Frequently asked questions

Although pension mis-selling is not usually a criminal act as defined by UK law, it is a breach of the regulator’s rules. Such a breach could carry consequences like fines, being forced to pay compensation, and the removal of authorisation to give pension advice.

Some pension ‘mis-selling cases’ involve complex fraud, and may be a mix of negligence and deceit on the part of a financial adviser or a fraudulent investment company.

But in most cases, it comes down to negligence on the part of the financial adviser, not following the rules correctly to ensure that a transfer is in the best interests of the client, leaving them out of pocket in the long run. Unfortunately, such cases are surprisingly common.

In most cases, the claim will be made against the advice given by the financial adviser involved. In cases where advice was given, financial advisers have the responsibility to collect enough information about their clients and give advice in their best interests accordingly.

Once we’ve built the claim, we first take it to the financial adviser if they are still running.

They can either uphold the complaint and offer compensation, or reject it.

If rejected, we can then take the claim to the Financial Ombudsman Service – an independent body who will decide if the claim is valid, and who may force the IFA to pay compensation.

If the financial adviser is no-longer trading, it may be that we take the claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Of course, every defined benefit pension claim is a little different, but generally claims end up with the adviser, the FOS or the FSCS.

And If you’d prefer, you can make a claim to your firm directly or go through the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or The Pensions Ombudsman.

To help we have created a mis-sold pension claim templates available online to download to help you get a better picture and guide you through the process.

Financial advisers are supposed to collect enough information to advise of final salary transfers correctly, taking into account everything about the transfer to make sure it is suitable.

But many advisers give unsuitable advice.

Sometimes this is because they haven’t collected enough information, or because they’ve not done their due-diligence in checking out the new pension arrangements.

In some cases, they may have a conflict of interest and may benefit from the transfer, either through large advice fees, commissions or because of a vested interest in the receiving investment schemes.

Of course, other factors and parties may be involved, but generally the buck stops with the adviser who had the professional responsibility to make sure the transfer was in the client’s best interests.

A final salary pension is a type of defined benefit scheme, where members are awarded a guaranteed income in retirement based on their accrual rate, years of service and the salary they finish their career on.

They are free of charge for members, and considered to be one of the most valuable and widely suitable pensions around.

Here at Spencer Churchill Claims Advice, we have experience recovering money from mis-sold pensions on behalf of our clients, many of which were wrongly advised to transfer their final salary pension.

If you (with or without help from Spencer Churchill Claims Advice) can prove that your financial adviser or new pension provider acted negligently and against FCA rules, compensation is likely.

All of our claims start with a free initial assessment, and operate on with no upfront costs.

You can learn more about mis-sold final salary pension transfers through the UK financial services Regulator at the FCA.

Absolutely. In fact, a huge number of the mis-sold pension claims we deal with occur due when our client transferred after receiving a cold-call or ‘Free Pension Review’.

In many cases, the call came from an unregulated pension introducer – a marketing company whose job it was to generate new business for pension companies, advisers and investment companies.

Often, these companies are not FCA regulated, and a claim cannot be made against them. However, the chances are that if you were unsuitably advised to transfer a final salary pension , you may be able to make a claim against the financial adviser involved (if there was one) or the new pension company on due diligence grounds.

No, pension mis-selling is not the same as PPI. Pension mis-selling is when you are given poor advice about your pension, such as being advised to transfer out of a company pension scheme when this is not in your best interests.

PPI is when you are sold a product that you do not need or that is not suitable for you.

The team at Spencer Churchill Claims Advice are able to look into pension transfers that happened years ago, although from time to time there are instances which we are unable to help.

If the transfer happened after that, get in touch for a free initial assessment – it could be something our experienced team are able to help you with!

Starting a mis-sold pension claim is straightforward with us. Simply reach out for a no-strings-attached chat with our specialists. If your claim is valid, we’ll help you kick things off. Why not give us a call today? We’re here to help.

Although pension mis-selling is not usually a criminal act as defined by UK law, it is a breach of the regulator’s rules. Such a breach could carry consequences like fines, being forced to pay compensation, and the removal of authorisation to give pension advice.

Some pension ‘mis-selling cases’ involve complex fraud, and may be a mix of negligence and deceit on the part of a financial adviser or a fraudulent investment company.

But in most cases, it comes down to negligence on the part of the financial adviser, not following the rules correctly to ensure that a transfer is in the best interests of the client, leaving them out of pocket in the long run. Unfortunately, such cases are surprisingly common.

You may not need to. Because all financial advisers giving pension advice need to be regulated by the FCA, they have strict rules to follow, and a claim can be made if they fail in their duties.

You can take a free consultation with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice to see if you can make a claim on a no upfront costs basis.

Yes, online mis-sold pension complaint letter templates are available online. While every claim is a little different (sometimes a LOT different), there are some things that end up in pretty much every claim.

The time frame depends on the complexity of the case and the response from the pension provider. If the provider challenges your claim, it may need to be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman, which can take several months. Regardless, we’ll keep you informed at every stage of your claim for mis-sold pension compensation.

At Spencer Churchill Claims advice, we can look into pension claims as far back as 1988.

So, if the transfer happened after that date, please do not hesitate to get in touch. One of our experts could be able to help you make a claim.

Yes, you may be able to claim compensation for bad pension advice if you can prove that the advice you received was negligent. This means that the financial advisor must have failed to meet the standard of care that a reasonably competent financial advisor would have met in the same circumstances.

We know it can sound complicated, which is why we’re here to help! Get in touch with our teams today for a no-obligation chat about your situation.

At Spencer Churchill Claims Advice, we offer a FREE initial assessment of your claim and we won’t take any fees up front – ever. Our team of experienced and specialist claim advisors are trained to get you the most mis-sold pension compensation possible.

When it comes to the amount of compensation received from mis-sold pension claims, there is no one-size-fits-all answer.

We’ve seen a wide range of compensation amounts, and they really are different for every case.

Typically, compensation can vary significantly based on factors like the amount invested, the duration of the pension and the specific nature of the mis-selling.

While we can’t pinpoint an exact average due to these variations, we can promise that our team will do everything they can to get you the highest possible repayment.

Get in touch today to find out if you have a valid claim. Our teams of experts will work with you to get your hard-earned money back where it belongs – in your pocket.

If you have been paying into a pension scheme and the provider has recently gone bust, you may be due compensation: this will depend on the type of pension you have and whether the provider was FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) regulated.

Finding out if you can make a mis-sold SIPP claim is often the first step. Sadly, not everyone who has lost money through a SIPP pension is able to make a claim – it all depends on the advice that was given and by whom.

While pension complaint letter templates exist, you may benefit from a free chat with a Spencer Churchill Claims Advice claims assessor!

Request a call-back and we’ll listen to your pension story and help you discover if you’ve been mis-sold by your adviser or pension company, while explaining the pension claims process to you in more detail.

Please note: No Win – No Fee*: Successful claims made through Spencer Churchill Claims Advice are subject to the Success Fee, charged as per your terms of business and engagement letter of any monies awarded to the claim. Clients have a 14 day “Cooling-Off” period during which time they may cancel at any time without charge. After this time, cancellation will result in the application of the Cancellation Fee.

*Figures calculated before deduction of Success Fee and taxes

You can also check out our mis-sold pension complaint framework, too.

Each mis-sold SIPP case comes with its own complications, and deserves a tailored approach. Because of this, the amount of mis-sold SIPP compensation differs from case to case and depends on a few different factors:

• The investment amount
• The nature of the mis-selling
• The financial impact it had on you

Since these cases are so diverse, it’s not possible to give a compensation amount without knowing the full details of your case. What we can promise though, is that our teams of specialists will do everything they can to win you the largest compensation possible.

We don’t just want your compensation to make up for your financial losses – we want it to recognise the stress and trouble it caused you.

Your specific situation will determine the exact compensation you’re entitled to. Get in touch with our team today to find out if you have a valid claim.

If you received advice from your annuity provider or an independent adviser, you should have been recommended an option tailored to your circumstances. Unfortunately, many annuities are mis-sold when people are offered a standard annuity instead of an enhanced one.

If you suspect your annuity advice wasn’t suitable, we’ll give you an honest second opinion, completely free of charge. Just give us a call to get started.

A standard annuity is typically recommended for someone with no significant health issues and an expected long life. It pays out a smaller, steady income over time, assuming the recipient will live for many years.

However, if you had health conditions or there are other factors impacting your life expectancy, a standard annuity might not have been the right choice for you.

Enhanced annuities provide higher payouts to individuals with shorter life expectancies due to health conditions, hazardous work environments, or lifestyle choices like smoking.

If you weren’t offered an enhanced annuity despite qualifying, you might have been mis-sold. Call our team today – we’ll figure out if you have a valid claim and support you through the entire process.

In a nutshell, SERPS scheme members received an extra pension of 25% of their earnings (above an earning limit). The upper earning limit was around seven times the lower one. Later, the amount was reduced to 20% for those retiring after 2010.

Contracting out (sometimes called opting out) of SERPS meant that people partially or completely gave up their SERPS pension benefits in exchange for a higher private pension and paying smaller National Insurance qualifications (or redirected NI contributions).

Sadly, some people received the wrong advice when it came to SERPS, and may now be worse off in retirement because of it.

Usually, this is because they were told to Opt-Out of SERPS by brokers or financial advisers.

You MAY be able to claim for SERPS compensation if:

• You were advised to contract out of SERPS by a Financial Adviser
• The date of the advice you received was between 1 July 1988 and 5 April 1997
• When you contracted out, you were above 45 years of age (for Males) or 40 years of age (for Women)
• You were earning over £10k per year, every year.

If you paid Class One National Insurance contributions you might have a SERPS pension, or have already opted out of SERPs.

To check if you have a SERPS pension, login to your Personal Tax Account with HMRC which should show you your status. It may be that you need to create an account, in which case you will likely require your NI number, a recent payslip or P60, and a valid UK passport.

Through the current additional state pension, the maximum amount you could get is £176.41 per week. Of course, whether you’re eligible for the maximum amount depends on how long you were contracted into your SERPS, and how much you earned throughout your working life.

Yes – almost every website operating in 2019 uses ‘essential’ or ‘necessary’ cookies to operate effectively. Essential cookies help remember browser preferences and the like, making your experience on the website as good as possible.

Like many other websites, our own also uses other cookies used for marketing purposes. This can be for purposes such as (but not limited to):

• Collecting anonymous data about how users find and interact with our website so as to identify trends and bottlenecks and make improvements to the website.
• Building marketing audiences to remarket to via platforms like Facebook, Linkedin, etc.

Our websites use CookieBot, which senses whether you have never visited this website before, and presents you with information about what cookies are in use on the website, allowing visitors to make an informed decision about whether they wish to accept the use of non essential cookies, and informing them how to delete their cookies if needed.

Our full cookies policy including what cookies are currently in use on our website can be found here.

No – at least not directly, however if you submit further data via a submission form (eg, a contact form), we will attempt to collect your IP address.

For ordinary website visits where you do not purposefully submit information via the website, we use Google Analytics to examine the way in which users interact with our website, which will attribute a Client ID to your visit which may hold general location information about where your machine is (such as a town or city), but not your specific IP which is unavailable to us.

As mentioned above, if you decide you wish to make contact with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice by filling in a form on the website or using the livechat function, we will make an attempt to collect your IP address to aid in verifying the request for contact is genuine.

We won’t show targetted adverts to you if you don’t consent to it.

If you wish to visit our website but you don’t wish us to include you in things like Facebook and Google audiences generated by website visits, you must tell us by removing (or never providing) consent using our cookies selection tool.

Upon your first visit to the website, you will be asked whether you wish to ‘Allow all cookies’ including the marketing cookies used for advertising campaigns, or just tell us to ‘use necessary cookies only’.

By doing so, you disable our ability to automatically use cookies to show you related adverts later because of your site visit.

If you previously consented to marketing cookies, but now wish to opt-out from seeing targeted advertisements from Spencer Churchill Claims Advice, you can do so by altering your cookies preferences by following this process:

1. Visit our Cookies Policy Page here: https://getclaimsadvice.co.uk/cookies-policy/
2. Part-way down the page, you will see a blue, highlighted two links inviting you to “change your consent” or “withdraw your consent”.
3. Click which option you would prefer.

Note 1: Removing your consent for us to use the data collected on your visit to show you adverts on other platforms does NOT ensure you will never see an advert for Spencer Churchill Claims Advice. As part of our wider marketing strategy we may, from time to time, use Facebook and Google’s display advertising facility to show a broad spectrum of society our advertisements. Therefore, you may coincidentally see adverts for Spencer Churchill Claims Advice, but not as a result of your use of our website if you have opted out.

Note 2: You may also choose to delete your cookies from your browser at any time in your settings.

We take our duties to secure your visit from prying eyes seriously. Although it may be unwise to go into the security measures we use on our website here, some things should be visible to you now.

For instance, we are secured by an SSL certificate, which means visits to the website go via https rather than http (the ‘S’ stands for secured). This means that data you submit through the website is encrypted for anybody watching you.

This is now a fairly standard part of website security, denoted by the small padlock you should see in the top-left of your browser next to the website address.

Securing the website via an SSL is just one of the many things we do to make your visit to our website secure, however whether the machine or account you are using to visit the website are secure is unknown to us, and outside of our control. It is good practice to ensure the security of your device by using appropriate firewalls, virus checkers and malware/spyware protection.

If you choose to submit personal data via the website such as your name, telephone number and/or email address, either through one of our contact forms or via our livechat/automated service, then the information will be collected, stored and processed in line with our privacy policy, which you should read before submitting any personal data.

The information will generally be used to contact you in regards to the stated reason you submitted the information. This is usually to answer a query you may have about your pension, pension claims or our business and services.

Afterwards, the data may added to more data you consensually submit to us as part of contracted claims services. Otherwise, the information may be retained for a time for our records and to fulfil legal obligations. You can see how we control and process data about you in the privacy policy, including about what rights you have regarding the data we collect, process and store about you.

If you have submitted personally identifiable information such as (but not exhaustively):

• Your name
• Your contact/address details
• Your financial information
• Your employment information

to Spencer Churchill Claims Advice or it’s advertising partners via any medium such as (but not exhaustively):

• Email
• Website contact form
• Telephone conversation
• Social Media

Then that information falls within the scope of our privacy policy and data protection obligations as a Data Controller.

In this case, your information is stored on password-secured systems, accessed via secure machines in our locked premises. We operate a strict IT policy to ensure the security and secrecy of passwords.

If we have a contract with you for claims services, we will obviously need to retain this data in order to fulfill our contractual obligations and share it only with those who it is essential.

Pension claims can be complex depending on the nature of what has happened. In order to properly assess and then process a successful mis-sold pension claim, a number of factors need to be taken into account.

This is because in most cases, the claim will for negligent financial advice. In order to assess and then effectively criticize that advice, we must first understand what basis it was made on – what information did the adviser have about their client on which to give advice?

Once we have the right information, which can include employment details, income, outgoings, health and risk tolerance reports, we can better assess whether a claim can be made.

Then we can use that information to make the claim.

Without sufficient information, we may not be able to proceed with a claim.

This can change depending on how you’ve come across our services, and what sort of claim you will be making. You can see a list of third parties we deal with as standard on our privacy policy.

In most cases, we may be required to contact your previous or current pension provider or financial adviser in order to collect documentation on your behalf, and to make the claim itself (falling back on the FOS or FSCS in some situations).

Spencer Churchill Claims Advice’s processes are based around our clients, and our no upfront costs customer journey usually looks a little like this:

• Take a Free Initial Assessment on the phone so our specialists can identify if it looks like you were mis-sold and can take the claim forward.
• Decide whether you want to take things further: If we think you’ve been mis-sold, we can take you assessment further with a specialist case handler (again, on the phone).
• Should it be a case we can work with, we will then offer to fight your claim on your behalf, with no upfront costs. We’ll send our fact-find, our terms of business and some LOAs to your address for you to sign if you want to go ahead.
• Leave it with us: We’ll then get busy gathering the information, supporting documents and building your case, before taking it to the relevant party to make sure it gets the attention it deserves.
• Results: We’ll chase down your results. In the event that we don’t win your case, then there’s no charge.

Please note: No Win – No Fee*: Successful claims made through Spencer Churchill Claims Advice are subject to the Success Fee, charged as per your terms of business and engagement letter of any monies awarded to the claim. Clients have a 14 day “Cooling-Off” period during which time they may cancel at any time without charge. After this time, cancellation will result in the application of the Cancellation Fee.

*Figures calculated before deduction of Success Fee and taxes

The time frame depends on the complexity of the case and the response from the pension provider. If the provider challenges your claim, it may need to be escalated to the Financial Ombudsman, which can take several months. Regardless, we’ll keep you informed at every stage of your claim for mis-sold pension compensation.

We only ever work on a no upfront fee basis

You can read more about how the success fee works in our Terms Of Business.

Please note: No Win – No Fee*: Successful claims made through Spencer Churchill Claims Advice are subject to the Success Fee, charged as per your terms of business and engagement letter of any monies awarded to the claim. Clients have a 14 day “Cooling-Off” period during which time they may cancel at any time without charge. After this time, cancellation will result in the application of the Cancellation Fee.

*Figures calculated before deduction of Success Fee and taxes

Registered Offices: Spencer Churchill Claims Advice, Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5AN Company Registration: 09051424.
Spencer Churchill Claims Advice is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority Reg No. 831103. You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA’s website http://fca,org.uk/register or by contacting the FCA on 0800 111 6768

Spencer Churchill Claims Advice is registered with the Information Commissioner (ICO) Registration Number ZA187898.

We’d love to give you an accurate idea of how much compensation your case is likely to win, but the truth is that it all depends on how much money you have lost, and who gave you the negligent advice where applicable.

We will however, always be looking to win you the maximum amount we can to help you recover any losses.

Some reference points you might find helpful:

• We’re pleased to say we have experience in mis-sold pension claims, and recovered money on behalf of our clients.
• The maximum amount the FSCS will award each claim is £50,000.

If you win compensation for your case, either from a Financial adviser, pension company, PI company, or through the FSCS or FOS, the monies will first be paid into our Laywer’s account, and then sent to you.

Pensions are notoriously one of the most complicated aspects of financial advice.

Many feel that it’s a jargon and rule-stuffed minefield, and because of this, many people like to speak to somebody who knows their stuff.

If you are worried that you may have been mis-sold, you can speak to an experienced case assessor on the phone, as part of our free initial assessment. 

It’s a chat with somebody who knows about pension mis-selling, who can guide you through to finding out if you may have a claim.

Don’t worry, even if you take our initial assessment there’s no obligation to make a claim with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice, although if we think you’ve got a claim, of course we’ll probably offer our claims services with no upfront costs – the choice is yours!

The list of reasons is endless, but usually it comes down to one of two things:

• Negligence
• Greed

Negligent financial advice is where a regulated financial adviser gets it wrong, and suggests that you take an action over your pension that leaves your worse off.

This could be transferring a Final Salary pension when you would have been better off leaving it where it was, or transferring to a SIPP full of high-risk investments you weren’t suitable for.

Greed can be a factor too. Thousands of cold-calls have been made to people to earn commission for selling bad pension transfers, usually offering a free pension review.

Either way, our team of specialists are great at finding the cause of mis-sold pensions, and where possible, fighting for a claim to recover any losses you may have experienced as a result of bad financial advice.

It depends on who mis-sold your pension in the first place.

In most of the cases we deal with, it is a negligent financial adviser who is at fault.

They are (or should be) the first place we take a claim to, as if the claim is valid (and they agree to pay compensation), they will be the ones to pay the claim (or their PI insurer).

But as you can probably imagine, most of them don’t roll over and cough up compensation easily.

This means taking it to the Financial Ombudsman Service – an authority that can force advisers to pay compensation if they deem to them be at fault.

But…

Many financial advisers who mis-sold peoples’ pensions didn’t stick around long after being caught out, and may close up or go into liquidation, making them unable to pay any more claims.

That’s when the FSCS often steps in to pay compensation on behalf of the company, but only to a maximum of £50,000 per claim.

A Self-Invested Personal Pension is a type of private pension that allows a greater range of investments.

Because many SIPPs allow high-risk investments, they are often mis-sold by financial advisers who failed to consider whether the investments were suitable for their client, therefore exposing them to more risk than is suitable for them.

IFA stands for Independent Financial Adviser – a firm that should be qualified to give financial advice, and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to give that advice.

You can check if a company is regulated by the FCA by looking on the FCA register.

Always check that you are dealing with a regulated financial adviser before taking action over your pension – there are some sharks out there!

Easy and common mistake.

SERP: State Earnings-Related Pension – an old government-ran pension scheme that finished in 2002.

SIPP: Self Invested Personal Pension – a private pension that allows holders to take control over what they invest their pension in.

Spencer Churchill Claims Advice deals with Mis-Sold SIPP claims, but doesn’t handle SERPs.

A SIPP Administrator / Provider is a company who “manages” your SIPP pension for you. They should keep you regularly informed of the value of your pension, and make you aware of any changes to it.

You will likely pay them a regular fee.

Compensation awarded specifically for mis-sold pensions is not taxable, however you may wish to consider your other financial obligations and situation. Mis-sold Endowment compensation on the other hand may be taxable as it may be connected to your home.

Within a final salary pension scheme, it may be possible to access a lump sum of tax free cash once you reach a certain age (usually 55).

Lump sums at 55 are often available from both final salary pensions and other personal pensions, and usually have a tax-free limit of up to 25% of the total value, however it may depend on other circumstances too.

Some people are advised to transfer their pension away from final salary pension schemes to get better access to a lump-sum. However, this is seldom a good enough reason on it’s own to transfer, and may be part of a scam.

It is always important to get the advice of a regulated financial adviser when considered a final salary pension transfer, regardless of where the pension might be transferred too.

SIPPs allow a greater range of control over what the pension is invested in, but this can include high-risk and non-FCA regulated investments that may be unsuitable for you, or may even be scams.

Many transfers from final salary pensions into SIPPs lose money instead of gaining it, and may have been mis-sold.

Final salary pensions are considered to be both rare and valuable, offering a guaranteed income in retirement.

When people talk about “cashing in” their pension, they may mean transferring it to another personal pension (swapping the guaranteed income for a Cash Equivalent Transfer Value – CETV), or they might mean coming out of the pensions altogether and realising the cash.

If you are considering “cashing in” your final salary pension, you should consult with a regulated financial adviser, ensuring they are FCA authorised by using the Financial Conduct Authority register, as cashing in can sometimes produce big tax bills or may be a pensions liberation scam.

If you’ve already transferred, you may be eligible to make a mis-sold pension claim.

Some people are advised to transfer their final salary pension for early retirement. This may be considered suitable in some fairly rare circumstances, but may not be needed.

Many final salary schemes may allow early retirement at the trustee’s discretion, or in the event of ill health and/or a shortened life expectancy.

If you transferred your pension for this reason alone, you may have been mis-sold.

Getting final salary pension advice needn’t be a minefield. By seeking out a regulated financial advice, the advice they give must follow the FCA’s rules and guidelines.

If not, then it may be you can hold the financial adviser accountable by making a mis-sold pension claim.

Costs for final salary pension transfer advice vary from adviser to adviser. Some may charge a standard fee, and others may charge a percentage of the pension they are transferring.

In some cases, they may also charge for investment advice for the transfer, and may take ongoing management fees.

But how much will a final salary pension transfer cost? If you’ve taken negligent advice, it could cost thousands in losses and in some cases an entire retirement fund.

Find out if you can make a claim through a free chat with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice.

Finding a final salary pension transfer specialist shouldn’t be tricky – there are plenty of them around advertising heavily.

Just make sure that you check they are authorised to give pension advice via the FCA register.

Sadly, even regulated advisers get it wrong, so if you’ve transferred your pension, speak to the mis-sold final salary pension transfer claims specialists at Spencer Churchill Claims Advice for a free initial assessment – you may be able to claim!

Transfer advice should be very bespoke to each person, and so what an individual stands to lose or benefit from a final salary pension transfer changes.

However, many defined benefit transfers may be sold to scheme members on some of these potential benefits:

• Greater investment choice
• Opportunity to grow pension faster (however this entails more risk)
• Greater flexibility
• High transfer values (many schemes offer a high CETV)
• Changes to death benefits (it may be beneficial for some people who wish to select other beneficiaries to receive their pension if they should die before retirement).

But there is a huge flip-side to these benefits:

Transferring a final salary pension usually means giving up a guaranteed income in retirement, one that is often index-linked and increases the longer the scheme member works for the company and the bigger the salary when they retire.

Generous death benefits are sometimes lost too, where a spouse may receive a large portion of the pension in the event of death before retirement.

Often called ‘Gold-Plated’ pensions, they are considered a safer and more solid foundation for retirement.

But by transferring out, many people end up investing the money through their pension back into the stock-market, which as we all know, can go wrong and regularly does!

Investments can decrease in value as well as increase, and they don’t always grow inline with the critical yield, meaning that even if the pension looks like it was growing, it may never be worth as much as the final salary pension.

Sadly, it is not unheard of for people to lose their entire pension funds by transferring and investing in stocks that later collapse or get into trouble .

Many people were mis-sold their final salary pension transfers, and you may be able to make a claim if you transferred yours!

Pension cold-calling was banned in January 2019 mainly because it initiated a concerning trend of pension mis-selling, especially with SIPP pensions.

These so-called “free pension reviews” were only free if individuals chose not to transfer their pensions. As a result, to earn a commission, many cold-callers would resort to aggressive sales strategies. They would emphasise urgency and often gloss over crucial details, such as potential risks involved.

Ideally, financial advisors should have identified and addressed these discrepancies during their review of each transfer. Regrettably, whether due to oversight or greed, numerous individuals were persuaded into inappropriate high-risk pension transfers, leading to significant financial losses.

Pension introducers made money from commission. In practice, they would cold-call pension holders and only be paid once a pension transfer had been made. As a result, many people were wrongly encouraged to make high-risk investments.

The FCA doesn’t regulate most pension introducers involved in pension mis-selling. This makes direct action against them difficult unless they are conducting regulated activities without authorisation.

However, they can control the financial advisors who deal with them, and have regularly told certain advisors to cease their relationships with cold-calling firms.

We can’t make claims against unregulated pension introducers in the same way as advisors, as the buck tends to stop with the company giving the advice, not the one introducing them to the process.

A QROPS is a Qualifying Overseas Pension Scheme, and they are really supposed to be for people who are planning to take their pension abroad with them.

Like SIPPs, they can hold a wide range of investments, including the high-risk and unregulated ones that often pose a risk to people’s retirements.

QROPS pensions can be mis-sold too, for instance if they person has no intention to move abroad with their pension, and the adviser suggests it just so it can be filled with high-risk investments the client is not suitable for.

Another SIPP-like product, a SSAS stands for Small Self-Administrated Scheme, and they can sometimes hold high-risk and unregulated products too!

They can be more handy for small business owners, and setting one up in your name usually means you’ll be listed as a company director!

After many people began to catch-on to the mis-selling of SIPPs, some unregulated introducers and advisers began to use SSAS pensions as their vehicle of choice for scams.

While some pension providers may have a side of the company that gives advice, many SIPP, SSAS and QROPS providers are simply there to administrate the pension rather than guide the owner on how to run it.

Usually, an independent financial adviser was the one advising on both the pension provider, and the underlying investments.

Every claim is different, and there are a number of factors that can lead to a relatively short or long claim process, including (but not exclusively)…

• Whether the financial adviser is still operating
• Whether they accept the claim
• How fast paperwork can be gathered

Assuming your claim is accepted, how long before a compensation claim is settled and paid depends on a number of factors.

Usually, the longest wait is to have the claim accepted, as it may mean collecting information and fighting the case with the negligent party, or making the case to the FOS or FSCS.

If the claim is accepted by the FOS or FSCS, it could be weeks or months depending on who is set to pay the compensation.

In rare cases compensation offers for mis-sold pensions are best counted in weeks, however it may be months or in rare cases years for the claim to be completed from start to finish.

Usually, once the compensation figure has been agreed on, things tend to take less than a month before the compensation is paid.

Pensions are often full of jargon, confusing relationships and regulation, which may cause some people to struggle to identify if they have a mis-sold pension claim.

If you transferred a pension such as a defined benefit pension, or transferred into a SIPP, SSAS or QROPS then you qualify for a FREE initial assessment with Spencer Churchill Claims Advice. We’ll listen to your pension story, make enquiries and let you know if we think you have a claim.

Assuming you have a valid claim, it all depends on a number of factors, including how much you’ve lost, how much you may lose in the future, and any compensation limits that might apply.

Everything depends on the details of the exact claim!

Anybody who wants to complete their claim themselves is free to do so, either to the responsible firm, or to the Financial Ombudsman and/or the FSCS (whichever is applicable given the circumstances). Doing so is free.

You can find details about pension claim template letters here.

Most of the mis-sold pension claims we  can deal with a Spencer Churchill Claims Advice involve pension transfers and investments that happened between 1994, right up to last year!