Nucleus Financial Reviews 1.006

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 …..

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.

Disgraceful service from James Hay/Nucleus. Will be reporting them to FCA/Ombudsman. They dis-invested funds without my instructions and cannot explain why despite 4 telephone calls from me (usual 30 mins wait on telephone)Then deducted wrong tax from my pension payment 1st March. Then...ADVISED HMRC THAT THEY PAID ME £108,000 PENSION IN 2026 WHEN IN FACT IT WAS £32,700!!! NOW HMRC GIVEN ME TAX CODE WHICH SAYS I WILL PAY £31800 TAX THIS YEAR WHICH WILL NEARLY WIPE OUT MY INCOME. At my wits end and no idea what my April 1st income will be. They don't seem to care, they say will come back to me but don't. My issues should be easily resolved but they are ignored. This is gross negligence on their part.Would like to change to another provider but God only knows how Hay/Nucleus will handle it.

Dreadful service since James Hay merged into Nucleus. Pushed from pillar to post with no one accepting any responsibility. No call backs. Escalation to a higher level are meaningless. Have been short paid and have a horrid feeling I will have a long wait for my monies.

31/3/26. After nearly a months worth of sleepless nights, Nucleus resolved the problem on deadline day. It's only fair to give the credit to a persistent customer service Technical & FOS Liaison Officer who managed to arranged to have the shortfall paid.

I received an acknowledgement of receipt of my email. It said I would be contacted within a few days.
I have not been contacted.

Atrocious transfer from the James Hay platform to Nucleus. Besides it taking a month for them to remove an advisor from my SIPP account that should never have been on it, it looks like they have also LOST my ISA???
I have been requesting since 9 Feb via their secure messaging service, to reinstate my ISA to my account. I have monthly payments going into this account which i cannot manage as I have no access to the product....it has just disappeared????
And low and behold, my secure messages have also disappeared off the platform (including their responsees)....strange???
Now I have lodged a complaint via email around 10 days ago (I no longer trust the secure message service), and have since asked this complaint to be escalated???
Shambles.....where is my money???

Appalling. One month to make a withdrawal which should take a few days and a second withdrawal still sitting in limbo as their back offices and processes are failing to cope with their migration onto the new platform. The company is falling apart at the seams with absolutely no escalation routes. I’m extremely worried that this company is managing my investments and that I’m actually paying them to do so. These delays are costing me thousands of pounds not to mention the many hours I have spent in the phone to them! I will be leaving them asap and raising a complaint with the FOS asap. Keep well away from them.

The ease of dealing with my request and not having to wait long to speak to someone. Also a special mention for my advisor Sara Aurora who has been wonderful and professional in all her dealings with me

Sarah provided excellent and friendly customer service. She sorted out my issues immediately.

Avoid the frustration of dealing with this company
I don't know whats worse the lies or the incompetence ..

Needless to say this is the final straw of waiting for my pension .. now on 4th date to get it...

We Will be moving both our
Pensions , Isas and Bonds at earliest opportunity