Nucleus Avis 

My SIPP and Stocks and Shares were moved by James Hay to Nucleus . I truly wished that I’d moved to another provider before that happened.

As soon as my resources were moved over I initiated transfers to other providers with the ISA transfer requested at the end of January. More than 15 weeks later I’m still in limbo and have no idea when this will be completed and am terrified that mistakes will be made that will result in losses to me.

A complaint about this registered in March still hasn’t been resolved and no timescale for resolution has been indicated.

Those serving the telephone line are all polite and helpful but can take no action to make things happen. Twice they’ve ’escalated’ my transfer but to no effect.

A consequence of registering my complaint has been that someone within the organisation decided that the original transfer request must be a duplicate and incorrectly closed it with the assumption that the transfer would be completed via the complaints process.

Everything seems to be out of control and terrifying as my SIPP and Socks & Shares ISA dominate my retirement income.

I just want my transfers to be complete without errors so that I will not have to deal with Nucleus again.

Two weeks on and the promise from Emma below that someone would be in touch unfulfilled.

Further update 05/06/2026.
Still waiting for this transfer to be complete. Two weeks after the receiving organisation requested an enabling action by Nucleus, that action has not been undertaken.
The call-back promised below by Emma still hasn’t happened.
My formal complaint regarding this transfer that I submitted on March 17th is un-answered.

What went wrong! You know very well what is wrong at the present time, your couldnt care less attitude to MANY .It is not just one or two customers who are still waiting for tax free lumps etc to appear in their account whilst Nucleus whistles dixie.. The Financial times stopped comments about this firm probably because there was so many. We have heard every excuse under the sun and been kept waiting on the phone for an age and an eternity every time we have rung. Calls always end with "you will have it in the next couple of days. We have been waiting since the first of May 2026 and still no sign of it. DO NOT USE NUCLEUS they say they have a new system in place which has caused all the trouble....yea right.Well we shall not only be getting the tax free lump hopefully soon but the rest too, moving it away from nucleus.

The performance of my investment is very good

I have tried several times to reset my password and still have not managed to do this

Re JamesHay IPS No. S32369
James Hay agreed to make an investment with funds held in my SIPP in early March 2026 and the fairly substantial sum was taken from my account on 9 April. Since then I have heard nothing despite sending emails to the relative department and then phoning in the absence of any replies. In desperation I wrote to the Complaints Manager who advises me that it will take up to four weeks to deal with this matter, is this really acceptable ? Meanwhile I have no idea where the money is which obviously is causing me very considerable concern.

The team answered quickly, talked me through what I needed to do and it was all very straightforward. Very pleased.

A little confusion regarding a payment but was rectified.

THINK VERY CAREFULLY BEFORE INVESTING YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY WITH THIS COMPANY AND IF ALREADY INVESTED WITH THEM CONSIDER MOVING TO A COMPANY THAT VALUES YOU.

I had just over £400k with them and they don’t appear to care!

What an appalling company to deal with. My SIPP was previously with James Hay where I found the service to be amazing (great portal, phone answered quickly, messages replied to, always did what they said they were going to do). Unfortunately during early 2026 it appears that James Hay was incorporated into Nucleus Financial and that is where the problems started. I requested a sum of tax free cash which is a process that they said would take up to 15 days. Slightly inaccurate as it ended up taking months and that is despite me doing the legwork for them and chasing up investment companies for them (is that not what I pay them to do?). As every time I contacted them I was fobbed off with “will will escalate this for you” and “we do not have timescales for that / when you will receive an update” this resulted in my having to chase them up twice weekly for 3 months. During this process I submitted a complaint which was eventually replied to with an agreement of a derisory amount of compensation of £271 that would be paid within 5-15 days. Some 6 weeks later this has not arrived and when I have phoned them today they have again come up with the usual reluctance to take any ownership / make efforts to resolve / timescales for resolution as per usual.

As a result of the incompetence they have shown I was also subject to a significant market drop as a result of the Iran crisis and resultant reduction to the amount of TFC available. £271 in compensation goes nowhere near to covering these losses, let alone the cost of my time to push them to complete my request. Ironically as they have so far failed to pay the compensation it appears that they cannot even get this right!

I do have some sympathy for the poor staff who presumably have to deal with with the many disgruntled Nucleus customers that I have heard about and who have also received the same shoddy service.

I WILL BE MOVING MY MONEY FROM NUCLEUS very soon and when asked am telling as many people as I can about my experience with them.

If somebody in a senior position with Nucleus wishes to contact me I would be more than happy to discuss with them the just how bad their service has been.

I have given 1 star as there is no option to give any lower

No information was given when my monthly payment was delayed for over a week.
Only when I phoned did I get the info but not adequately explaining why it was delayed

Nucleus Financial has given us a very poor experience. My father’s pension payments have been late, the portal is confusing, responses are slow, and the information provided has sometimes been wrong.

The most worrying issue was the handling of his Power of Attorney, which was returned with an incorrect reference and a letter saying he was the attorney for someone we have never heard of. For a company dealing with pensions and sensitive financial documents, that is unacceptable and has caused unnecessary stress and concern.

Ross Allen COO…I wonder if you consider this acceptable? Financial / pensions Ombudsman Service next

I complained about the appalling service in connection with a withdrawal from my pension (it was eventually paid two days short of 11 weeks later). On Thursday this week, 8 weeks later, I received an email indicating that the Complaints Team "are making good progress investigating my complaint but are not yet in a position to reply properly".
Based on my experiences with Nucleus I don't believe that for a moment and suspect they are snowed under with complaints and have likely not started to investigate. I appreciate this is supposition on my part so this review is instead based on their failure to respond within the 8 week timescale. And reading other reviews illustrates I'm not alone!

The team always respond quickly, precisely and extremely professionally.
The processes and explanation, very clear and if not there is always someone to speak to to answer queries.

Taking an inordinate amount of time to process a simple UFPLS withdrawal. Have heard nothing from them other than reply confirming they received the request. Have tried chasing via their secure message system, which you can only access if logged in to their system. Apparently they also need my customer number as they are unable to identify me, ‘other customers may have same name’, even though I’ve used their secure message system. Surely this defeats the purpose of a secure message if you are unable to positively identify the sender.

Having just read the reply from Nucleus I am absolutely gobsmacked. Confirmation that their secure message system is not secure and they have no way of identifying the sender. Unbelievable.

Sunday 7th June and still none the wiser as to when my UFPLS payment will be made. Zero correspondence from Nucleus other than receipt acknowledgement on 1st April. Looking at recent reviews, and my experience, suggests to me this is a company that is unable to meet basic levels of service which is extremely worrying.

Go anywhere else!

I was with them before and after I retired. In the first 10 months of retiring, 8 monthly payments were late, wrong or just forgotten. After numerous complaints they still couldn’t get it right. Also don’t expect a quick answer if you complain. If you want the basics done right go somewhere else.

In March I was due a tax refund, my monthly payment duly arrived plus the tax refund amount. Unfortunately the amount of the tax refund amount has not been credited to my cash account. So I have paid myself the tax refund out of my own money. In the last six weeks I have spoken to four people who have all promised to sort out the problem and then contact me still waiting. I have also had numerous emails apologising for the below level service and promising to sort out the problem still waiting. I was originally a James Hay customer so it could ve an it problem. I would recommend anyone who received a tax refund in March to see if they have been credited to their account.

Have been trying to get them to complete a simple form since 21st March to enable my previous provider to send additional funds that are owed to my account. Seems it is just being looked at today, but who knows, told 3 times complaint has been escalated. Even wrote to CEO who responded, but no discernible difference. Has cost me financially.
Also changed my pension payment day when migrated from James Hay, now corrected, no apology.
Platform not easy to navigate, not customer friendly.
Will be moving elsewhere when this is sorted, they won’t care.
Senior management need to take a serious look at themselves.
Chairman needs to get involved.

My IFA on the 7th of April instructed Nucleus Financial Services (formerly James Hay) to transfer money from my portfolio to my current account. After much chasing It arrived on the 29th April. If you are ok waiting 22 days for a money transfer then these are the guys for you

Monthly payments just one problem among others since the transition from James Hay to Nucleus platform. I'm still trying to have my monthly pension paid before the end of the month as it was on the James Hay platform but to no avail, many secure messages and complaints, replies that show no understanding of my issue and from customer service staff who cannot action changes. Those they pass to appear not to be able to either. It's now the first of the month and no income so far today and all my standing orders have gone out leaving me short of funds. My overall experience echoes Richard Meyers' in his review on 25th April. Appalling and concerning. Secure messages are replied to weeks after sending and formal complaints likewise.

The process is complicated takes too long and requires documents to be printed which can be difficult for some
The personal assistance was good
The final payment has been delayed a further 10 working days which is very frustrating

I requested a withdrawal 2 months ago for at least 6 weeks it has been sat in cash. Still don't have a expected date for funds to arrive or anything in writing explaining why I don't have my money in my bank account. Even after placing a formal complaint.

Get given a different timeframe every time I call, can't seem to be able to speak to a manager. Very concerning! This is making my life miserable I'm stuck overseas, unable to get crucial surgery and am having to explain to my landlord why I can't pay rent this month!

Awful service, I feel sorry for the staff who work here as they seem to be unable help and no one senior wants to lift a finger it seems.

Seeing these other reviews does not fill me with confidence.

Update: I have since had a conversation with Dawn who was understanding. She is looking into things and getting back to me which I appreciate.

Update: Did not get a call back as promised. No email either. Now 3 days since placing a formal complaint. GIVEN THE FUNDS ARE IN CASH, THIS DELAY APPEARS UNREASONABLE UNDER FINANCIAL CONDUCT AUTHORITY PRINCIPLES.