Fourteen letters, nine providers, one spreadsheet
A new client has pensions from four former employers, two ISAs, a legacy endowment and a couple of old life policies. The administrator sends letters of authority to each provider. Some go through an online portal, some by email, some still by post with a wet signature. The spreadsheet lists them all, with the date sent.
Three weeks later, four have replied. One replied with half the information. Two providers say they never received it. The paraplanner is waiting, the adviser is asking when the report will be ready, and the client is wondering why nothing has happened.
Why LOAs are so slow to come back
Some of the delay is with providers, and that is outside your control. But a lot of it is inside the firm. The chasing schedule is informal, so letters wait longer than they need to before anyone phones. Provider responses arrive in the general inbox or the post tray and are not matched to the request. And the information that comes back is not checked against what was asked for, so a partial reply looks like a completed one.
- Each provider has its own submission route and response format.
- Chasers are sent when someone remembers, not on a schedule.
- Responses arrive in shared inboxes and post, unmatched to the request.
- Partial responses are logged as complete.
- Nobody can see all outstanding LOAs across the firm.
What waiting on providers costs
Every week an LOA is outstanding is a week the advice process cannot move. Paraplanners switch between half-finished cases. Administrators spend long stretches on hold to provider helplines. And clients, who signed the authority weeks ago, lose patience with the firm rather than the provider.
| Symptom | Underlying gap |
|---|---|
| "We never received it" | No record of how and when it was sent |
| Missing transfer value or charges | Response not checked against the request |
| Phoning every provider every week | No schedule based on each provider's usual timing |
| Client asks for an update | No per-client view of outstanding letters |
The LOA tracker we build
- Every LOA is logged against the client and the holding, with provider, date sent, method and the information requested.
- A provider directory holds each provider's submission route, address and what they typically need, which your team can keep updated.
- Chasers are scheduled per provider, so a letter is followed up at a sensible point rather than randomly.
- Incoming emails and scanned post are read, matched to the right request and attached to the client record.
- Each response is checked against a list of what was asked for, and missing items are flagged, so partial replies are chased for the rest.
- A board shows all outstanding LOAs by client, provider and age, with the ones needing a phone call at the top.
- Where providers use electronic services, such as Origo's, we connect to them if your setup allows.
After the tracker is running
Because every request is logged with its method and date, the "we never received it" conversation becomes shorter. Your team can say exactly when and how the letter went, resend it the same day through the right route and note the new date.
Administrators work from one list, sorted by what needs attention today. The paraplanner can see exactly which holdings are still missing information. When a client asks for news, anyone in the office can answer in a minute. And the firm learns which providers are slow, which helps set clients' expectations from the start.
Recognise any of these?
- LOAs are tracked in a spreadsheet or in someone's head.
- Providers say they never received letters you sent.
- Partial responses hold up paraplanning for weeks.
- Provider replies sit unmatched in the shared inbox.
- Clients ask for updates your team cannot quickly give.