FASA 2024
Pensions and Protection Provider

Pensions and Protection Provider

Pension and protection providers have had a difficult year in terms of service provision, if the scores from advisers are anything to go by.

Over the past 12 months, the number of five-star providers in this category has fallen to six this year from 11 in 2024.

Only one protection company remains in the top six for 2024: Guardian.

Duncan Mosely, chief operating officer for Guardian, said: “We’re delighted to again achieve five stars for service, the top score possible, in the Financial Adviser Service Awards for protection providers in 2024. We’ve achieved this status now for six years in a row, which is every year since our launch.

“It’s in our DNA to always strive for ‘better’ at Guardian, and this year we introduced anniversary mailings for all our customers, and further enhanced our pre-sales underwriting tool, Qi, to give an upfront indication of terms.

“We also met the upgraded criteria for signatories to the 2024 PDG Claims Charter, including the enhanced expectations around claims timescales.”

He called it a “fantastic recognition of the hard work of everyone at Guardian”, adding: “This shows our ongoing commitment to providing good outcomes for our customers and their advisers.”

The five other five-star winners are pension providers – among them some stalwart names, such as Dentons, which has hardly put a foot wrong in the past 12 years, with straight five-stars every consecutive year.

The four-star winners have remained consistent, although notable newcomers include Fidelity Adviser Solutions, which has come up from nowhere in 2023 to achieve four stars.

This indicates that FAS is one to watch for next year’s FASAs, as are some of the names that have dropped down a star this year: will they recover their top standing?

To get that top standing, providers had to prove to advisers that they had made considerable efforts over the previous 12 months across a variety of metrics.

They were marked on aspects such as the quality of service and in particular accessibility from regular contacts within providers. This may be with a named contact/consultant by any form of communication, and providing training for advisers.

Another key metric was the technical and product support provided by companies, including query handling across all divisions.

In a year when the Financial Conduct Authority has been focusing its attention on closed book business, with the July deadline for bringing legacy customers into the consumer duty regime, the importance of handling closed-book business has also been a key factor in how advisers voted.

Advisers have also been pressing companies on turnaround times, communication to third parties, such as GPs and other providers, and watching to see what happens as big names such as AIG are bought and integrated into other providers.

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