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Pension transfer market

Journalist: Sonia Rach

ended 23. February 2026

Hi advisers,

One thing I'm consistently hearing about is pension transfers so I had a few questions:

  • What is the average time it is taking you to complete a pension transfer?
  • What, if any, are some of the providers you commend for getting it right/doing it quickly?
  • What, if any, are some of the providers you would name for ranking low on the efficiency process or for taking longer than average?
  • Any other comments?

Thanks!

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Martin Briggs
Independent Financial Adviser at The Retirement Studio
In my experience, most straightforward DC pension transfers complete within 4-8 weeks, assuming providers are responsive. Many mainstream providers will at least acknowledge and issue information within 5–10 working days.

The most obvious outlier for delays is NEST. They often don’t send details at all or take a very long time to respond, which can significantly stall cases. NOW Pensions are also slow, responses are delayed and often say they can’t locate the policy, with little proactive follow-up. When they do reply, it’s usually one point at a time, meaning simple requests can take months. Fidelity has also been challenging in terms of turnaround times.

On the positive side, The People’s Pension, M&G Wealth, Aviva, Pru, Aegon and Capita have generally been efficient and easier to deal with.
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Premium
Jess Best
Independent Financial Planner at McLaren Capital
With the ultimate aim of consolidating our pension arrangements, pension transfers will only increase as people have multiple jobs throughout their working lives, with each employer having their own scheme.

We certainly see a big difference in transfer times between platforms and legacy pension providers where the growing M&A market means there are now multiple legacy schemes serviced under one provider roof, often requiring wet signatures with the pension offices themselves not actually knowing which corner of the country they need sending to. This can result in transfers taking months.

We highly commend the Origo transfer service, it can shorten the process to days and we can only hope legacy providers will continue to adopt the system as M&A in the pensions world continues.
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Gosia Dawson
Director at Glade Financial
Pension transfer times continue to vary significantly across providers. Some complete electronic transfers within a few weeks, while others still rely on manual paperwork, wet signatures and repeated ID checks, extending timelines to several months.

In one recent workplace scheme case, I couldn’t contact the provider directly as an adviser; there was no accessible phone support, and original documentation, including a birth certificate, was requested despite FCA-regulated verification already being completed. This was eventually resolved, but the delay was disproportionate.

We don’t recommend transfers lightly; they’re driven by cost, flexibility or retirement planning suitability. With the Pensions Dashboards Programme progressing, the industry must now prioritise standardised, fully digital transfer processes; transparency without efficiency only solves half the problem.