Pension Advice
in Halifax
Old workplace pensions found and valued, the guarantees checked before anything moves, and a straight answer on whether you are on course. Advice from Joanne Flanagan, DipFA, CeRER and CeMAP. Your initial consultation is free.
Free initial consultation. Any charges are agreed with you in writing before any work starts.
- DipFADiploma for Financial Advisers
- 57Minimum pension age from 6 April 2028
- CeMAPMortgage advice qualified
- FreeInitial consultation, no obligation
- We chase providers for the paperwork you cannot find
- Guarantees checked before anything is transferred
- Office, home visit or video call
- Plain English and a straight answer
What Does a Pension Adviser
Actually Do?
A pension adviser finds out what you have, tells you what it is worth, and explains what your options are for turning it into an income. In practice much of the work is unglamorous: writing to providers, reading scheme booklets, and checking whether a plan from 2004 carries a guarantee that would be lost if it were moved.
Every Step Financial Services is based at Croft Myl on West Parade, in Halifax town centre. Advice is given by Joanne Flanagan, who holds the Diploma for Financial Advisers, a Level 4 qualification used to meet the Financial Conduct Authority's qualification requirements for retail investment advice. Every Step is an Appointed Representative of New Leaf Distribution Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under firm reference number 460421.
Many people arrive with two or three pots from old jobs and no clear picture. That is the normal starting point, not a sign you have left it too late.
We see clients across Calderdale and the Calder Valley: Halifax town centre, Sowerby Bridge, Brighouse, Elland, Hipperholme, Northowram, Illingworth, Ripponden, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden, as well as Huddersfield, Bradford and Leeds. We meet at our office on West Parade, at your home, or by video call.
What Can We Help You
Sort Out?
Finding Old Workplace Pensions
A job from fifteen years ago, a provider that has since been bought twice, and no paperwork. We chase them down and get current values in writing so you can see what you actually have.
Cashing in an old employer pension
Pension Consolidation
Combining pensions can cut charges and makes them easier to follow, but some older schemes carry guarantees that vanish on transfer. We check every plan before anything moves.
Should I consolidate my pensions?
Drawdown & Annuities
Flexible income you manage, or a guaranteed income for life. Some people use a mix of both, and the split is the part worth getting right.
Drawdown vs annuity explained
Contributions & Tax Relief
How much to pay in, how tax relief works, and whether salary sacrifice would leave you better off. Relevant whether you are employed or running your own business.
Pensions for the self-employed
Retirement Income Planning
State Pension, workplace pots, savings and any other income, added up into one number and tested against what you actually spend.
How much do I need to retire?
Pension Sharing
Pensions are often overlooked in a divorce, and can be one of the largest assets alongside the family home. We work alongside your solicitor before anything is agreed.
Pensions and divorceHow Do We Find Your Old Pensions?
The reason old pensions get ignored is not laziness. It is that tracking them down means finding a scheme number you no longer have, for an employer that has been bought twice, through a provider whose name has changed. It is genuinely tedious.
So we do it. Where details are missing, we use the government's free Pension Tracing Service to find contact details for old schemes. You sign an authority, we write to the providers, and you get back a single summary of what you have, what it is costing you, and what it is on course to pay.
- Current transfer values and annual charges, in writing from each provider
- Guaranteed annuity rates and protected retirement ages identified before any transfer is considered
- One summary instead of five annual statements you will not read
Transferring a pension is not right for everyone. Some older schemes carry guarantees or protected retirement ages that are lost on transfer, which is why every plan is reviewed on its own before any recommendation is made. Defined benefit (final salary) pensions provide valuable guaranteed benefits, and the FCA says advisers should start from the assumption that transferring out will not be suitable.
Drawdown or an Annuity?
How the Two Compare
This is the decision many people find hardest, and the one that is least reversible. Once the cancellation period has passed, an annuity cannot be undone.
| Drawdown | Annuity | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | Your money stays invested and you take income from it as you choose | A guaranteed income, paid for life, in exchange for the pot |
| Can it run out | Yes, if you take too much or investments perform badly | No, it is paid for as long as you live however long that is |
| Flexibility | High, you can change the amount or stop and start | None, the terms are fixed at the point you buy |
| On death | Whatever is left can usually pass to who you nominate | Nothing passes on unless you paid for that feature at the outset |
| Reversible | Yes, you can buy an annuity later with what remains | No, not once the cancellation period has passed |
| Suits | People with other income, or who want to leave money behind | People who want certainty and would worry about markets |
You do not have to pick one. A common approach is an annuity covering the bills you must pay whatever happens, with the rest left flexible. Our guide on drawdown against annuities goes into more detail, and what a £300,000 pension pot pays shows the numbers for one size of pot.
Where Are You Up To?
Employed and paying in
You have a workplace pension and a vague sense you should be doing more with it. We tell you whether that feeling is justified and what the options are.
Self-employed or running a business
Nobody is enrolling you into anything. Whatever you build is what you get, and it needs to work around income that moves around.
Within ten years of stopping
The decisions start getting real. Access age, how much you can take, what order to take it in, and whether the date you had in mind still stands.
Already retired
Drawdown left running on autopilot, or income that has not kept up with costs. It is not too late to change how the money comes out.
Not sure what you have got?
Many people are not. That is the starting point for nearly every review we do.
No cost, no obligation
How Does Pension
Advice Work?
Four steps. Nothing is charged until you have seen the number and agreed to it in writing.
Free initial consultation
Twenty minutes on what you have got, what you think you will need, and what is worrying you. No cost, no commitment.
We find and value every pension
We write to each provider for current values, charges and any guarantees, including the schemes you have lost track of.
Written recommendations
What to leave alone, what to move, and what it means for your income, with the costs and risks set out.
Annual reviews
We check in once a year, or sooner if something changes. Jobs, inheritances and divorces all move the numbers.
Who Will You Actually
Be Dealing With?
Joanne has worked in financial services for ten years. She started out advising on mortgages before qualifying as a financial adviser, which is why later life lending and equity release sit comfortably alongside the pension work.
She handles every case herself, from the first phone call through to the annual review, so you never have to explain your situation twice and nobody hands you to a call centre.
She holds the Diploma for Financial Advisers, a Level 4 qualification used to meet the qualification requirements for retail investment advice, the Certificate in Regulated Equity Release, which matters for clients weighing pension income against the money tied up in their home, and the Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice.
- Ten years in financial services, first in mortgages, now advising
- Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA)
- Certificate in Regulated Equity Release (CeRER)
- Certificate in Mortgage Advice and Practice (CeMAP)
- Appointed Representative of New Leaf Distribution Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the FCA, FRN 460421
- Meetings at our Halifax office, at your home, or by video call
Joanne is very thorough and efficient and takes the time to explain all the details of the work she undertakes. I won't be going anywhere else for my financial advice
Spoke with Jo for ten mins, and was told more about withdrawing my pension pot in them minutes than the Provider has told me in the last 7 weeks. Very professional and very helpful, would certainly recommend
Jo was so helpful. After having concerns on some financial queries, Jo was very knowledgeable and reassuring. She helped put my mind at ease and has given me confidence in moving forward.
First time using Every Step Financial Services and they have been brilliant, professional while making you feel comfortable as sometimes talking about things what they deal with are confusing and sometimes hard to understand for me anyway , this company can walk the walk as well as talk the talk thank God!!
Joanne was brilliant. listened to what I needed and then went through my pensions and explained what was going on with them. Would seriously recommend Joanne to all my friends & colleagues.
I am delighted to speak on behalf of JOANNE FLANAGAN of Every Step Financial Services. Joanne has provided financial advice to my wife and I for some time now and she has always offered this advice in a most professional manner. She listens carefully to our views and reflects them in her judgements. For many years Joanne ably monitored our investments and offered us advice on the way forward. Recently however Joanne has gone beyond what we could have expected as she has supported us with help, compassion, and understanding during our daughter's difficult divorce. We have had to loan our daughter much of our savings to fund her legal bills which have come in at irregular and sometimes unexpected moments. Joanne has always been there to with advice and help organising the arrangements and managing our withdrawls. She has proved herself a true friend as well as a financial adviser. When the divorce is settled and the loan repaid I look forward to reinvesting our savings with Joanne and Every Step. Thank you Joanne Frank Jeffs 14/12/24
First class service, with Joanne going above and beyond the call of duty. She is always available for a chat about plans, keeps me informed and quickly actions changes when needed. Can not recommend highly enough
Jo is a an actual lifesaver. I was on the hook for a >£100k inheritance tax bill after an 18 month probate process. My lawyer had tried everything, and we were in dire straits - the bill exceeded what was available in cash to pay it. I got second and third opinions from lawyer friends… No one had any better news for us. In desperation I turned to Jo who immediately spotted that I was entitled to transfer some of my deceased father’s allowance since my parents never divorced. SOMETHING MY LAWYER COMPLETELY MISSED! Unlike Jo, he’d just assumed that because they weren’t together, they were divorced. Jo takes the time to know her customers, assumes nothing, listens to EVERYTHING and that, along with her razor sharp mind and fairly recent training means she is on top of all the most recent legislation and can get the very best outcomes for her clients. My bill dropped to £8.5k thanks to Jo’s knowledge and intelligence and I am forever in her debt. Thank you, Jo. I cannot sing your praises highly enough, and my mum would be so, so grateful to you 🙏🏼
I've worked with Jo for a few years now & she is extremely approachable & friendly. Her advice has helped so much in understanding about my future finances. She actually talks in a language that I understand & makes it easy to get to grasps with financial stuff which is not my forte. I have recommended Jo to friends & family & they have benefitted from her advice too.
Absolutely incredible service! Joanne took the time to sit with us, talk to us (not at us!) and understand our very complex, individual circumstances. Her advice was unbiased, considered and perfectly suited to our needs. Highly recommend!!
Jo has helped my wife and me with our pension planning and given us general financial advice. She is extremely knowledgable and helpful and we can highly recommend her services.
Pension Advice in Halifax:
Your Questions Answered
Want to Read More First?
Plain English explainers on the questions that come up most.
- Should I consolidate my pensions?Weighing up combining old pots
- Drawdown vs annuityHow the two ways of taking an income compare
- Cashing in an old employer pensionWhat your options actually are
- Your retirement numberWorking back from what you spend
- Average pension pot in the UKHow your position compares
- What a £300k pension pot paysIncome from a pot of that size
- How pensions are taxedTax free cash and income tax
- Self-employed pensionsBuilding one without an employer
- Pensions and divorceHow they are split
- Inheritance tax thresholdIncluding pensions from April 2027
Speak to Joanne
Book Your Free Initial Consultation
Tell us a little about your situation. You do not need to have made a decision, a question is enough. Joanne will get back to you to arrange a time.