The government is calling in the ‘big three’ pension providers for “urgent talks” after accusations that they have not done enough to improve pension transfer times.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said that it wanted the third party providers to “better explain what was going on” and that it would not rule out future legislation aimed at reducing transfer times, currently allowing for six months, if the industry appears to be dragging its feet.

It comes after the Pensions Minster Guy Opperman wrote to the third party providers, Aon Hewitt, Mercer and Willis Towers Watson at the end of last year, asking them to address the issue, however the firms have been accused of being “flippant in their response”.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The Pensions Minister wrote to firms urging action on slow transfer times. We’re stepping up our calls for progress and bringing those providers in for urgent talks so they can better explain what is going on.

“We’re clear that we aren’t ruling out future legislation to force a reduction in transfer times.”

The industry is undertaking a number of initiatives to help shorten the time it takes to complete an occupational pension transfer, one of which is Star, the government-backed initiative which aims to bring the time it takes to a member to transfer their pension savings to just three weeks.

However, none of the providers are currently signed up, however Aon said they are “considering” whether or not to join the initiative when approached for comment.

Last week, pensions technology firm Origo published for the first time the average pension cash transfer performance of the providers that use its digital transfer service and PensionBee chief executive officer, Romi Savova, hopes it will encourage the large providers to sign up to the electronic transfer platform.

“If you look at the landscape of who has joined Origo, you’ll find it is the vast majority of Financial Conduct Authority regulated providers are already on the system, as well as providers who have undergone or undergoing master trust authorisation,” she said.

“It is really the third party administrators like WTW or Aon Hewitt and Mercer where the administration isn’t regulated by anyone, that seems to have fallen through the cracks. We see no reason that if Nest and The Peoples Pension have adopted these standards, why should these other large companies not do the same.

“It seems to me that they are trying to hide in the corner, but transparency is a great disinfectant and I am hopeful that the Origo publication will help them take that step to electronic transfers.”

Last week, Sovova said that Star was “dangerously deluding” legislators and regulators over the industry’s ability to improve transfer times across the industry and called on the DWP to “step up to the plate”.

When asked what it was doing to improve transfer times, a Mercer spokesperson said: “Following Marsh and McLennan Companies’ recent acquisition of JLT, Mercer has gained a number of exciting technologies including Origo connectivity to add to our suite of client offerings.

“As to be expected this soon after closure of the transaction, we are still in the assessment phase of the integration. Mercer remains committed to providing great customer service and accelerating transfers wherever possible.”

Willis Towers Watson has yet to respond to comment from Pensions Age.

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