Step by step

01

First things first…

Let’s start by telling you what we don’t help with.

Unfortunately, we can’t help with all pension sharing reports as we want to focus on the areas of work that we specialise in. We don’t do reports for clients where a public sector pension (e.g. police, NHS, local government, civil service, teachers’ etc.) is likely going to need to be shared. Instead, we suggest that traditional actuarial firms are used for these pension schemes. We can, however, help if these schemes make up only a small part of the overall pension assets.

Secondly, if you’re considering using Bluesky to help with a “shadow expert” matter, the drafting of a letter of instruction, cashflow modelling, or post-divorce financial planning (e.g., pension sharing implementation), please call us to discuss the matter first so a tailored fee can be offered.

02

Requesting a quote

If you’d like Bluesky to produce a pension sharing report, we’ll need to provide you with a quote for the work. So, we’d encourage you to pick up the phone or email us with details of the case.  To provide an accurate quotation, we’ll need basic information on the pension schemes involved and the calculations to be done.

We pride ourselves on being open and flexible, so again we’d always prefer you to pick up the phone to discuss a case first, especially if there are any potential complications to be considered before proceeding. We even offer three-way meetings with both sets of solicitors if we feel it would aid the case.

03

Next steps

When sending you our quote for the work, we’ll also send any documentation to be completed by your clients so you can formally instruct Bluesky.  This will include basic details on the parties involved, a simple health questionnaire, and letters of authority for the pension schemes in question.

These documents will need to be returned, along with the letter of instruction, so Bluesky can get working on the case.

04

Your instruction received

Once we receive your instruction, a case-handler will review the letter of instruction and the documentation returned and then confirm the next steps. At this point, we’ll also confirm our fee.

We appreciate that between the initial quote request and Bluesky receiving the letter of instruction, things can change. For example, it’s common for additional pension schemes to have been found or the number of calculations needed to have increased. At this point, we’ll review the original quote and confirm our guaranteed fee for producing the report.

05

Data gathering

The next stage sees Bluesky collecting data on your client’s behalf. This will include liaising with the pension schemes in question to get the information necessary to complete the report.

Unfortunately, some providers aren’t as responsive as we’d hope, and the complexities of pension sharing can mean the data gathering stage can take a little longer than desired.  During this time, Bluesky will regularly chase pension providers and  keep all parties updated with progress.

06

Producing the report

Once we have all the information, we’ll start working on the pension sharing report. We aim to produce our reports within 10 weeks of receiving all the pension information, but will produce them quicker if we have the capacity to do so. Once the report has been produced, it’ll go through our internal checking procedures before being emailed and posted.