"Gary" wrote in message

My wife has been informed that her final salary pension scheme is
being wound up, and that the replacement will be the setup whereby it
becomes
a personal pension and the company contributes as well as the
employee.

Can they change the pension scheme in this way without authority? She
can't remember if she signed anything to say this was okay, but even
if
she did, she certainly didn't receive any advice about whether or not
it was wise or advisable so to sign.

It has been suggested that the services of a financial advisor be
employed, bit I'm concerned that the cost of this could well meet or
even exceed the value of the fund in question, so perhaps not the
best idea.

What is the legal situation on this matter?

Perfectly legal.

The company had to provide as much support (contribution) as necessary to
keep the final salary scheme afloat. With the downturn in the stock market
in recent years many companies have found the contributions crippling and
have closed their final salary schemes. The alternative in some cases might
have been a bust company and a bust pension scheme. Better to change the
scheme before that happens and everyone loses.

The financial advisor is probably suggested in order to try to ensure that
every contributor to the existing pension scheme receives "best advice" on
the subsequent pension arrangements - join the new scheme or make your own
arrangements, what to do with the contribution from the current scheme, etc.
The company may pay the financial advisor or he may not charge. In the
latter case he would make his money from the pension he arranged for you.
Worth investigating how he is funded and what, if anything, you would have
to pay.

--
Old Codger
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What matters in politics is not what happens, but what you can make people
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