Industry experts have hit back at concerns that savers are being left to wait "far too long" for pension transfers, after analysis from Origo suggested that long waits for pension transfers are not indicative of the overall market.

Research from My Pension Expert recently raised concerns after revealing that savers have to wait an average of 29 days for ceding companies to transfer their pension funds to a new provider, with its analysis suggesting that some providers were taking as long as 120 days.

However, a number of providers in the analysis responded with concerns over the sample size of the research, warning that the conclusions drawn from the research could be "misleading".

Analysis from Origo has also since suggested that the performance of market outliers prompted the increase in overall transfer times, revealing that half of the transfers undertaken by the top 10 providers by transfer volume over the past year were completed in 3 to 8 calendar days.

In addition to this, the overall average across the 10 providers, who collectively account for 70 per cent of transfers through the Origo Transfer Service, was found to be 11 calendar days.

This is also in line with the most recent update from the Origo Transfer Index, which gathers data from across 28 providers, and revealed that the average time for a pension transfer was 13.6 calendar days for the 12 months to the end of June 2023.

Commenting on the latest figures, Origo CEO, Anthony Rafferty, argued that it is "disappointing when the narrative on transfer times is presented as negative for the market as a whole".

He continued: "The data shows that it is more often the performance of the outliers in the market that raise overall transfer times and can cause frustrations in the market. The majority of providers are doing sterling transfer work day-in day-out for consumers.

“The frustrations exist with some providers in the occupational pension market, who are still taking up to several months to transfer customers’ money. This is largely because the process is undertaken manually, paper-based, and consequently, slowly. Given the chance, we can help them, substantially.

“Not every transfer is straightforward and there is no doubt also that the new regulations designed to help protect consumers against pensions scams have contributed to the recent uptick in transfer times.

“We believe the overall average speed of transfer can be improved further. Full integration of the process with organisations’ back-office systems, for example, can significantly improve transfer times.

“Overall, however, the market is delivering what we know consumers want – their transfer done quickly and safely.”

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