Big rise in Sipp complaints to The Pensions Advisory Service

There was a 46% rise in the number of complaints about Sipps made to The Pensions Advisory Service in the last year. The increase has been revealed in the organisation's 2014 annual review, published this week. Nearly half of complaints about Sipps were about delays, two-thirds of which were about delays in transferring, the report stated.TPAS also detailed the extent of the increased interest in information about pension it has experienced since the radical changes announced by Chancellor George Osborne in March.Officials at TPAS said the Budget had sparked significantly higher numbers of requests for information, with three times as many questions and calls made. {desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile} The body warned there was still a lack of understanding among consumers.The report stated: "We know from the calls that we have already received that people are not aware of the ramifications of different actions, such as having to pay tax when you draw your pension fund out as cash."TPAS has been selected alongside the Money Advice Service to provide the retirement guidance service, arising from the Budget reforms.Chief Executive's Michelle Cracknell said: "Our ambition to reach more people, and we hope that being part of the delivery of the new initiative by the Government for people to receive guidance at retirement, will be an opportunity for more people to be aware and use The Pensions Advisory Service."The annual review included a summary of the topics which it received most enquiries about with calls about retirement planning and decisions topping the list with 7,515. Phone enquiries about triviality were next with 2,879 and automatic enrolment was third at 2,688.Just under 2,200 callers rang because they were trying to find their pension and 2,206 wanted pre-retirement pension and saving guidance.TPAS also said it had found a lack of confidence among women in making decisions for retirement.Its third Women & Pensions Survey, showed only 29% of respondents were confident. Almost half of women did not know where to go for information on their pension.

Big rise in Sipp complaints to The Pensions Advisory Service

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