PensionBee has called for urgent action from the Government and regulators to modernise the UK’s pension transfer system, warning that savers are still facing long delays when attempting to move their retirement funds.
In a new report, Faster, Fairer, Digital: The Pension Transfer Reset, the company said some transfers continue to take months, and in extreme cases years, to complete, according to FF News.
It blamed outdated processes, paper forms and what it described as “sludge tactics” used by some providers to slow down transfers.
PensionBee said the system “routinely fails consumers”, creating confusion and anxiety for people trying to access or consolidate their pension savings.
The report proposes five reforms, including mandatory digital transfers across all schemes, a legally backed 10-day switching guarantee for most defined contribution pensions, and new requirements for providers to publish transfer performance data.
It also calls for changes to the existing scams legislation—specifically the Amber and Red Flag regime—which PensionBee says is sometimes misapplied and used as a reason to block or delay legitimate transfers. The firm also argues that the statutory six-month deadline for transfers, unchanged for more than 30 years, is no longer suitable in a digital era.
The report highlights differences between providers regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and those overseen by The Pensions Regulator (TPR). FCA-regulated firms typically complete digital transfers within days, PensionBee said, while many trust-based schemes regulated by TPR lag behind, resulting in a “two-tier system” for savers.
PensionBee warned that the imbalance, combined with legacy IT systems and the absence of enforceable service standards, has created “a lottery” for consumers.
More than 6,500 people have signed the company’s public petition calling for a 10-day Pension Switch Guarantee. PensionBee said demand for transfers is expected to rise as Pensions Dashboards are introduced and upcoming inheritance tax changes prompt more people to consolidate their pots.
Lisa Picardo, Chief Business Officer UK at PensionBee, said the system was “broken”, despite the technology existing to process transfers far more quickly.
“In 2025, it’s unacceptable that savers are waiting months, sometimes even years, just to move their own money,” she said. “If you can move money between banks in seconds, there’s no excuse for pensions taking months.”
PensionBee said that while voluntary initiatives such as STAR had been helpful, they had not achieved universal adoption. It called on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the FCA and TPR to work together on a digital-first system with clear standards and greater accountability.
