Not upheld: Pension transfer advice complaint against Grove Pension Solutions Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs L, aged 55, sought to transfer £532,249 in safeguarded DB pension benefits to a private pension to fund financial objectives including gifting money to her children. Grove provided two-stage advice, recommending against transfer in April 2022 based on a critical yield of 12.70% and poor transfer value comparator analysis. Mrs L accepted this advice, but subsequently received lower transfer value quotations (£275,000 and £345,000), leading her to complain that Grove had misled her about future transfer values and failed to explain the potential range of changes. The ombudsman upheld Grove's position, finding the advice was suitable, the statements were not misleading as they were appropriately qualified, and Grove had no obligation to predict future transfer values in monetary terms.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the 'presumption of unsuitability' principle and found Grove's advice not to transfer was reasonable based on the critical yield of 12.70% and TVC showing poor value for money. The ombudsman rejected Mrs L's claim of misleading statements, noting that Grove did not guarantee future transfer values would increase, only that they 'may' increase, and that Grove was not required to predict future transfer values in monetary terms. The ombudsman found Mrs L's expectations that Grove should have provided a range of possible future transfer values were unrealistic and beyond what could reasonably be expected, as transfer values depend on actuarial assumptions that vary by scheme and cannot be reliably predicted.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website