Almost a third of people have found transferring a pension ‘difficult’ or ‘fairly difficult’, with one in 10 giving up completely midway through the process because of these problems.
This new research, from consumer group Which?, found that inefficient processes were causing difficulties, with some savers waiting months for funds to transfer.
According to Which?, of those who managed to consolidate or switch a pension fund, three in 10 people said it took up to a month, two in 10 said it took up to three months and one in 10 said the process took six months.
The Financial Conduct Authority is looking to reform the transfer process, but under current rules (set out in the Pensions Schemes Act 1993), providers are allowed up to six months to switch funds.
This survey comes as there has been a rise in the number of people consolidating and transferring pension funds. Around 1.7m pension transfers took place in 2025, according to Origo, a 13 per cent increase on the year before.
A number of platform and Sipp providers have launched a campaign calling for the industry to adopt digital protocols and guarantee a maximum 10-day period for pension transfers.
Pension Bee has said that while the average transfer time in 2025 was 23 days. This was two days slower than in 2024. It added that in its survey the slowest providers — including XPS Administration, LGPS and Capita – took between 47 and 90 days, leaving retirement savers routinely waiting months to move their own money.
While many want to see regulatory reform there has been criticism of the FCA’s current proposals which would require ceding firms to acknowledge transfer requests within two days, and then supply key details to the new provider within a 10-day timeframe. The new provider would then has three days to present comparisons back to savers, who will then decide whether the transfer should go head.
AJ Bell chief executive Michael Summersgill has called the proposals “anti consumer”, “anti competitive” and “completely unworkable” and said they would add unnecessary complexity and delays into an already cumbersome process.
Commenting on the Which? Survey Arc Pensions Law senior partner Anna Rogers says: “There is certainly scope for improvement but the research does need to be viewed in the context of the current legal position.
“To my mind it’s actually impressive that so many transfers are completed within 10 days.”
She points out that some of thee transfers will be from DB pensions. “Many of our DB pension scheme trustee clients sometimes feel like new burdens are constantly being added, at a time when the resources available are shrinking.
“The legal framework for transfers isn’t meant to make it easy, it’s meant to make sure it is right, and that members are protected.”
She adds: “Most trustees have adopted what might be viewed as a pragmatic stance of allowing transfers to proceed that appear to be legitimate. They are leaning in to the member’s request notwithstanding existence of amber flags. It’s difficult to criticise those taking a more cautious stance though, because the Regulations need fixing.
“In principle though, if a transfer is referred to MoneyHelper for guidance, that appointment ought to take place over a matter of weeks rather than months, plus the member should be aware of the referral (and reason for the delay) too. There should not be long periods of unexplained silence during the transfer process.”