Platform upgrade news
Dates and actions
We’ll be moving your records, and your clients’ records, across to the new Nucleus Platform on 9 February 2026.
Changes to our standard service
In the days before the upgrade, which takes place over the weekend of 7 and 8 February 2026, there’ll be some changes to our standard service. This is to ensure the upgrade goes as smoothly as possible. We’re keeping these to a minimum and hope they don’t inconvenience you too much.
The table below shows the deadline for each process. Requests received after these dates cannot be accepted and you’ll need to resubmit from Monday 9 February on the new Nucleus Platform.
Please note, we expect James Hay Online to be unavailable over the upgrade weekend.
| Deadline | Process | Please note |
|---|---|---|
| 16 January | Illustrations | You won't be able to create illustrations from 5pm on Friday 16 January until after the upgrade (Monday 9 February). |
| 16 January | New business | You won’t be able to apply for any new products from Friday 16 January until after the upgrade (Monday 9 February). |
| From 23 January | Switch | No switch instructions will be accepted online or via paper form for:
|
| 30 January | Buy/sell | No instructions to buy or sell investments will be accepted via your online account or a paper form from 5pm on Friday 30 January. |
| 3 February | Investment Manager payments | The final payment to off-platform Investment Managers will take place on Thursday 5 February. The online facility to instruct a money movement to an Investment Manager will be closed from 5pm on Thursday 5 February. |
| 4 February | New Direct Debits | All Direct Debit instructions received by 5pm on Wednesday 4 February will be set up on James Hay systems and will be reflected on the new Nucleus Platform following the upgrade. We can't guarantee that instructions received after this date will be complete before the upgrade. If a payment date is missed, that payment will be collected as an ad hoc contribution on the Nucleus Platform on Tuesday 24 February. |
| 4 February | Income payments | New income payments can be instructed up to 5pm on Wednesday 4 February. Regular income payments will be made as usual before the move. After the upgrade, income payments will be made on the payment date itself, rather than 2–3 days earlier as is the case now. If your payment date falls on a weekend or bank holiday, you should receive it on the last business day before. Clients experiencing financial difficulty over this period who need to access their money can contact 03455 212 414. |
| 4 February | Income payment changes | You’ll be able to make a change to existing income payments up to 5pm on Wednesday 4 February. After this date, changes will need to be made on the new Nucleus Platform from Monday 9 February. |
| 4 February | Transfers in/out | We’ll accept new requests for transfers in or out up to 5pm on Wednesday 4 February. After this date, requests must be made via the new Nucleus Platform, available from Monday 9 February. |
| 5 February | Cash allocation | Any cash allocations processed on the James Hay platform before 5pm on Thursday 5 February will be carried across as part of the upgrade activity into the relevant new bank account for your clients. |
| 5 February | ISA, GIA and Offshore withdrawals | Regular withdrawals from ISAs, GIAs or Offshore bonds that are due to be paid between Friday 6 and Monday 23 February will be paid early (for this month only) by Thursday 5 February. |
| During the upgrade weekend | General | James Hay Online will not be available after 5pm on Friday 6 February. The Nucleus Platform will be available from 9am on Monday 9 February. |
In summary...
T-10
T-8
T-5
T-2
T
Other important changes and actions for you to note
Some of these changes and actions won't be available to implement until you and your clients have been upgraded to the new platform - but we wanted to make sure you're aware of them so you know what to expect and can prepare ahead of the upgrade.
Before the upgrade, and if you haven't done so in the last year, ensure you and your clients login to James Hay Online. This will make your first login to the new Nucleus Platform as smooth as possible.
If you’ve got a James Hay Online account:
- when you first log into it after the upgrade to access a product that’s now on the Nucleus Platform, you’ll be redirected to the new platform to set up new user credentials.
- a small number of customers will have products on both platforms after the upgrade and these should be managed on the relevant system.
- should your client have both a product that’s being upgraded to the new platform, and one that isn’t – they’ll be asked at that time whether they wish to remain on James Hay Online or proceed to set up access to the new Nucleus Platform.
The same journeys will apply for your clients.
When setting up access to the Nucleus Platform a username will be generated for you which you’ll need to keep a note of.
You’ll also be asked to provide your email address and mobile phone number as part of our improved platform security. We’ll send you a one-time password (OTP) by text message to verify your identity. Whenever you access the Nucleus Platform after this, you’ll receive an email message to confirm your identity. You’ll only be asked to validate who you are once in a 24-hour period.
Your clients will follow a similar process – although OTPs will always be sent to them by text message.
On the new platform, your client will have a new account number which will replace existing James Hay reference numbers. After the upgrade, we’ll write to your client to provide details of their new customer number and account number/s. You’ll find copies of these letters on the platform.
If your clients have self-managed property investments, please be aware we’re writing to tenants to provide them with details of the new bank account for any payments following the upgrade (such as rent, service charge, and insurance). They’ll need to update the bank account details for any such payments made after this time.
If your client’s property is managed by CBRE, payments will continue to be collected by them, and there will be no change.
New bank accounts, with new payment references, will be in place for use with the new platform. This means that following the upgrade, payments to us will need to be paid into these new accounts to avoid any delays. It’s important that the new payment references are used as they will allow auto matching.
Full account details will be provided in the letter we send to your client after the upgrade. You’ll also be able to view these details on your client platform records.
Temporary arrangements will be in place to transfer payments into the new accounts if necessary.
Following the upgrade, the name that’ll appear on client bank statements for non-pension direct debit payments (JISA/ISA or GIA) will be Nucleus Financial Services Ltd.
Direct Debits: All active Direct Debit arrangements will be automatically transferred to minimise disruption. Any temporarily suspended direct debits will need to be set up again. This also applies to employer contributions and third-party payments.
On the Nucleus Platform, you'll enjoy much greater flexibility, with the ability to select income payment dates from the 1 - 28 of the month. After the upgrade, changes can be easily requested, by you or your client, to ensure the timing of payments is as desired.
In the future, drawdown will be managed on the Nucleus Platform, allowing you to set up new arrangements and make changes to existing ones online.
Customers wishing to enter drawdown can do so via a paper-based process rather than directly through the platform.
On the new platform, all customer correspondence will be sent directly to them – there’s no option to send it to a third party such as yourself or a solicitor.
Your clients will initially be set up to receive paper-based communications from us. If they have an online account, and would prefer, they can opt to hear from us electronically. We’ll then send them email notifications when there’s new correspondence to read in their document library. They'll receive most of their updates sooner online and help us save paper.
For regulatory or legal reasons, certain correspondence has to be sent by post, so these will still be issued as paper copies.
You can easily select this option for them after the upgrade.
