Ahead of the first meeting of the ABI-hosted pensions working group on 22 August, STAR is announcing that one of the UK’s biggest pension schemes, Nest, is joining the STAR Initiative.
STAR is a pensions industry initiative that brings organisations together to define appropriate standards and help drive change. It is working to define good practice and drive down pension transfer times. It commits schemes to working towards reducing most transfers for defined contribution (DC) schemes to less than 21 days, and to promote regular reporting of average transfer times.
Consumers and advisers can find switching difficult because of the time, complexity and cost involved, creating barriers that may result in consumers staying with products or platforms which no longer meet their needs, or which offer them poor value for money.
There will be over 30 organisations, including Nest, represented at the inaugural meeting of the pension working group. The forum will be a place for organisations to share ideas and collaborate on developing industry best practice and problem solve to reduce transfer times.
Guy Opperman, Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion
"This is great news and overdue. I’m glad Nest has signed up to the 21-day transfer pledge. Nest looks after the pensions of millions of people brought into retirement saving by automatic enrolment, so clearly it is important they send a message to the rest of the industry. Others need to act urgently to join them and show that they care about their customers, or face being ‘named and shamed’."
Mark Rowlands, Nest’s Director of Customer Engagement
"We’re pleased to join the STAR initiative and share our experience to help other organisations reduce their transfer times. While we’ll continue to offer quick transfers, we also want savers to have clear and easy to understand information to help them make informed decisions about their pension scheme – from transfer charges to how the scheme operates, from future investment prospects to past fund performance. At Nest we’re committed to transparency and improving our service for our eight million members. We are looking forward to working together with colleagues across the industry to influence how good-practice is defined. Reducing transfer times is an industry-wide challenge and one we’re eager to be involved in."
Tom McPhail, Hargreaves Lansdown and Chair of the STAR Steering Committee
"We are delighted that Nest Corporation is supporting the STAR initiative, bringing with them such a high volume of consumers' pensions. Frankly the more organisations that become involved, the firmer our foundations are and the more momentum we have. We are pleased with wide-ranging and extensive industry support we have received and continue to receive. We have begun to collaborate at our steering and working groups which will help galvanise the industry to forge ahead with change and to improve things for consumers."