Legal & General Pension Consolidation Services – Customer Terms and Conditions

The services we provide under these terms and conditions will not include any pensions, financial, regulatory, legal, tax or other investment advice or recommendations. You must make your own investment decisions about whether scheme consolidation is right for you and we cannot accept responsibility for any advice you receive from other individuals or companies.

The value of your pension pot isn’t guaranteed. The value of your pension savings can go down as well as up. When you consolidate your pension savings will be invested in one or more investment funds. The law, tax rates and any allowances may change in the future. These changes could affect the value of your savings, how much you can pay in, or the age at which you’re able to access your money. How tax works for you will depend on your individual circumstances.

Introduction
1. These terms (the “Terms” ) are the legal agreement that will apply to us and to you when you open an Account with you and ask us to help you consolidate other pension schemes into your Legal & General Pension. Please read them carefully and retain a copy for your records. If there is anything in these Terms that you do not understand please contact us via 0345 070 8686 to discuss.
2. If you do not agree with something in these Terms you should not open an Account. This is because these Terms will be deemed to be accepted by you, and will apply to us, from the point you register your Account (see section 2 for more detail on the Account opening process).
3. A reference to “we”, “our” and “us” in these Terms, is to Legal & General (Portfolio Management Services) Limited and any persons acting on behalf of us such as our employees, affiliates and third parties who provide us with services or assist in the provision of services to you. We are incorporated and registered in England and Wales (company number 02457525) and our registered office is at One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA. We are authorised and regulated by the FCA. When you transfer a pension, the provider of your existing Legal & General Pension may contact the provider(s) of your other pension scheme(s) to request the transfer. In addition to these Terms, our Privacy Policy will apply and explains how we may use and share information about you.
4. You must be aged 18 or over and live in the United Kingdom to use any of the services under these Terms. You will be treated as a “retail” customer under the FCA rules, which means you benefit from the highest level of investor protections under those rules.
5. For your own benefit and protection, you should consider if you need to seek specialist advice from a financial provider when deciding whether to transfer your pension.
6. Section 13 (Definitions) contains more information about certain words we use in these Terms.
Opening Your Account
1. You can use your Account to track the progress of your pension transfer as well as to perform other administrative tasks connected to these services.
2. Your Account will be open from the point you submit information to us about yourself (e.g. your email address) on the Website. However, initiating the Account opening process does not necessarily mean you will be able to use our services.
3. When you set up an Account you will receive login details. You will also be sent a confirmation email when you set up an Account. If any details in this email are wrong, or if you receive a confirmation notice you do not recognise, please contact us immediately.
4. While we aim to ensure you can always access your Account while it is open, we do not guarantee that it will always be available or that there will not be delays. We will try to give you reasonable notice before any interruptions or delays happen.
5. By opening an Account, you agree that we can carry out various checks on you (including with external providers such as credit reference agencies) before we are able to start providing you with any services. These checks are intended to protect both you and us from fraud and to allow us to comply with our legal and regulatory duties. We will let you know if the outcome of these checks means that we are unable to offer you any one or more of the services, for example, if we would not be able to provide services in a way which complies with our regulatory duties.
6. You can close your Account at any time, and in some circumstances we may close your Account - see section 7 for further information about this.
Locating and Transferring Your Pension
1. Where you ask us to transfer your pension, you will need to provide the information that we ask for in order to make the transfer and you agree to allow us to use that information you provide us to contact your existing provider(s) and to provide them with the information that they need in order to action your request. In certain circumstances we may also ask you, your employer(s) (current or previous), your existing pension provider(s) and other third parties at various times to provide further information about you, including information about your existing pension(s). Any information you provide to us may be used to update an existing record we hold with respect to you.
2. If you are not able to provide a policy number, we will require your permission to contact your existing scheme provider to request this information before we can request a transfer. We will ask you to provide this permission by way of a letter of authority. We may need to include an electronic or physical (wet ink) copy of your signature on the letter of authority, or we may send you the standard letter of authority by post for you to sign and return to us. If we are unable to locate a pension that you have asked us to transfer, or if we have been able to locate a pension but are unable to obtain sufficient details from the provider, this will affect our ability to transfer it into your Legal & General Pension. We will let you know if this happens.
3. You will not be able to transfer a pension into your Legal & General Pension if:
  
  (a) It is a workplace pension and is currently receiving contributions from you and/or from your employer if applicable; or
  
  (b) It is in income drawdown or flexi-access drawdown, which is where you have already taken tax-free cash from your pension and left the rest of the money invested for you to take as regular and/or occasional income.
  
  If you ask us to transfer one of these then we will let you know that they are not eligible to be transferred.
4. We will also let you know if you have asked us to transfer a pension and we become aware that the pension has any of the following specific features:
  
  (a) the pension is a defined benefit pension (also known as ‘final salary’) and has a value of over £30,000;
  
  (b) the pension is a defined benefit pension and has safeguarded benefits (regardless of pension value);
  
  (c) the pension has a guaranteed annuity rate;
  
  (d) the pension is a guaranteed minimum pension;
  
  (e) the pension includes with-profits investments (and other investment guarantees);
  
  (f) protected pension age;
  
  (g) protected/enhanced tax-free cash;
  
  (h) life cover/dependent benefits; and/or
  
  (i) international pensions.
  
  These features may be valuable to you and they could be lost if you transfer the pension into your Legal & General Pension, so you may wish to reconsider whether you still want to proceed with the transfer. In some cases (for instance, where the pension is a defined benefits pension or has valuable guarantees) we may only be able to proceed if you confirm to us that you have taken professional financial advice and your adviser confirms the result was a recommendation to proceed with the transfer.
5. You should note that we will only provide this information for you to consider and that we are not able to advise you on the consequences of transferring the pension to your Legal & General Pension. We can not accept any responsibility for advice that you receive from a third party in relation to the transfer of your pension.
6. While we will always take reasonable steps to ensure the information we provide you is correct, we are unable to guarantee that information that others give us about your existing pension(s) is correct. As a result we do not accept responsibility if another person or company gives us incorrect information about your pension(s), or for any mistakes or inaccuracies that result from us relying on such incorrect information.
7. You are welcome to contact us with any questions at any time while we are in the process of transferring your pension(s). However, because of the regulatory requirements that apply to us, we’ll only be able to confirm facts we are aware of and we cannot advise you on what they mean for your investment or pension decisions or if you should proceed with any of the services. We may also point you towards additional sources of information. If you would like advice on your pensions, financial, regulatory, legal, tax or other investment advice or recommendations, you should contact an independent financial adviser.
8. If an existing pension provider does not respond to us within a reasonable period of time (usually if at least three weeks has passed since our first request), we will contact them again. However, please note that we cannot compel any of your existing pension providers to respond to us in a reasonable timeframe or at all. As a result we will not accept any responsibility to you for any difficulty or delay this causes to transferring a pension into your Legal & General Pension.
9. All transfers from your existing pension(s) will be made as cash and in British pounds sterling. This means that the provider(s) of your existing pension(s) will need to liquidate any investments currently held within your pension. While your transfer is being completed there could be a short period of time when your money is not invested, this is known as an out of market period. During this period, your money will not be impacted by any changes in the market, whether positive or negative. For further information we recommend that you read our Guide to pension transfers.
10. If we cannot locate your nominated pension(s), or if we are able to locate your pension(s) but unable to obtain sufficient details from the provider(s), this will affect our ability to process the transfer into your Legal & General Pension. If this happens, we will let you know. Please note that we cannot require any of your existing pension providers to respond to us in a reasonable timeframe or at all. As a result we will not accept any responsibility to you for any difficulty or delay this causes to investing the pension(s) you have selected into your Legal & General Pension.
Cancelling a Pension Transfer
1. When we confirm that we have found a pension, we will proceed to transfer it, but we will also send you a notice that explains how you can cancel the transfer into your Legal & General Pension if you wish to. You will only be able to cancel the transfer within a limited time window so you must act promptly.
2. You can tell us you want to cancel by email, by post, or by telephone using the L&G Workplace Helpline on 0345 070 8686.
3. Once a transfer has made, it may not be possible to reverse it. We will send you an additional notice about how and when you can cancel when we have received the transferred funds. However, where we have been unable to complete the set up of a transfer we will not issue this additional notice and we will not take any further action if you tell us you do not wish to proceed with the transfer.
4. We can only return the transfer if your previous provider(s) is willing to accept the funds that have been transferred to us. The amount we will return will reflect any changes in the value of the funds your pension pot was invested in since we received the transfer. We will also return any charges that we have taken.
5. If your previous provider is not willing to take back any funds which have been transferred, we cannot return them directly to you. Instead, you can choose to keep the funds in your Legal & General Pension, take them as benefits from your Legal & General Pension (where you are eligible to do so) or transfer them to another pension plan.
Communicating with Us
1. By opening an Account, you agree that we can contact you to provide you with reminders and updates, and to ask you for information or to take action to help us provide the services. You also agree that we can send you general correspondence about the progress of your pensions through the tracing and consolidation process.
2. You must ensure that the contact details we have for you are correct and up to date. If you change your contact details in the future, you should tell us promptly.
3. We will send most of our communications with you over the internet, including via email. We may also telephone you in connection with the services where appropriate. If you would like to communicate with us by post, please address your letters to: Pension Tracing Team, Four Central Square, Cardiff, CF10 1FS, United Kingdom.
4. You must not share your Account details with anyone else. This is because we will rely on any communication which we reasonably believe has come from you using your Account and we will treat any instructions validated with your passwords as genuine. We recommend you change your Account password regularly to keep your details as secure as possible and we strongly suggest you do not use the same password for any other online accounts you hold. If we suspect the security of our Account has been compromised we may block access to your Account and take such other reasonable actions as may be necessary to protect us or you. You must also report any information loss, suspected theft or misuse of your Account to us as soon as possible.
5. By opening an Account you agree that we may monitor and record any or all of our interactions with you (including telephone conversations) for the purposes of improving our services to you under these Terms and meeting any regulatory requirements that apply to us, and for our records.
6. We may access your Account if reasonably necessary to assist you with any queries (for example, to help diagnose or fix any problems you may have). When we do so we will not be able to take actions on your behalf using the Account, such as changing any information or making any decisions about your pensions.
7. Unless you tell us not to, we (and/or other companies in the Legal & General group of companies) may use the personal information you provide us in line with our Privacy Policy, which could include using it for:
  
  - Dealing with your enquiries and requests for products and services from us
  
  - Administering your Legal & General Pension, including processing any claims
  
  - Carrying out market research, statistical analysis and customer profiling
Charges and Tax
1. It is free of charge to open an Account and to use the services. However, you will be responsible for paying:
  
  - all fees associated with leaving your existing pension arrangement
  
  - any charges the provider of your Legal & General Pension may apply to the assets in your Legal & General Pension, including those you transfer from another pension using the services under these Terms
  
  You may wish to review the information about charges contained in the documentation for your existing pension arrangement and for your Legal and General Pension to ensure you understand how they will apply if the transfer proceeds.
2. You will remain responsible for managing your tax affairs in relation to your pensions, including dealing with any reporting you are required to make to HMRC and understanding any tax allowances or restrictions that may apply to your pension.
Closing your Account
1. You can close your Account at any time by giving us notice, either in writing, by email or by telephone. When you give us notice to close your Account we will not provide any further services to you under these Terms, other than in line with section 7.2 below.
2. Closing your Account will not affect any transfers to your Legal & General Pension that we have started in line with these Terms but which are not yet complete. You may have the right to cancel these transfers under section 4.
3. We can give you notice to close your Account for any reason, but we must tell you at least 60 days before we close the Account.
4. We will also close your Account automatically if six months have passed since either:
  
  - we have transferred all of the pensions we have located to your Legal & General Pension; or
  
  - we have told you that we cannot transfer some or all of the pensions we have located to your Legal & General Pension because we cannot accept them (see section 3.3 above).
5. We will keep your Account open while any transfers are pending. Once your Account is closed you will no longer be able to access any documents saved in it. As a result you need to ensure you have saved copies of all documents you might need in the future before giving us notice to close your Account.
Changes we can make to these Terms
1. We may make changes to these Terms where we have valid reasons for doing so, including in particular to:
  
  - make the Terms clearer for you,
  
  - reflect legitimate rises or decreases in the cost of providing the services,
  
  - make way for new and improved systems, methods of operation, services or facilities,
  
  - add new services (provided that these do not limit your ability to continue receiving existing Services) or introduce improvements to existing services,
  
  - correct any mistakes in these Terms, although in making such corrections we will not reduce any liability we may have for that mistake, and we will not increase any charges already agreed,
  
  - to reflect changes in applicable law and regulation, or
  
  - close down the service or transfer it to a different provider.
2. Where we reasonably consider that a change could not have any detrimental impact on you or it is to your benefit then we will provide notice of the change by making an updated version of these Terms available on the Website before or around the same time that it takes effect. Otherwise, we will also notify you of these changes via the email address we have for you.
3. If we do need to notify you by email of a change to these Terms then we will normally do this before they take effect, so that you have an opportunity to close your Account if you do not agree to them. The amount of notice we are able to give to you may depend on why the change is needed. For example, we may need to give you a shorter notice if the change needs to be made urgently or has been caused by something outside of our control.
4. If you are not happy with any changes we have made or are proposing to make then you can choose to close your Account in line with section 7. If you close your Account but do not cancel any transfer we have already started (or if you cannot cancel the transfer in accordance with section 4), the terms as they were at the time the transfer was started will continue to apply, except when the change is needed for legal or regulatory reasons.
Conflicts of Interest

We are determined to always treat our customers fairly. We have a policy in place to ensure that we identify and handle conflicts fairly and always treat our customers with honesty and integrity.
Complaints
1. You should contact us if you are unhappy with any aspect of the services.
  
  Telephone: 0345 076 0084
  
  Email: [email protected]
  
  Write: Pension Tracing Team, Four Central Square, Cardiff, CF10 1FS, United Kingdom
2. We will send you a formal acknowledgement of your complaint and provide you with a copy of our complaints procedure. We treat every complaint very seriously and aim to resolve each complaint fairly and promptly.
3. We hope to resolve all complaints in a friendly way. However, should we fail to resolve a complaint to your satisfaction or if we fail to do so within eight (8) weeks of receiving your complaint, you can also send your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service:
  
  Phone: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9123
  
  Email: [email protected]
  
  Write: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR
Financial Services Compensation Scheme

Your Legal & General Pension is covered by the FSCS. The FSCS is designed to pay customers compensation if they lose money because a firm is unable to pay them what they owe for any reason.

The amount of compensation available will depend on the specific circumstances of your claim. You can find out more about the FSCS (including amounts and eligibility to claim) on its website at fscs.org.uk or by calling 0800 678 1000.
Other Legal Matters
1. We may ask another company within the Legal & General group of companies to help us provide the services or to carry out any or all of our duties under these Terms. This will not affect your rights under these Terms and we will remain legally responsible for providing the services to you.
2. We may experience delays in providing the services due to unforeseen events caused by circumstances outside our reasonable control. This could include:
  
  (a) strikes, lockouts or other industrial action;
  
  (b) civil commotion, riot, invasion, terrorist attack or threat of terrorist attack, war (whether declared or not) or threat or preparation for war;
  
  (c) fire, explosion, storm or flood, earthquake, subsidence, epidemic or other natural disaster;
  
  (d) restrictions imposed by legislation, regulation or other governmental initiative that are not as a result of our misconduct;
  
  (e) recession or significant economic collapse of a market, company or country that results in a large and sustained reduction in the value of assets;
  
  (f) failure of transport networks or other external utilities (for example, telecommunications networks, water or power) leading to an unavoidable disruption;
  
  (g) cyber attack, including any actual attempted or reasonably suspected introduction of malicious code, computer virus or similar, denial of service attack or any intentional harm, disruption or downgrading of functionality, or illicit access or use, affecting any computer, computer system, computer software or programme, or other electronic process, device or system.
  
  If this happens we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know about the event and we will take steps to limit the effect of the delay. Where we have done this, we will not be liable to you for any delays caused by the event. You may also close your Account in accordance with section 7 if you are affected by such delay.
3. We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so.
4. These terms are governed by English law and you can bring legal claims in respect of the service in the courts of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland you can also bring legal claims in respect of the services in the Scottish courts. If you live in Northern Ireland you can also bring legal claims in respect of the Services in the Northern Irish courts.
5. We will always communicate with you in English.
Definitions

In these Terms, the following words have the following meanings when capitalised:

Account: means the account you set up on the Website

FCA: means the Financial Conduct Authority

FSCS: means the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which is a compensation fund for customers of financial firms regulated in the United Kingdom that are unable or are unlikely to be able to meet their obligations

Legal & General Pension: means your existing Legal & General workplace pension, which is offered either by (i) Legal and General Assurance Society Limited or (ii) Legal & General (Portfolio Management) Limited.

Terms: means these terms and conditions, as amended from time to time.

Website: means https://www.myfuturenow.co.uk , or any other website we may make available from time to time for individuals who access the services set out under these Terms.