Terms of Business

Welcome to Pension Works

Delivering trusted financial advice

1.0 Who are we?

Pension Works are a fully authorised and regulated independent financial advice business specialising in pensions.

We believe that everyone should have access to financial advice from regulated advisers. Our advisory team are specialists in their field, fully qualified, experienced, and ethical in all work they undertake. To ensure that we can provide high quality advice to people across the whole of the UK, we operate a fully remote, telephone based advice service.

1.1 Who regulates us?

Pension Works is a trading name of Pension Works Limited. Pension Works Limited (PW) is directly authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), our FCA number is 739922.

The FCA regulates financial services in the UK, and you can check our authorisation and permitted activities on the Financial Services Register by visiting www.register.fca.org.uk.

1.2 Where are we based?

Our registered head office is at Pension Works, Booths Park 5, Chelford Road, Knutsford, WA16 8GS.

1.3 How to contact us?

You can contact us by phone on 0800 7561288, or emailing info@pensionworks.co.uk or alternatively you can write to us at the above address.

1.4 How do I commit to these Terms of Business?

By signing the Letter of Authority, you are agreeing to Pension Works working on your behalf and to these Terms of Business. We are bound by the terms laid out within this document.

Defined Benefit Service

2.0 What is a Defined Benefit Pension?

A Defined Benefit (DB) pension scheme (also known as “final salary” pension) is where the amount you’re paid is generally based on how many years you’ve been a member of the employer’s scheme, the salary you’ve earned when you leave or retire and the ‘accrual rate’ for the particular scheme, i.e., how the pension benefits are earned These are also known as ‘safeguarded benefits’. Other types of pension can also contain safeguarded benefits, such as those which offer a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) or Guaranteed Annuity Rates (GARs).

All pensions with safeguarded benefits pay out a secure income for life which usually increases each year, often in line with inflation. DB schemes usually continue to pay a pension to your spouse, civil partner or financial dependants when you die.

Your employer or the product’s insurer is responsible for ensuring there’s enough money at the time you retire to pay your guaranteed pension income.

Our regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, expects that for most people with safeguarded benefits it will usually be in their best interests to remain in their existing scheme due to the guarantees these offer. Should a transfer go ahead it is important to note that any funds you invest in will not be guaranteed as their underlying value can fall as well as rise, which means the value of your pension fund, and income you may need from it, can reduce significantly. This will be explained further should we recommend you transfer.

If your needs can be met by your existing scheme there is a strong probability that we will not recommend transferring your pension.

2.1 What is the process of the Defined Benefit Service?

1. Initial engagement

At the start of the process our, Client Engagement team will explain everything to you. This will involve you watching our ‘triage’ video and review a series of case studies. If you wish to proceed, we will issue our Terms of Business and provide an overview of our charges. We will also ask you to sign and return a Letter of Authority for your pensions (if you haven’ t already done so) and we will need you to complete three online forms; these are the Attitude to Risk, Defined Benefit Questionnaire and our Fact Find forms.

2. Objectives Call

You will have a call with one of our Financial Advisers, the purpose of which is for them to get a brief understanding of your current situation and to review your objectives for the transfer.  Towards the end of the call, and after we’ve explained how the FCA rules fit with your circumstances, you will have the ability to drop out of the process without any further information being required or any charges incurred.

3. Information gathering

Your signed Letter of Authority will then be sent to all your pension providers to gather the relevant details about your schemes. This can be a time-consuming process and often takes several months to complete, because we are reliant on these third parties providing us with all the information we need.

4. Fact Find meeting

Your dedicated Client Consultant will carry out a detailed ‘Fact Find’ meeting via telephone to gather as much information as possible about your financial life and talk in detail about your retirement aims. This will ensure that we have sufficient details about your personal circumstances and requirements to help us decide if a transfer could be in your best interests.

5. Abridged Advice (see below for more information on the Abridged section)

Your qualified Financial Adviser will then review your case to provide Abridged Advice. This is a shortened form of regulated advice which will determine whether a transfer-out of your Defined Benefit scheme may warrant further, detailed consideration. This will be presented to you in our Abridged Advice report and we will arrange a telephone meeting with your Financial Adviser to discuss the outcome with you. We do not charge any fees to provide you with this Abridged Advice.

6. Full Advice

Irrelevant of the outcome you receive at the Abridged Advice stage, you can choose to proceed through to Full Advice upon commitment to paying our advice fee at the end of the process. This will involve a full analysis of your pension scheme, in respect of your objectives to deliver a personal recommendation. A full Appropriate Pension Transfer Analysis (APTA) report will be issued and, after you’ve had time to consider this, your dedicated Financial Adviser will call to explain the advice to you.

7. Transfer

If we recommended a transfer and you wish to proceed, we will then facilitate this for you. Alternatively, if our recommendation is for you to maintain your pension, but you wish to transfer your pension benefits against our advice, we may be able to assist you with this as an ‘insistent client’. Please see clause 7.18 for more information about this. If you ask another firm to arrange a transfer for you, you may have to pay additional charges.

2.2 Abridged Advice

Any recommendations we provide will only be given after we have assessed your needs and objectives. Considering the merits of giving up safeguarded benefits held within a DB pension scheme is a complex matter. Our review will therefore need to include, but will not be limited to, an assessment of:

• your financial objectives and personal circumstances;
• your attitude to the risks of giving up safeguarded benefits and investment risk, your secure income preferences and your capacity to bear any losses;
• the benefits provided by your existing DB scheme.

Our free Abridged Advice Service is a shortened form of regulated advice for the transfer of a scheme with safeguarded benefits. We may determine, after this free initial assessment, that it is in your best interests to remain in the scheme and, where we do, we will confirm this to you as our personal recommendation. If, however, it remains unclear whether or not you should remain in the scheme, you may wish to proceed to our Defined Benefit Review Service (Full Advice), although you are not obliged to do so.

2.3 What are the charges for the Defined Benefit Service?

Abridged Advice Service (Initial Advice)

This is a completely free service which will be delivered to you shortly after your Fact Find call with our Client Consultant.

Defined Benefit Review Service (Full Advice)

Should you instruct Pension Works to carry out the Defined Benefit Review Service (Full Advice), the fee applicable will be based on the total transfer value of the pensions being reviewed at the point that the Fee Agreement is signed. This fee, outlined in the Fee Agreement, is fixed and is due at the end of the Full Advice process.

Example of Our Fees

Please see below three Full Advice charges payable on three separate examples of cash equivalent transfer values. Please note these fees will be payable whether our final advice is to transfer from or remain within your DB scheme.

How is the charge taken?

You can choose how to pay the Defined Benefit Review Service fee from the options below: –

1. Paid out of your pension pot. This option will only be available if a transfer proceeds and is made into a pension product that facilitates adviser charging. This is the most tax-efficient way for our fees to be paid, but it does mean that you will have a lower fund value when you come to claim your retirement benefits and, consequently, a lower income in retirement.
2. Paid by cheque or bank transfer. This is the only option available if our advice is to retain your existing scheme, but you may also choose this method of payment if we recommend a transfer; this payment must be made in full within 60 days of the Full Advice report being issued.

Any other services will be quoted for on an individual basis and a supplementary agreement issued to you before carrying out the work.

2.4 What is the client criteria for this service?

If you meet all of the following criteria, we can provide you with Defined Benefit transfer advice:

• The Transfer Value must exceed £30,000.
• You must be at least 54½ years of age unless terminally ill. (Terminally ill – must have a prognosis of less than 2 years life expectancy).
• You must be a current UK resident and UK taxpayer (or non-taxpayer).
• The DB scheme must be UK-based.
• If a transfer out of your pension scheme is recommended, Pension Works will also recommend an appropriate investment product to receive the transfer. For clients who wish to choose their own proposed scheme and/or investments, also known as self-investors, we may need to treat you as an insistent client. (See 7.18)
• We do not offer an execution only service and will only facilitate transfers into mainstream products and investments, e.g. those which are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
• Under no circumstances are you to move away from our recommended investment solution and into an unregulated pension, unregulated investment, non-mainstream investment or invest in Crypto Currency.
• You must not be on means tested benefits (excluding Child Benefit).
• We can provide advice on an expired CETV, however in order to process a transfer we must obtain a new in date CETV and reconfirm the advice. Pension Works are not responsible for any costs associated with requesting a new CETV or the consequences of any change to the CETV available.
• You must not be planning to move abroad within the next 5 years.
• You must not be an active member of the scheme Pension Works are being asked to advise on (unless you intend to retire within 4 months) and you must not opt out of a scheme in order to seek our advice.
• You must not be looking to utilise your pension to directly acquire land or commercial property through a SIPP, SSAS or any other pension vehicle.
• Pension Works are unable to consider a transfer for a client who is separated from their spouse or in the process of going through a divorce until there is a court approved and signed pension sharing order or finalised financial settlement.

2.5 Important information about the Defined Benefit Review Service

Further process requirements for our Defined Benefit Review Service are detailed as follows:

• While we provide a Section 48 certificate to confirm that ‘appropriate independent advice’ has been provided following our Full Advice recommendation, Pension Works will not sign any scheme discharge paperwork unless we handle the transfer itself. This is the only way we can ensure that the client is transferred to our recommended product and/or investment.
• Pension Works can only issue a Section 48 certificate on the basis that the advice was given on an active transfer value.
• Our advice will be valid for a period of 12 weeks (or until the Cash Equivalent Transfer Value expires if sooner) from the date that the recommendation report is issued.
• Due to the complex nature of DB transfer advice and our reliance on various third parties to provide us with all the information we need, Pension Works are unable to commit to meeting any Cash Equivalent Transfer Value (CETV) expiry dates and we will not be liable for any losses you incur as a result of the reduction to any CETV or the costs of securing a new CETV.

By agreeing to these Terms of Business, you agree that Pension Works Limited will not be held responsible for any losses, falls in value or missed investment growth opportunities however caused (including Investment losses, Investment growth opportunities missed, or falls in transfer values) whilst Pension Works are advising you or implementing that advice.

Pension Works are not responsible for any delays or failure to process a pension transfer by the ceding or receiving schemes, nor will we be responsible for any inability to complete a transfer due to your death before the scheme has processed the transfer.

2.6 Responsibility

Pension Works cannot be held responsible for any future advice which you receive from any other Financial Advice Firm. Any subsequent concerns relating to advice provided by another Financial Advice Firm would require you to contact that firm directly. Pension Works cannot be held liable for any losses or malpractice as a result of advice provided by those subsequent firms.

2.7 How to proceed with our recommendations

If our recommendations include a switch or a transfer of fund or policy and you instruct us to implement our recommendations, we will handle all fund and policy administration on your behalf. Unfortunately, we cannot control the service levels of the new or old pension providers, but we do keep in constant contact with them during the process.

Pension Works will implement a transfer if one of our Pension Transfer Specialists has recommended it following the report. We may accept insistent client business in accordance with clause 7.18 of these Terms of Business, but we do not guarantee to implement any transfers which are against our advice and recommendations. If you chose to switch or transfer a pension contrary to our advice and recommendations, Pension Works accepts no responsibility for this action.

2.8 Carve Outs

The Financial Conduct Authority introduced rules which prevent us from only charging if our advice results in a transfer recommendation. However, in exceptional circumstances, and if you are unable to pay our fees other than through the transferred funds, you will only be liable to pay our Defined Benefit Review Service fee if we recommend a transfer out of your Defined Benefit scheme (this is known as contingent charging). If you believe this is applicable to you, please raise it in the Fact Find meeting with your Client Consultant.

Having reasonably accessible money to pay for the advice but a preference to pay for this from the transferred funds would not qualify for contingent charging under the ‘carve out’ rules.  If we receive evidence that contradicts the above during any stage of the advice process, you would be expected to pay the fees applicable had the ‘carve out’ not applied.

The exceptional circumstances referred to in the opening paragraph of this section are defined as follows:

Serious financial difficulty

If you are experiencing serious financial difficulty, or likely would be if you had to pay for full pension transfer or conversion advice on a non-contingent basis. We will determine if you are in financial difficulty based on the following:

• Continuing to pay domestic bills and credit commitments is a heavy burden on you and
• You have missed payments for any credit commitments and or any domestic bills in any 3 or more of the last 6 calendar months.

To qualify for the ‘serious financial difficulty’ you must also be capable of accessing your pension immediately after a pension transfer, so you are around the minimum age at which your pension(s) can be accessed (i.e. usually age 55, so this advice could then be offered from age 54½).

Serious ill-health

The Financial Conduct Authority defines ‘Serious ill-health’ as having a medical condition that is likely to reduce the life expectancy of a client to below age 75 and they do not have the ability to pay for advice.

You will meet the requirements for Serious ill-health where you have a particular medical condition, as shown by reliable medical reports or records and you have a reputable source of medical information to evidence that the medical condition in question results in a life expectancy below age 75 in the majority of cases. For terminal conditions, a DR1 form (previously a DS1500 form) used to claim benefits when terminally ill, can be used to confirm the diagnosis and life expectancy of a patient.

You must self-evidence your condition. It is not sufficient to simply ‘self-certify’ where you believe you have a limited life expectancy (for example due to family medical history or lifestyle factors).

Pension HealthCheck (Private Pensions)

3.0 What is a private pension?

A private pension – also called a personal pension – is a product that you can use to save money for retirement. These are usually Defined Contribution (DC – also known as “Money Purchase”) pensions, which means the money you receive at retirement is based on the money you’ve paid in and the performance of your investments. Other popular types of DC pension include Stakeholder pensions and Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) pensions; AVC’s can be ‘In House’ (run by your employer) or Free Standing (managed run by an insurance company). Some DC pensions contain safeguarded benefits and these would therefore need to follow our Defined Benefit Service due to the complexity of these plans and to comply with Government legislation.

3.1 What is the process of the HealthCheck Service?

1. Initial Engagement

At the start of the process we take the time to explain everything to you, as well as issuing our Terms of Business, which includes an overview of our charges. We also ask you to digitally sign our Letter of Authority.

2. Information Gathering

We will contact the pension providers to gather all relevant scheme information. We will also ask you to complete our online Fact Find and attitude to risk forms.

3. Fact Find Meeting

We will book a telephone call with one of our Client Consultants, who will then assess your retirement aims and objectives.

4. Advice Stage

After thorough analysis of all available options in the marketplace, a free report will then be issued advising the most appropriate outcome. Your dedicated Financial Adviser will call you to explain the advice.

5. Implementation

If you wish to act on our recommendation(s), we will then facilitate this for you.

6. Ongoing Advice

Pension Works will provide ongoing advice to you to ensure your pension(s) remain aligned to your needs and objectives. Please see the Ongoing Advice Service information in Section 5 of this brochure for full details.

3.2 What are the charges for this service?

Our Pension HealthCheck is a free service.

Pension Works will only charge you an implementation fee should a switch be recommended and you wish to proceed.

Fee Breakdown

Example of Our Fees

How is the charge taken:

• Paid out of your pension pot.
• Paid by cheque or bank transfer.

3.3 How to proceed with our recommendations

Subject to the recommended pension plan, Pension Works can normally accept a verbal confirmation during the advice call as authority to move the pensions. If the scheme does not accept this then forms will be issued out to you, which will then be needed in order to complete the transfer.

3.4 What is the client criteria for this service?

If you meet all of the following criteria, we can put you through our Pension HealthCheck process:

• The combined pension value must exceed £15,000.
• No minimum age.
• UK resident and UK taxpayer (or non-taxpayer).
• The ceding DC scheme(s) must be UK-based.
• You must not be planning to move abroad within the next 5 years.
• You must not be looking to utilise your pension to directly acquire land or commercial property through a SIPP, SSAS or any other pension vehicle.
• Pension Works are unable to consider a transfer for a client who is separated from their spouse or in the process of going through a divorce until there is a court approved and signed pension sharing order or finalised financial settlement.
• If a pension switch is recommended, Pension Works will also recommend an appropriate investment solution to receive the transfer.
• Under no circumstances are you to move away from our recommended investment solution and into an unregulated pension, unregulated investment, non-mainstream investment or invest in Crypto Currency.

3.5 Important information about the Pension HealthCheck Review Service

An implementation fee is only applicable if Pension Works facilitate a pension switch.

Financial Planning

4.0 What is a Financial Planning Service?

The last thing you need when getting to your retirement age is realising that your pension will not allow you to do what you want, or that poor investment returns have now left you short.

We believe in delivering expert pension advice to everyone, helping people across the UK take control of their pensions to secure a comfortable retirement. We believe in accommodating the needs and flexibility of all our clients, which is why our advice is delivered to you remotely.

This service aims to:

• Assess your current pension savings and ensure they are invested in line with your agreed risk profile and retirement objectives.
• Help you minimise investment risk where appropriate.
• Build and map out multiple cashflow models to project your retirement and the utilisation of your funds throughout this period.
• Advice on how to mitigate the key risks faced by retirees, such as inflation, investment volatility, and running out of money.
• Deliver affordable advice on accessing regular income or one-off lump sums.
• Ensure that your pension is in the right place to generate a sustainable income throughout your retirement.
• Fully utilise all the available tax allowances.
• Provide educational help and support with complex financial matters regarding your retirement.
• Offer ongoing support and advice to give you peace of mind and reassurance that your retirement objectives will remain on track.

4.1 What pensions are assessed during this service?

Both Defined Contribution pensions (private pensions) & Defined Benefit pensions (also known as final salary schemes).

Please note that in this service we will not tell you whether or not you should leave your Defined Benefit pension/final salary scheme. 4.2 What is the process of the Financial Planning Service?

1. Initial Engagement

A member of our Client Engagement team will talk you through the process and costs involved, as well as issuing our Terms of Business. We also ask you to digitally sign our Letter of Authority.

2. Objectives Call

You will have a call with one of our Financial Advisers, the purpose of which is for them to get a brief understanding of your current situation and to review your objectives for the transfer.  Towards the end of the call, and after we’ve explained how the FCA rules fit with your circumstances, you will have the ability to drop out of the process without any further information being required or any charges incurred.

3. Payment of Financial Planning Fee

In order for us to commence our work we will request a payment of £1,495. This is typically paid by you directly by bank transfer.

4. Information Gathering

We will contact your pension providers to gather all relevant scheme information. We will also ask you to complete our online fact find and attitude to risk forms.

5. Fact Find Meeting

Your dedicated Client Consultant will carry out a detailed ‘Fact Find’ meeting via telephone to gather as much information as possible about your financial life and talk in detail about your retirement aims. This will ensure that we have sufficient details about your personal circumstances and requirements to help us decide if a transfer could be in your best interests.

6. Advice Stage

After thorough analysis of all available options in the marketplace, we will send you a detailed suitability report to confirm our recommendations. After you’ve had time to review this your dedicated Financial Adviser will call you and take the time to talk you through their advice.

7. Implementation

If you wish to act on our recommendations, we will then facilitate this for you.

8. Ongoing Advice

Pension Works will provide ongoing advice for you to ensure your pension(s) remain aligned to your needs and objectives. Please see the Ongoing Advice Service information in Section 5 of this brochure for full details.

4.3 What are the charges for this service?

Pension Works will only charge you an implementation fee should any change be recommended, and you wish to proceed.

Fee Breakdown

Example of Our Implementation Fees

* Due to the minimum advice fee of £1,495+VAT, an implementation fee will only become applicable for pension portfolios valued over £74,750.

* The maximum implementation fee will be £8,455; this will be applicable for all portfolio values in excess of £422,750.

How is the advice fee of £1,495+VAT taken:

• Payment is made over the phone or via bank transfer.

How is the implementation fee taken:

• Payment is taken out of the pension upon successful switch to a new provider or product; or
• Payment to be paid by yourself personally.

4.4 How to proceed with our recommendations.

Pension Works will post you any application forms which need to be signed and returned back to us in order for any changes to take place.

4.5 What is the client criteria for this service?

If you meet all of the following criteria, we can put you through our Financial Planning process:

• The combined pension value must exceed £50,000.
• No minimum age
• UK resident and UK taxpayer (or non-taxpayer).
• Must not be on means tested benefits
• The DC scheme(s) & DB schemes must be UK-based.
• You must not be planning to move abroad within the next 5 years.
• You must not be looking to utilise your pension to directly acquire land or commercial property through a SIPP, SSAS or any other pension vehicle.
• Pension Works are unable to consider a transfer for a client who is separated from their spouse or in the process of going through a divorce until there is a court approved and signed pension sharing order or finalised financial settlement.
• If a pension switch is recommended, Pension Works will also recommend an appropriate investment solution to receive the transfer.
• Under no circumstances are you to move away from our recommended investment solution and into an unregulated pension, unregulated investment, non-mainstream investment or invest in Crypto Currency.

4.6 Important information about the Financial Planning Service

An implementation fee is only applicable if Pension Works facilitate the switching of your pension and/or set up a new retirement product for you.

Ongoing Advice Service

5.0 What is the Ongoing Advice Service?

We appreciate that some clients require more support than others or equally want greater insight into their plans, that is why Pension Works offer two different types of service to meet those needs.

These are called Essential and Premier which are very competitively priced for what they offer. Details of these can be seen on the table below.

5.1 How is the charge taken?

The charge is normally taken out of your pension scheme on a regular basis, normally set every month, every quarter or annually.

Pension Tracing Service

6.0 What is the process of the Pension Tracing Service?

1. Initial Engagement

At the start of the process, we capture some personal details from you then ask a number of questions about your past employers. This information is needed to then try and locate your lost or frozen pensions.

In order for us to communicate with pension schemes on your behalf, we will ask you to digitally sign a ‘Letter of Authority’.

2. Tracing your pensions

We then contact the relevant employer, pension providers and schemes and attempt to locate any pensions you may still have. This is often a time-consuming process and it can take many months to establish whether or not a pension can be found.

3. Outcome of the pension trace

Once we have exhausted all options for each of your pensions, details of your pension(s) will be stored within our secure database. When we have completed our search, we will contact you.

6.1 What are the charges for this service?

Our fee will only become payable once we have completed our process and located a missing pension for you. A charge of £199 + VAT will be payable before we can share your pension information with you.

Payment can be made to us via bank transfer, details of which we will share during the process once we’ve located your pension(s).

6.2 What is the client criteria for this service?

If you meet all of the following criteria, we can put you through our Pension Tracing process:

• No minimum age
• The pension scheme(s) to be traced must be UK-based.
• UK resident and UK taxpayer (or non-taxpayer)

6.3 What type of pensions do we trace?

We can trace most standard personal or workplace pensions.

However, we cannot trace pensions that are based overseas or are public sector pensions (e.g., NHS, Local Government, or Civil Service Defined Benefit pensions).

Additional Clauses

7.0 Insurance and Protection Product Fees

We will provide a personal recommendation for any insurance and protection products offered. Our advice will be to protect yourself, your family or your business to provide peace of mind when there is an unexpected event.

We offer insurance products from a wide range of providers on a fair and personal analysis of the market.

We will receive a commission from the insurer which is a percentage of the total annual premium. We will disclose details of any applicable fees and commissions to you before implementing this advice.

7.1 VAT

Normally all our services are, unless otherwise stated, undertaken with the intention of arranging and administrating regulated investments and, as such, exempt from VAT. We will tell you if you have to pay VAT.

7.2  Other pension types

If one of the plans we are advising on contains any of the below, please be aware that they are not suitable for the Defined Contribution HealthCheck and will have to be charged under the Defined Benefit Review Service.

• Hybrid and Defined Benefit underpin arrangements
• Section 32 buyout policies/deferred annuity contracts
• Most Retirement Annuity Contracts (Section 226 policies)
• Defined Contribution pensions with a Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) or Guaranteed Annuity Rates (GARs), etc.

7.3 Your needs and Objectives

You will only be given advice or recommendations after we have completed a detailed analysis of your needs, your personal and financial situation and your attitude to financial risk. We will also apply any restrictions on the types of products you want to consider.

You have no obligation to share any personal information. However, if you choose not to disclose any details requested or do so incorrectly, this may affect the quality of the advice you receive. We reserve the right to cancel the assessment, should we believe the withholding of information is impairing the integrity of our advice. We cannot be held accountable for advice given based on incorrect details provided by you or any third party.

7.4 Restrictions

We reserve the right to decline to undertake any service at our discretion.

7.5 New Pensions

We will only normally set-up a new pension for existing clients, whether through a transfer or as part of the ongoing assessment service. If we do set up a new pension, our fee is £299 that can be paid as a one-off payment or 50% of your monthly pension contributions until the fee is paid.

7.6 Material Interests and Conflicts of Interest

We will act honestly, fairly and professionally, which is known as ‘conducting business in the client’s best interests’ regulations. Occasionally situations may arise where we or one of our other clients have some form of interest in the business transacted for you. If this happens or we become aware that our interests, or those of one of our other client’s, conflict with your interests, we will write to you to obtain your consent and detail the steps we will take to ensure your fair treatment before we carry out your instructions.

7.7 How We Treat You

Unless we notify you in writing to the contrary, we will treat you as a ‘retail client’. A retail client means you have the highest level of protection under the regulatory system and have the right to take any complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service no later than 6 months from the date of our final response to your complaint.

7.8 Call Recording

We record every call both inbound and outbound, for training and monitoring purposes. We will accept both written (paper or electronic) and recorded verbal instructions to proceed, as long as the relevant product provider accepts such verbal instructions.

7.9 Anti-Money Laundering

We are required by the anti-money laundering regulations to verify the identity of our clients, to obtain information as to the purpose and nature of the business which we conduct on their behalf, and to ensure that the information we hold is up to date.

For this purpose, we may use electronic identity verification systems and may also check your details against the HMT Sanctions list as part of our obligation to prevent financial crime. We may conduct these checks from time to time throughout our relationship, not just at the beginning.

In instances where we are unable to verify your identity using our electronic system, you may need to provide further evidence to confirm your identity and residence.

7.10 Your Money

Pension Works Limited will not handle or hold your money during our service and, if appropriate, the subsequent transfer of funds. Instead, money will be transferred directly between pension providers for added security. We cannot accept any payment unless it is in respect of an item invoiced by Pension Works Limited. You should not make any payment payable to a member of our staff and, if you are asked to do, please contact our Head of Compliance immediately.

7.11 Your Assets

Investments will be registered in your own name. We will forward all documents showing ownership of your investments or policies to you as soon as practicable after we receive them.

Where a number of documents relating to a series of transactions are involved, we will normally hold each document until the series is complete and then forward them to you.

7.12 Our Ethical Policy

We are committed to providing the highest standard of financial advice and service possible. The best interest of our clients is paramount to us and to achieve this we have designed our systems and procedures to place you at the heart of our business. In doing so, we will:

• be open, honest and transparent in the way we deal with you;
• not place our interests above yours;
• communicate clearly, promptly and without jargon;
• seek your views and perception of our dealings with you to ensure we meet your expectations and to identify any areas for improvement.

7.13 Law and Terms of Business Governance

This client agreement is governed and shall be construed in accordance with English Law and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English Courts.

7.14 Force Majeure

Pension Works Limited shall not be in breach of this Agreement and shall not incur any liability to you if there is any failure to perform its duties due to any circumstances beyond its control.

7.15 Data Protection

Pension Works adheres to all GDPR directives in regard to protecting your data. If you wish to view our full data protection policy; please visit our website www.pensionworks.co.uk/privacy-policy or email info@pensionworks.co.uk to request a copy.

7.16 Cancellation

In most cases, you can exercise a right to cancel by withdrawing from the contract. In general terms, you will typically have a 30-day cancellation period with the provider for a life, pure protection or pension policies and a 14-day cancellation period for all other policies. If you wish to pause or cancel any transfer, we require written confirmation and you should expect this to be acknowledged by Pension Works.

Please be aware that should you accept advice to switch pension providers and then cancel within the 30-day period, the original provider may not accept the funds back. The start of the cancellation period will normally begin when you are informed that the contract has been concluded or, if later, the day on which you have received the contractual terms and conditions. Instructions for exercising the right to cancel, if applicable, will be contained in the relevant product disclosure information which will be issued to you.

If you cancel a single contribution contract, you may be required to pay for any loss you might reasonably incur in cancelling it which is caused by market circumstances. You might not get back the full amount you invested if you cancel the policy. Full details of the cancellation terms applicable to any product you decide to take will be given in the Key Features document or other documentation supplied by the product provider.

7.17 Commencement and Termination of Service

This Terms of Business agreement takes effect from the date it is given you and will apply until terminated. The authority to act on your behalf may be terminated at any time, without penalty, by either party giving seven days’ notice in writing to that effect to the other, but without prejudice to the completion of transactions already initiated. If you terminate any transaction, having requested us to act upon the recommendation we have provided, we reserve the right to charge a proportionate fee for the service provided. Termination of this Agreement will also terminate any other ongoing service.

7.18 Insistent Clients

Pension Works will deal with ‘Insistent Clients’ in certain circumstances. An Insistent Client is a client whom we give a personal recommendation but decides to enter a transaction that is different from this recommendation and wants us to arrange it.

With DB transfer advice, this is most likely to happen when we recommend a client keeps their DB scheme but the client wants to transfer anyway. For a DC pension switch, an Insistent Client is most likely to be someone who wants to choose their own product provider and/or investments.

However, if we cannot be certain that a client is capable, can tolerate and fully understands the risks associated with their desired transaction, and is therefore in a fully informed position to proceed against our advice, we will refuse to facilitate the transfer/switch for them.

We will also only facilitate a transaction if it involves an FCA regulated product provider and mainstream regulated investments. We will not enable transactions outside the UK, nor to unregulated providers or illiquid investments.

In the event that we refuse to facilitate an Insistent Client transaction, our agreed fees will still be payable.

7.19 Terms of Business Version

This version of Pension Works’ Terms of Business was produced and in effect from 11.07.2023.

Complaints Handling Process

8.0 What to do if you have a complaint?

We pride ourselves on our service and conduct with our clients. In the unlikely event that we have not met your expectations, please contact us. You can write to :-

The Head of Compliance

Pension Works Limited

Booths Park 5

Chelford Road
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 8GS;

email: info@pensionworks.co.uk;

or telephone: 0800 7561288.

A summary of our internal complaints handling procedures for the reasonable and prompt handling of complaints is available on request. If we cannot resolve your complaint to meet your expectations, you may contact:

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)

Exchange Tower

London E14 9SR

Telephone 08000 234 567

E-mail: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

8.1 FSCS Compensation Scheme

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for the regulated advising and arranging services we provide. This means that if we are unable to meet our liabilities, you are protected by the scheme. For further information please refer to www.fscs.org.uk