision. One warning is about withdrawing the whole pot at once and so paying a lot of tax, another is about scam pension investment schemes. Embark discovered that it hadn\u2019t provided you with clear information about this.<\/p>\n
The paperwork is now sorted and your tax-free lump sum of \u00a3126,445.48 is in your bank account. Embark agreed to waive administration fees of \u00a3132 and pay you compensation of \u00a3848.63. <\/p>\n
With changes coming in April 2027 meaning that pensions will no longer be exempt from inheritance tax,<\/a> you have decided that spending your hard-earned retirement savings on special experiences with your loved ones is the way forward, rather than leaving them at the mercy of the taxman.<\/p>\n You are planning trips to southern California and Mexico, and the Seychelles, as well as a new car for your wife. You said: \u201cWe save all of our lives to have money when we stop work. Getting hold of that money wasn\u2019t easy. I\u2019m very grateful for your help in making this happen.\u201d <\/p>\n Embark said: \u201cWe didn\u2019t have all the information required to process this payment, but we did not provide clear information when we should have, and for that we are sorry.\u201d <\/p>\n \u2022 How to make your retirement dream a reality<\/a><\/p>\n The rest of the money from the lump sum payment has been invested, and you plan to use the income from those investments until you need to dig into your remaining taxable pension savings.<\/p>\n There is no industry standard on how long a company should take to release pension funds after you put in a request. Once a request has been made for some or all of a pension\u2019s tax-free cash then it can take anywhere between two and four weeks for the funds to arrive.<\/p>\n Some firms may set a timescale, but delays often occur, so this should serve as a cautionary tale to allow plenty of time for payments and to have a savings buffer where possible to plug the gap if necessary. If you are left waiting too long, there\u2019s the option of a formal complaint where you can claim loss of interest. Approach the Financial Ombudsman Service for help if your pensions firm is not responding. <\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m a pensioner and I\u2019m paying \u00a392 a month for broadband\u2019<\/p>\n I am struggling with the cost of living and rising bills and decided to seek a reduction in my BT broadband and phone service, which is now costing me \u00a392 a month. As a 73-year-old pensioner I simply cannot afford this.<\/p>\n Knowing that BT and EE are part of the same group I went to an EE shop where I was offered a significant reduction of about \u00a340 if I agreed to switch to EE and \u201cupgrade\u201d to fibre broadband, at no charge. An installation date was fixed and the appointment went ahead. But the connection is far worse and on the next billing date my account was still debited with \u00a392 instead of \u00a354.99. I have also had an email telling me to return equipment or face charges of \u00a350 and \u00a375 \u2014 even though I already confirmed there is no equipment to return.<\/p>\n I have called several times and I\u2019m getting nowhere. In a long phone conversation today EE confirmed that an unexplained \u201csystem\u2019 problem is behind this. For a communication company it seems surprisingly ineffective, despite bragging in recorded messages of being \u201cthe UK\u2019s best\u201d service. It must be joking.
Ian, Bournemouth<\/p>\n