How long is a letter of authority valid?

There is no statutory expiry — validity is set by each provider's policy. In practice many providers treat an LoA as current for six to twelve months, and some accept 'until further notice' wording indefinitely. Best practice is to date every LoA, use until-further-notice wording, and expect to re-issue for a provider that applies its own time limit.

Do providers accept electronic signatures on LoAs?

Increasingly yes — most large UK providers now accept e-signed letters of authority, and e-signatures are legally valid in the UK under the Electronic Communications Act 2000 and retained EU eIDAS rules. A minority of providers or legacy schemes still insist on wet ink. Send the e-signed LoA first; keep a wet-signature fallback for the holdouts rather than defaulting everyone to paper.

Can an information-only LoA be used to move a client's money?

No. An information-only letter of authority entitles the firm to receive information about the plan — values, charges, funds, benefits — and nothing else. It cannot change the plan, switch funds or move money. Transfers and plan changes need separate, explicit client instructions and the receiving scheme's processes. Keeping the LoA information-only is also why providers can process it relatively quickly.

How long do providers take to respond to a letter of authority?

Plan for ten working days; experience ranges from 48 hours to several months depending on the provider and whether the request goes to a modern platform or a legacy book. A working chase cadence: log the sent date, first chase at 10 working days, second chase with an escalation request at 20, and involve the client (a complaint from the policyholder moves queues) at 30.

What is Origo Unipro and do I need it?

Unipro is Origo's industry service for submitting letters of authority digitally to participating providers — one standardised submission route instead of per-provider letters. It's genuinely useful where the provider participates; coverage isn't universal, so most firms still run a letter-based process alongside it. Whatever the submission route, the work around it — generating the letter, getting it signed, chasing, filing the response and getting the data into your client record — is where the real time goes, and that part is automatable.

Letters of Authority: The Complete UK Adviser Guide (+ Free Template)

Q: What must a letter of authority include?

Enough for the provider to match the client and trust the authority: the client's full name, address and date of birth (a National Insurance number speeds matching), the plan or policy number(s), the advising firm's full name and FCA reference number, a clear statement of scope — information-only, or servicing rights — the client's signature and the date. Ambiguous scope is the most common reason LoAs bounce.

What an LoA is — and the one distinction that matters

A letter of authority is the client's written permission for a provider to deal with your firm about their plan. The distinction that matters is scope: an information-only LoA entitles you to receive plan information — values, charges, funds, benefits — and nothing more; a servicing LoA (or agency transfer) goes further and varies by provider. For onboarding and reviews, information-only is almost always what you want: it's faster for providers to process, it's cleaner under data protection, and it can't be misread as an instruction to change anything.

What a valid LoA must include

Providers bounce LoAs for boring reasons. Cover all six and yours won't bounce: the client's full name, address and date of birth (adding the NI number speeds matching, especially on old workplace schemes); the plan or policy number for every plan at that provider — one letter can cover several; your firm's full legal name and FCA reference number; an explicit scope statement ("information only — this does not authorise changes to the plan or movement of monies"); "until further notice" wording so it doesn't silently lapse; and the client's signature and date. Where a plan is jointly held, both holders sign.

The free template

Copy it, put it on your letterhead, done. It's the same information-only structure our cockpit generates automatically.

[Your firm letterhead] [Date] [Provider name] [Provider address] Dear Sir or Madam, Re: [Client full name] · Date of birth: [DD/MM/YYYY] [Client address, including postcode] National Insurance number: [optional but recommended] Plan / policy number(s): [all plans held with this provider] LETTER OF AUTHORITY — INFORMATION ONLY I confirm that [Firm legal name], authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN [number]), acts as my financial adviser in relation to the plan(s) above. Please accept this letter as my authority to release to [Firm name], on request and until further notice, all information relating to the plan(s), including: current value; transfer value (and whether any exit penalty applies); all ongoing charges; fund holdings; death benefits and nominated beneficiaries; and any guarantees or protected benefits, including guaranteed annuity rates, protected tax-free cash and protected retirement ages. This authority is for information purposes only. It does not authorise any changes to the plan(s) or the movement of any monies. Please direct all correspondence to [firm address / email]. Yours faithfully, ____________________________ Date: ______________ [Client full name]

The information-request checklist

The second-biggest LoA time-sink after slow providers is incomplete answers — getting a current value back but no charges, then writing again. Ask for everything in the letter itself (the template above already does). For pensions, complete means: current value and transfer value (and whether they differ — that gap is an exit penalty), every layer of charges (annual management charge, fund charges, any policy fee), the fund list with splits, contribution history if you'll assess carry-forward, death benefits and nominations, and — the ones that bite hardest if missed — guaranteed annuity rates, protected tax-free cash above 25%, and protected retirement ages. A GAR discovered after a transfer recommendation is a file review; a GAR discovered in the LoA response is just good advice.

The chase cadence that works

Plan for ten working days; reality runs from 48 hours (modern platforms) to months (legacy books). What separates firms that stay on top of it isn't luck, it's logging: record the date each LoA was sent, not just signed. Then: day 10, first chase — polite, referencing the original date. Day 20, second chase requesting escalation and a named contact. Day 30, bring the client in: a policyholder asking where their own information is moves queues that advisers can't. Keep every chase on the file — if a provider's delay ever harms the client, the record matters.

E-signatures, Origo Unipro, and the automation question

Most large UK providers now accept e-signed LoAs (electronic signatures are legally valid in the UK; a minority of legacy schemes still want wet ink — keep paper as the fallback, not the default). Origo Unipro standardises digital LoA submission to participating providers and is worth using where coverage exists; it doesn't cover everyone, so a letter process survives alongside it.

But be precise about where the time actually goes. Submission is minutes. The hours are in everything around it: drafting each letter from the client record, getting it signed, remembering who was chased when, filing responses, and re-keying provider answers into your systems. That loop is exactly what we automated in the WealthR adviser platform: the cockpit generates the information-only LoA from the client record on your letterhead, the client e-signs it in their portal (audit-trailed), the register tracks every letter's status — draft, awaiting signature, submitted, chased — with the dates on file, responses land in the encrypted vault, and the provider's answers feed the client's plan records and charges analysis directly. LoAs stop being a spreadsheet you dread and become a pipeline you glance at.

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Letter generation from the client record, in-portal e-signing, chase tracking, an encrypted document vault, plan records with blended charges analysis — plus the branded client portal, modelling cockpit and client import. Live the same day, unlimited client records.

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Frequently asked

What must a letter of authority include?

Client full name, address and date of birth (NI number recommended), plan/policy numbers, your firm's legal name and FCA reference, an explicit scope statement (information-only vs servicing), "until further notice" wording, signature and date. Ambiguous scope is the top bounce reason.

How long is an LoA valid?

No statutory expiry — each provider sets policy. Many treat LoAs as current for 6–12 months; some honour "until further notice" indefinitely. Date every letter, use until-further-notice wording, and expect the odd re-issue.

Do providers accept e-signatures?

Mostly yes — e-signatures are legally valid in the UK, and most large providers accept e-signed LoAs. A minority of legacy schemes still require wet ink. E-sign first, paper as fallback.

Can an information-only LoA move money?

No. It entitles your firm to receive information — values, charges, funds, benefits — nothing else. Transfers and plan changes need separate explicit client instructions. That narrowness is also why it processes faster.

How long do providers take?

Plan for 10 working days; reality spans 48 hours to months. Chase at 10, escalate at 20, involve the client at 30 — and log every date.

What is Origo Unipro — do I need it?

Origo's digital LoA submission service for participating providers — useful where coverage exists, not universal. The bigger win is automating the loop around submission: generation, e-signing, chasing, filing and getting the data into the client record.

This is general information for UK advice professionals, not legal or compliance advice. Provider requirements, e-signature acceptance and turnaround times vary — verify with each provider. The template is provided as a starting point; your compliance function should approve your firm's version. WealthR for advisers is a client-engagement and planning workspace; it does not replace your regulated back-office or compliance systems.