Nest signs up to ‘Star’ initiative as Opperman urges others to join

The Star initiative aims to promote regular reporting of average transfer times and define good practice, to work towards reducing defined contribution transfer times to fewer than 21 days.

Switching can be seen as tricky for both savers and advisers because transferring can be time consuming, complicated and expensive.

The Star group says this creates barriers that may result in people staying with platforms or products that offer poor value for money or no longer meet their needs.

Guy Opperman, minister for pensions and financial inclusion, welcomed the move.

“This is great news and overdue. I’m glad Nest has signed up to the 21-day transfer pledge. Nest looks after the pensions of millions of people brought into retirement saving by automatic enrolment, so clearly it is important they send a message to the rest of the industry,” he said.

Mr Opperman added: “Others need to act urgently to join them and show that they care about their customers, or face being ‘named and shamed’.”

More than 90 per cent of Nest’s transfers use the Origo platform. For these, Nest’s average transfer time is 12.2 days.

Mark Rowlands, Nest’s director of customer engagement, said:  "We’re pleased to join the Star initiative and share our experience to help other organisations reduce their transfer times.”

Tom McPhail, of Hargreaves Lansdown and chair of the Star Steering Committee, said: “We are delighted that Nest Corporation is supporting the Star initiative, bringing with them such a high volume of consumers’ pensions. Frankly the more organisations that become involved, the firmer our foundations are and the more momentum we have.”

More than 30 organisations, including Nest, will be represented at the inaugural meeting of the pension working group on August 22 hosted by the Association of British Insurers. The forum will be a place for organisations to share ideas and collaborate on developing industry best practice.