Nucleus Arvostelua 

I have experienced truly unacceptable service from Nucleus Financial in relation to my mother’s pension account.

I am acting under a valid Lasting Power of Attorney, which had previously been correctly registered when the policy was held with James Hay. Despite this, I have been forced to go through the unnecessary and time-consuming process of re-registering the LPA after the account transferred to Nucleus—something that should never have been required.

Following the recent death of my father, my mother has been left in urgent need of funds to cover essential care costs. In February, we requested a withdrawal of a lump sum. Weeks later, the request still shows as “placed” with absolutely no progress, no communication, and no explanation. On my last call to them, they refused to speak with me as my LPA had apparently still not been processed, despite sending it weeks ago and not really having to do this in the first place given it was formally registered by James Hay. When I asked the advisor if I could politely speak with someone more senior about this I was repeatedly told that no one was available, despite the fact it was confirmed I was speaking with the Nucleus/James Hay head office in Salisbury.

This is not just poor administration—it is a complete failure to support a vulnerable customer at a critical time. The lack of urgency, transparency, and basic customer care is shocking.

To make matters worse, I submitted a formal complaint directly to Nucleus and have received no response whatsoever. Ignoring a complaint of this seriousness only reinforces my view that this organisation has little regard for its customers or their circumstances.

Dealings with James Hay used to be a breeze. This merger seems to be a disaster. I would strongly caution anyone considering using Nucleus Financial. When you need them most, they are simply not there.

I can only agree with all the negative comments on here. After many years of James Hay, mostly excellent service, since the system 'upgrade' it's been nothing short of a shambles.
I realised early on that things were not right after being told I needed to place a trade to simply move my money between eqi and nucleus. Which then took 4 weeks to process! But the final nail in the coffin was not being paid my pension on time. Luckily I had other funds, but not one message from Nucleus in recognition of things going wrong or any indication of things getting better.
So ive decided to move away to another provider. We are now over 3 weeks in and Nucleus haven't even acknowledged the transfer request from the new pension provider.
I raised a complaint a few weeks ago but I suspect it will end up at the ombudsman if Nucleus try and charge me my annual drawdown fee and eqi fee in April (which im pretty sure they will and maybe why they are not answering transfer requests).

I agree with Caroline's review of March 16th. Very disappointing service spent many hours trying to arrange for a pension to be transferred to the Nucleus platform and my main pension company. My secure message about this sent 2 days ago has not been answered and a similar email to the address on the website remains unanswered too. I tried telephoning, but after nearly fifteen minutes gave up. Very disappointing service bearing in mind. I have been with James hay and my pension company for over 20 years.

Utterly useless with no responsibility for the activities of Curtis Banks

Amazing service from the very lovely and helpful Roisin O`Neill at Nucleus. I was confused about how to log in to the new portal as was getting nowhere since the move from James Hay. Not only did Roisin talk me through what to do, she stayed on the call and talked me through each stage. When I wanted to sell a fund she directed to me how to do this, she was truly epic and a credit to Nucleus. Please feedback to her manager how customer-centric she is. Thanks for making something confusing very easy. Ray

Sadly having to leave Nucleus as I have moved to the USA. They have been excellent in handling my modest portfolio over the last ten years and I will miss their hands- on style and helpful customer services team.

Struggling to get lump sum payment. It's taken over 6 weeks to get a payment from them. Each time the person says they can't see a problem and promise to call back - but no-one ever does. Really poor customer services. And their secure messages don't work

Some staff were very helpful, others lacked knowledge

Tried to withdraw money from my James Hay pension and whole process was made as difficult as possible took weeks very poor service and communication .Now moving to another company.
Spread the word …..

Overall the service was good, if a bit slow and disjointed. Customer service differed a little depending on who was serving you, in some cases the calls lacked clarity which was frustrating when trying to ask important questions and seek key information. Sometimes it wasn't possible to get through to a finance specialist so I wasn't always confident I was getting the right information from the agent when asking very specific questions

A special mention can be made to Elvan Scott, a very helpful and polite customer service agent who did an excellent job in answering some important questions towards the end of the process. After the call I was left feeling a lot more assured and confident things were in the right place, well done to her!

For my own family's case of processing all the information required to manage the proceeds of an inherited pension, the company did well to communicate when required to every stakeholder involved. This was a tricky task given the amount of beneficiaries there were. James Hay continue to be supportive during calls regarding any questions or issues around the service. I am now a customer of the Nucleas platform so I assume I am still in the hands of James Hay as an entity but with the combined efforts of the Nucleas team and the new online system, so far so good with that relationship.

Good morning Nucleus Financial. Being an ex CEO I have pleasure in complementing your Company . There was a problem in my meeting a date for the completion of my pension withdrawal . Two of your lady employees , Maria and Dawn, handled the problem with ease , effeciency ,and politeness .
It is a pleasure doing business with your Company for over 20 years and thank you Maria and Dawn for your excellent help .
Best wishes
Paul Mcintosh

Simple well explained details of how to set up account and login and references in emails made things easy for a not so competent user. Good service excellent

I am still awaiting your reply. I think you sent my late husbands Death Certificate back on its own without a covering letter. Please let me know if he has any pension funds with you or not. That’s all I need to know.
Many thanks,Joy Clark

Nucleus are the worst company I’ve ever had dealings with.
Instructed James Hay 60 days ago to with draw cash from an ISA held in cash account of EQI - was told a 5 working day turnaround. Phoned every 5 days for 3 weeks then asked for a ‘manager’ who promised to see it through and ‘make it happen’ . She’s since gone quiet and now off sick. Started phoning both EQI & Nucleus every day .. EQI told me Nucleus didn’t instruct them for weeks. Finally they did and money now with Nucleus but they claim they can’t send it to my bank. Ridiculous. Call centre useless. Keep referring to back office who have horrendous problems and backlog so I believe they’ve not even tried sending me my money. Whole experience surreal and unbelievable. My family don’t believe me when I try to explain how poorly I’m being treated. As I said Nucleus are the worst company I’ve ever dealt with. No answers. Put on hold while they say they speak to others first an update. No accountability. Slopey shoulders. Nothing in writing. Different answers from different staff. NB. James Hay were wonderful and it’s a shame their customers now have to deal with Nucleus.
I should add anyone else that’s unhappy with service will see that I’ve also created a negative ‘google’ review for them & maybe the financial advisor that reviewed here should ask each of his clients to do their own reviews - the more light we shine on this utter shambles of a company the more chance there will be a much needed improvement.
NB. Anybody that’s told it takes 5 days - don’t wait a week before chasing - call them back each and every day and note all the different answers from the different advisers- continually check status so as to identify bottleneck as and when it happens - if necessary call EQI everyday too and check from their end as can be revealing.
Anyone that was sending cash to a James hay isa each month that was then being posted automatically to EQI for investment (or to sit as cash within EQI account) should know that in my case that link is now broken - fresh cash has gone in by direct debit and not reached EQI - As yet no answer from Nucleus as to what they are doing with it.
Please everybody update their review here as they get deeper and deeper into the problems of this awful new platform and nucleus so we can all learn from what’s happening to others.
One more thing - if you have both SIPP and ISA from James hay like me - you will need a 2nd login to the new platform as you can’t see one from the other. A manager was meant to follow up and send me that 2nd login but not done yet - still waiting for it but been so busy chasing my money I keep forgetting to ask more about that…

I was kept informed and was able to work my way around the problem.

My query was treated with great attention, and efficiency. I received the documents in my email within a few minutes of my request.

Husband tried to get money out of his iSIPP in July 2025 and after repeated weekly phone calls. He is still waiting EIGHT MONTHS later. The call centre just keeps saying it will be done next week please phone next week ! It never gets done. He is now about to take it to the financial ombudsman but has to wait eight weeks after making a complaint This is outrageous at a time when he needs the money having retired. It has caused serious health problems with the stress of it all. I really don’t know what to do about it. He has sent emails to the complaints department and they come back undelivered. Phoning everyday just gets the same reply “it’s being looked into “. We are going to take it to the Financial complaints authority they won’t resolve but will investigate. He is at his wits end as how to get his own money out !

All the negative reviews only scratch the service of how appalling Nucleus are as a company. I have called (20 minute wait is deemed acceptable by their standards). When you do speak with someone they have even less knowledge of their platform than me so what's the point. Escalate by email to the complaints team no response so as per their website tried to call "using the number below", but oh surprise, surprise there isn't one. Fortunately, I have an arranged overdraft which covered my Direct Debits which were not met because of late payment of my pension drawdown at the beginning of March and this month will not be met, as things stand, as they have used virtually all my cash balance to cover a one off payment rather than request funds from my investment company. I won't bore you with the various other issues, but seriously who makes a decision to migrate the James Hay customers so close to the end of the tax year.
As a starter I will be looking for the following:

If I don't receive my pension this month an amount to cover the extra tax I will have to pay in the next tax year as I will move into a higher tax bracket
Refund of all platform charges from end of January and hold on all future charges until platform and customer services is fit for purpose
Compensation for both time wasted and major stress caused by these issues
Payment to reflect my having to use my overdraft facility
If anyone has any suggestions for other amounts I should seek please feel free to advise

I am an independent financial adviser and the service my clients and I have received since the migration from the James Hay platform to Nucleus has been appalling. One of my clients has been waiting for over 4 weeks for the payment of a tax-free cash lump sum and today, having spoken to Nucleus for the 5th time, they still cannot provide an update nor a timescale for when my client will receive his tax free cash he required.

As things currently stand, I will not be recommending any new business to Nucleus and I will also consider transferring the 70+ SIPP accounts I currently hold with Nucleus for my clients.