A ruling from the Pensions Ombudsman regarding a Sipp could make it harder for providers to stop customers from transferring to possible scam schemes, an expert believes.
Three complaints to the ombudsman regarding transfers to suspected pension liberation schemes were turned down.
But in one, a complaint that Standard Life refused to act on a request to transfer benefits from the client's Sipp to another scheme, the ombudsman said: "Under the rules of the Sipp, Standard Life had discretion whether to allow a transfer nevertheless, which they have not considered. The complaint is upheld to the extent that they should now do so."
This was despite his overall determination to not uphold the complaint. He turned it down because the customer "did not have a statutory right to transfer, primarily because the transfer would not have secured "transfer credits" which, as defined in the relevant legislation, required him to be an earner in relation to the scheme, which he was not."
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In the other two cases, against Zurich and Aviva, the ombudsman said the complainants did not have a right to transfer because the schemes in question were "not an occupational pension scheme as defined in the relevant legislation".
Gareth James, technical resources manager at AJ Bell, said: "There is both an element of good and bad news coming out of the rulings.
"They confirm that providers can't refuse to make a transfer to a registered pension scheme simply because they believe there is a risk that the scheme is being used to liberate pension funds.
"Providers who believe they are trying to do the right thing in protecting customers from making potentially costly mistakes will have less grounds for refusing those transfers.
"However the rulings do greatly clarify the grounds on which a transfer can legitimately be refused and this certainty will be welcomed by providers."
He added: "Changes to HMRC's registration and transfer processes have already made life more difficult for the fraudsters trying to set up these schemes. This has already resulted in a drop in liberation activity involving transfers to dubious schemes, but other types of pension-based fraud are quickly taking their place."