James Hay Podcast James Hay

In the second part of this podcast special, we're back with Damian Smyth, Head of Sales at James Hay, and Neil MacGillivray, Head of Technical Support, to continue the conversation on what adviser firms can do to protect clients from scams. Neil also explains the impact the government's new proposals to allow pensions trustees to block transfers could have on clients.

*For professional advisers and paraplanners only *

According to the Pension Scams Industry Group, a voluntary body of providers and trade associations, around 40,000 pension holders may have been defrauded in one way or another and up to £10 billion may have been lost in pension scams. These figures sound pretty bad, however, the People’s Pension has crunched its own numbers and found that 1 in 200 adults in the UK – that’s around a quarter of a million savers – may have lost retirement savings to fraud. They also estimate that the total cost of this could be more in the region of £14.6 billion. So, whoever’s data we use, we are talking some about pretty big numbers.

Damian Smyth, Head of Sales at James Hay, is joined by Neil MacGillivray, Head of Technical Support, to discuss pension scams and what we can all do to help run the scammers out of town. In part one of this podcast special, Neil defines what a pension scam is and the issues pension scams pose.

*For professional advisers and paraplanners only *

The 2020 Financial Lives Survey indicated that 46% of UK adults could be considered vulnerable, and even more so since the pandemic took hold in March last year.

Vulnerability is consequently a key area of focus for the FCA and they’re understandably insistent that advisers treat their clients right. So is your business prepared?

In this podcast our Director of Marketing, Stephen Wynne-Jones, speaks to Bradley Thompson from our Customer Experience team. Bradley is our vulnerable customer expert and has literally championed this important subject throughout our firm.

Bradley provides guidance on how advisers and paraplanners can spot the signs of vulnerability, and tips for how to help support any clients who could be considered vulnerable.

*For financial advisers and paraplanners only*

* For professional advisers and paraplanners only *

In our latest podcast, Head of Strategic Accounts, Damian Smyth, quizzes our Head of Technical Support, Neil MacGillivray, about the scale of the governments’ pandemic spending, and the options the Chancellor is likely to consider in order to try and recoup the cost that may affect your clients.

With plenty of uncertainty still ahead, Neil shares some wisdom regarding how advisers and their clients should be planning and preparing for the inevitability of tax changes further down the line.

*For professional advisers and paraplanners only*

In the first of a new technical podcast series, Head of Strategic Accounts, Damian Smyth, quizzes pensions expert, Ian Linden, on the complexities around the annual allowance, as Ian takes the pension savings mechanism back to basics.

Ian explains what’s changed, the difference in dealing with Defined Contribution versus Defined Benefit pensions, and what happens if the Annual Allowance is exceeded.

Following the recent First‑Tier Tribunal case of Marina Silver v The Commission for HMRC (2019) UKFTT 0263 (TC), the government will legislate in the Finance Bill 2020 on how top slicing relief impacts on an individual’s personal allowance.