Process

I have divided this into sections to make it as easy to follow as possible. If you have not read the Advice Now Leaflet (prepared by the Law for Life charity), I would recommend you do so now.

Pre Appointment of the Pension on Divorce Expert (PODE)

The divorcing parties will be required to obtain recent statements from each of their pension companies. The mediator or their legal representatives, will review those and decide if a PODE is required.

If you are both working with solicitors, the Legal Representatives will agree on the PODE. Generally, one party’s solicitor will suggest three names and obtain fee estimates, timescales, and fee details. Those will be sent to the other party’s solicitor, who will choose which PODE to use.

If you are both working with a Mediator they will make suggestions, or ask you to find a PODE. The parties will agree which PODE to appoint.

In either situation a Letter of Instruction to the PODE, will be prepared.

Letter of Instruction to appoint the PODE

If solicitors have been appointed one will generally prepare the draft Letter of Instruction (LOI) and the second will agree and countersign.

If the clients have been referred by a mediator, financial adviser or located me via Resolution, or this website, I will provide a draft Letter of Instruction, for completion, signature, and return. The Letter of Instruction needs to detail which calculations are required, so that the report provides the relevant information. Please see my Computations Explanation.

The Letter of Instruction and other documents are submitted to me via an upload link, which is far more secure than simply sending them as an attachment to an email.

I send an email acknowledging the Letter of Instruction to the two solicitors or divorcing parties and mediator. That will include the initial invoices, one for each party for 25% of the overall fee.

Depending on the time taken to agree to appoint me, together with preparation and completion of the relevant documents this stage can be very quick or interminably slow. This aspect is outside my control.

This stage can take days, weeks or months.

Data Gathering

Once the Initial Fee invoices have been paid I will start the data gathering process.

I read through the Letter of Instruction. I note the information required on my PODE Report Key – my Excel spreadsheet designed to collate the data and undertake the required calculations. Most Letters of Instruction detail various facts about the two parties. Some are more comprehensive than others.

Initially, I review the required calculations detailed and offer some guidance on reducing the variations requested, based on my understanding of the circumstances of the case. I also identify any missing personal information, state pension forecasts, pension statements, and Letters of Authority.

I then contact the solicitors or divorcing parties and mediator both providing this guidance and requesting the missing information.

Whilst I am waiting for the clients or their representatives to provide this information I examine the pension information provided, entering the details ascertained on to my PODE Report Key. Again I identify any missing information. I then review my library of schemes (built up over the last twenty or so years) to ascertain any of these missing details. Additionally, I search the scheme websites for details and check my scheme library is still up to date. The more information I have at the outset, the less I have to request from the pension providers.

I submit requests for the missing pension scheme data together with the Letter of Authority, to the pension provider. I use email where possible, however some providers will only accept requests by letter. I make a diary note to follow up.

Once I have completed the review of each scheme or plan, I will send an update to the solicitors or divorcing parties and mediator.

Each time I receive further information from the providers, or my clients, I will review the documentation supplied and update my PODE Report Key accordingly.

Please bear in mind that most pension scheme administrators and insurance companies work to a ten or fifteen day turnaround time i.e., it will take them two or three weeks to respond.

Additionally, many companies decline to provide responses to me.

They will frequently cite the fact my company (The Pension Experts) is not recorded on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Register. I explain in my initial request that I am not a financial adviser; I am a PODE, and so not authorised by the FCA. Unfortunately, this explanation is frequently ignored as they receive significantly more requests from Financial Advisers.
Letters of Authority (LOA) may need to be revised. The main problem is that clients append a digital signature. Schemes will only accept a “wet signature”. You can fill in the form online, but you must then print it out and physically sign it, then scan it in and upload it to me.
Unfortunately, provider interpretation of data protection issues will frequently mean the divorcing parties have to contact the schemes or insurer directly. This usually relates to revised addresses or other discrepancies in the information on the LOA and their records.
Some providers will refuse to send information to third parties, irrespective of FCA authorisation, in a bid to protect members from scammers. Others go a step further and will not even accept a request for information from a third party, insisting the member must ask, or complete a specific form.
If the providers do deign to respond, many will email the details to the member, or upload them to a portal, which only the member can access. Some still insist on posting them using a third party supplier “Business Class” which is a cheaper, less efficient service than Royal Mail to the member’s last known address.
The information then has to be sent on to me by the divorcing parties or their solicitors. Again, I suggest you use the upload link I will have given you.
Unfortunately, many providers will insist on sending a standard package rather than answering specific questions.
On more than one occasion I have explained I have reviewed their letter, statement or whatever and need some other details not provided and they simply send me the same document again.
Also, they do sometimes get things wrong or answer a different question to the one I asked.
Sometimes the responses will raise further questions. This may be because it contradicts a previous answer or because it introduces an additional complexity not apparent in the original papers.
The more differing providers there are, the longer it generally takes.
This all means I may need to ask for information more than once, but don’t worry, I am used to doing that and well versed in asking the question in different ways!

All of these things will create delays. I will do my best to keep you informed and ask you to take action to move things along if you can.

This Data Gathering Stage will usually take six to twelve weeks, but can take up to six months.

This timescale will be extended if the current consultancy firm undertaking the scheme administration is being replaced by an alternative. The Trustees of schemes are obliged to review their external administration services and ensure they are getting good service and value for money on behalf of the scheme members. This generally results in a month or so of apparent inaction.

In practice, one firm is winding down in the run up to ceasing to look after the scheme. They will also be arranging the transfer of data to the new administrators. That data will need to be transformed so that it can be entered on the recipient firm’s computer software, which is generally bespoke for each consultancy company. It will then need to be entered – hopefully electronically, but occasionally this needs to be undertaken manually, which is exceptionally labour intensive.

The new administrator will therefore acquire at least a month's backlog of work. For some inexplicable reason, this seems to come as a surprise to them and they never have enough staff to deal with that. Additionally of course the staff are not familiar with the scheme (each and every one has its own little foibles to comprehend) and need training which takes time and reduces hours available to respond to questions.

Computations Stage

Once I have all the information I need from both of you, and your various pension providers, I will be ready to start the computations stage.

This is when the second part of the fee will be invoiced.
This is the Interim Fee, which is a second quarter of half of the total fee.
Once that is paid by or on behalf of both parties, I will advise the due date of the report, which will be six weeks from the date the second of these to Interim Fee payments are received.

I then start work on the calculations:

In practice, as I will have been adding details to my Excel Spreadsheet, those will have been completed automatically.
However, my calculator is a moving feast - I am constantly updating it and adjusting it, reflecting unusual requirements or quirks of schemes. So the first step is to copy the details to the latest version. That has to be done manually and then checked for accuracy.
I then go through checking the entries, calculations and results.
The more variations (e.g., Parity of Income, Equality of Capital Value, Period of Marriage, Offsetting) you have requested, the longer this stage will take. Adding differing ages will create multiple calculations, which again increases the time required. That is simply because there is more work to be done.
I may then need to revisit some calculations and reconsider the methodology. This may reflect an arithmetical error or a peculiarity in the scheme or the circumstances, which gives some anomalous results.
In this scenario the checking stage will be longer. I do check as I go along, but sometimes its hard to see the discrepancies until you have all the figures to hand.

This Computation Stage will usually take three weeks.

Report Drafting Stage

Once I am certain the figures are all consistent and complete, I am ready to start drafting the actual report. I will advise the solicitors, mediator and divorcing parties whether or not I am on target for the due date provided previously.

Again, the more variations you have requested, the longer this stage will take. That is simply because there is more work to be done, more figures to be entered and double checked and wordings to adjust.
As I draft the report I may again spot discrepancies or anomalies and need to revisit the underlying calculations.
I may also need to make extra manual calculations due to specific scenarios set out in the Letter of Instruction. This may delay progress, but I will keep you informed.
Once I have completed the drafting process, I will issue the Final Invoices, for the remaining 50% of the fee.

This Drafting Stage will usually take three weeks.

Report Issue Stage

I then review the report to double check consistency throughout and try and resolve any typos or numerical discrepancies. Again, this will take longer the more complex the report is in terms of the numbers of schemes and sets of computations required.
Once I receive payment of both of those final invoices, I will issue the report.
You will have the opportunity to ask simple questions without any additional cost.
If you decide you require further computations or the questions are complex, I will let you know any additional fees. The fee is £300 + VAT for each additional variation not requested at outset

This Issuing Stage will usually take one or two days from receipt of payment