Keith Churchouse: Real deal or just meal deal?

Reality is setting in. The ‘new normal' is that working from home, in full, in part, or any combination of the two is now likely to be the case for the autumn, indeed most of 2020, if not beyond.

Sure, we carefully visit the office on a regular basis, following a suitable risk assessment and precautionary measures. However, the other office, in my case a spare bedroom, is now entrenched as part of our overall business routine. 

With the announcement the risk level has fallen from 4 to 3, that the pubs are open, you can fly aboard again, and that schools will return to full function in September 2020, will businesses do the same?  

This may depend on a second spike, localised or otherwise, with our Chancellor, Rishi Sunak MP, aiming to combat the negative effects on the UK economy with stamp duty, VAT, and furlough incentives, among others. I think his ‘Eat out to help out' initiative is interesting, although hard to manage. Is it a real deal, or just a meal deal? August will tell!

Cabin fever

The swift switch away from our office premises to operating from the home office ran smoothly, forgiving a few faults that could be lived with because, hey, it was only going to be a month or two... right? Wrong!

The reality is that the faults become unacceptable after 12 plus weeks at the small desk, and an office re-arrange was instigated one afternoon, stemming from the realisation that other three-plus months tucked into a confined workspace was not conducive to real and sustained productivity.  

A new larger desk/table installed, the company logo on the wall for the ever-growing number of Zoom calls, cooling fans for the summer… a complete reconfiguration of the room has made the home office space feel a lot better. This might just be psychological, but it has been a valuable exercise in keeping ready to meet our clients' ongoing requirements.  

I had thought that my CPD for the year was complete, however reading and digesting the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) PS20/6 updated requirements for defined benefit pension transfers for the balance of 2020, I might now be wrong. Take a read if you have time, noting that many have already shared their views either through social media or through the trade press.  

To add my penny's worth, although I do not dispute that further tightening of regulation is required, there are elements that I do not agree with, particularly the strongly indicated preference that any transfer should be made to a client's workplace pension scheme (WPS) in the default fund.

I appreciate that the FCA says that you can place any pension transfer values elsewhere but would need to confirm and demonstrate why the WPS was not suitable, why recommending an alternative is more suitable, and include an analysis of the WPS in your reporting. 

As some have suggested already, where will they draw the line on their ‘advice' to us… and our clients? Because this is a prescription to us of their advice. If it was your money, would you put a large pension transfer value into a WPS fund? Perhaps the comments section of this article will give the answers?  

 The CPD requirement in itself is not an issue, but for some could be challenging in conjunction with other CPD requirements, such as 15 hours for protection, and the ethics CPD requirement of the CISI, if this applies to you.  

 I have no doubt that many may consider again their continued DB permissions to maintain the ability as a pension transfer specialist to give advice in this area. The PI renewals are also of great concern to most. Although some consumers will, of course, be protected by these measures, others will also lose access to advice as the market implodes, even with the carve-out positions being suggested.  

It was a positive day in reading the update from the FCA... Well, at least the home office is more functional...

Keith Churchouse is director and Chartered financial planner at Chapters Financial

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