A right to pensions advice

Some of the bigger providers in the pension market are refusing to provide customers an allowance in which they are entitled.

A £500 allowance can be drawn tax-free from a defined contribution pensions pot up to three times in separate tax years to put towards professional financial advice, giving a saver of any age, £1,500 to plan for retirement.

Despite being introduced more than a year ago, many providers are still not offering this, or are restricting the pension holders who can access it.

Aviva, Standard Life and Scottish Widows, which looks after billions of pounds of British pension savers’ retirement money, refuse to offer the allowance across all their pension products.  Prudential, one of the biggest providers, does not offer it at all, as does Old Mutual Wealth, now called Quilter.

Pension companies’ refusal to deliver on their customers’ rights could have consequences for a saver’s pension fund.