Why cant some Financial Advisers advise you on your British Steel Pension?

The bosses at the Financial Conduct Authority have stopped Active Wealth (UK) Ltd from advising steel workers about their pensions

The rules about transferring away from a Defined Benefit pension, like British Steel pensions, are pretty strict, and if your British Steel Pension is worth more than a certain amount, you HAVE to get independent financial advice in order to transfer away from the scheme.

But at least one financial advice firm, Active Wealth (UK) Ltd is no-longer allowed to advise on people’s transfers away from pensions like British Steel.

The FCA put a note on their file that says “immediately cease accepting any new retail clients in respect of its pension business […]”, and nor is Active Wealth (UK) Ltd allowed to offer pension advice to EXISITING clients either!

But why?

Transferring final salary/average salary pensions, and risk

Although the situation with the British Steel Pension Scheme is pretty messy at the moment, like with other DB pension schemes the risk falls on the shoulders of the employer (or in some cases the PPF), and the pension scheme trustees. Transferring away from such a pension (although it may be a good idea for SOME people), means that more of the risk gets placed on the individual’s shoulders, and they may lose some irreplaceable pension benefits by moving away.

In the case of Active Wealth (UK) Ltd, an article in CityWire explains that the FCA took action over the firm because of concerns “raised about the firm’s involvement with British Steel Pension Scheme Members.”

Are Steel Workers being targeted by financial advisers?

Maybe! That’s certainly what some Unions and IFAs have reported to financial news outlets. After all, there can be some big money in transferring these big pensions away from British Steel, prompting concerns that not all financial advisers are acting in their client’s best interests.

Did you transfer your British Steel Pension?

If so, we’re free for a chat. Our case assessors are mis-sold pension experts can usually spot a dodgy pension transfer a mile off, and can help you with a FREE initial assessment to see if your transfer away from BSPS was negligent, meaning you could go on to make a claim with no upfront cost!

Please note: you have an initial cooling off period of 14 days, if you cancel outside of this period you may be charged for the work carried out and if we have already submitted your claim, which results in an offer of compensation subsequently being made, we will charge our full fee as per our T&Cs – our fee is 20% + VAT – a total of 24%.