Mr J: How a mis-sold pension transfer led to an £869,000 payout

Discover the story of Mr J, who, with our support, recovered over £869,000 in compensation after receiving unsuitable pension transfer advice.

The problem

Mr J was advised by St James’s Place (SJP) Wealth Management to transfer away from his defined benefit pension and into a personal pension with drawdown.

The transfer took place in 2010, involving a significant sum of over £560,000.

Mr J had concerns about whether the advice received was suitable, especially given the guarantees he lost by moving away from his original defined benefit scheme. After signing up with us in 2023, we investigated the advice and found grounds to raise a claim.

The solution

Following a thorough review, we recommended that Mr J raise a claim against SJP, which he agreed to in 2024. A formal complaint was submitted shortly after.

SJP didn’t respond within the expected timeframes, which led us to escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) in November 2024. After further review and plenty of detailed evidence, the FOS issued a decision in March 2025 that the transfer was not in Mr J’s best interests and that SJP’s advice was unsuitable.

Despite initial resistance, SJP accepted the Ombudsman’s decision a month later.

The result

Once the decision was accepted, we helped gather the necessary information to finalise Mr J’s compensation. In June 2025, SJP made an offer of over £869,000. By July 2025, Mr J had received the full compensation in his bank account, bringing the case to a successful close.