Barnett Waddingham has achieved silver in the Investor in Customers (IIC) award for client relationship management in self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) and small self-administered schemes (SSAS).
 This follows ratings-agency AKG awarding the company with the financial strength rating of ‘B’ for SIPPs, meaning its financial strength is now rated as ‘strong’, said the company. AKG is an independent research and actuarial organisation specialising in assessment, ratings, information and market assistance to the financial services industry.
 
IIC is an independent assessment organisation that conducts benchmarking exercises to determine the quality of customer service and relationships across a number of dimensions. These include how well a company understands its customers, how it meets their needs and how it engenders loyalty.
 
From 602 SIPP and SSAS clients made up of both members and independent financial advisers Barnett Waddingham received a score of 7.73 out of 10. This is an improvement since the previous result of 7.46 and also 0.27 away from achieving gold - the highest accolade. Comments from customers for IIC’s silver award highlighted an ‘excellent service’ with ‘clean paper trails’ and a ‘consistency in service’.
 


Andy Leggett, head of SIPP business development at Barnett Waddingham, said:  “We are delighted that members and advisers have confirmed they are getting an improving silver service from us. We really value the Investor in Customers assessment - they go through a thorough, tried and tested process to determine the results, which is why they are so well-respected.
 
“Every bit as important is that prestigious assessments and ratings like this provide a mine of information to help us understand how we are doing and how we can improve. We’ve made good progress since our first IIC assessment and our focus now is to make changes that will get us up to gold next time.”
 
Tony Barritt, managing director of Investor in Customers, said: “We are continually impressed by Barnett Waddingham’s commitment to improving the customer experience they deliver.”