If you’re one of the 7000 members of the British Steel Pension Scheme that requested pension transfer values since April 2018 in order to transfer away from the BSPS, you may want to check the advice you received hasn’t left you in a worse position.
Reports show that pension transfer valuations exceeding a total of £200m were requested on behalf of British Steel Pension members leading up to September 2018 – a huge amount!
But what may be more concerning is that related reports say that around 4,300 of these transfer requests contain a worrying lack of data, including missing employment start dates, incorrect estimates and little to no information on the individuals themselves… all adding up to a stack of what appear to be mis-sold pensions.
As many as 1 in 3 may have received the wrong advice to transfer away, and may be able to make a claim for a mis-sold pension transfer.
Get Started NowIn order to transfer from a Defined Benefit Pension Scheme (such as the BSPS), a regulated financial adviser is required to provide advice to the individual if he value is over £30k. But if those advisers aren’t doing their job properly, or working off minimal information, how can they possibly give advice that is in the individuals best interest?
Did you know that financial advisers can charge huge fees for transferring British Steel pensions? Did you know they can earn huge commissions from the receiving pension schemes and investment companies?
What if your pension transfer wasn’t in your best interests, it was in your advisers?
What if you’ve left the pan, and now you’re in the fire?
If you transferred your British Steel pension, you may be able to claim. Speak with a specialist for free to discuss your options.
If you transferred then you may have been mis-sold by many others.
The British Steel pension scandal was pretty big news, getting mentioned in parliament and with many advisers being held to account for poor advice, high-pressure sales tactics and exploiting the situation with BSPS1.
If you haven’t already checked to see if you can make a claim, book a FREE initial assessment with a Spencer Churchill Claims Advice specialist case assessor – you may be able to make a claim with no upfront costs!
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
If you’ve transferred an British Steel Final Salary pension, then you may have lost money in the long run, may have been mis-sold, and may be able to make a claim.
Spencer Churchill Claims Advice offer a FREE initial assessment to test your case for signs of pension mis-selling, to see if you can make a claim.
Get Started NowThe FCA, aware that advisers are circling BSPS members like sharks, holds seminars around British Steel sites, and urges good advisers to blow the whistle on bad transfer advice.
Another big development in November was the Active Wealth (UK) Ltd being asked by the FCA to stop DB pension advice, over apparent concerns about how the firm gave British Steel pension members advice.
By the end of November, the FCA was fully mobilised, and MPs from the Work and Pensions Select Committee asked advisers who had dealings during the developing crisis to submit evidence.
The Pension Protection Fund – the ‘lifeboat’ fund for pension schemes like BSPS warned financial advisers not to use “fear tactics” to persuade people to transfer when it wasn’t suitable for them.
Two more financial advisers agreed to stop giving advice to Defined Benefit pension holders in the wake of the growing scandal: Mansion Park and Pembrokeshire Mortgage Centre (although the latter firm seems to have regained it’s permissions according to the FCA register).
The city watchdog – the FCA – releases data that indicates that as many as 1 in 3 transfers away from the British Steel Pension Scheme may have been negligent. 33% were declared unsuitable, with a further 16% unclear.