While many pension providers are involved in mis-sold pension claims, the blame for negligence does not regularly fall on them.
Rather than the pension provider, it has often been the fault of bad pension advice from a negligent financial adviser, but some pension providers play their part too.
All around the UK, people are discovering that they have been mis-sold their SIPP, SSAS and QROPS pensions, as well as sometimes transferring final salary pensions, and are now making claims.
Speak to a specialist to help find out
Until quite recently, this sort of situation was rare.
In most cases, the responsibility for mis-sold SIPPs, SSASs, QROPS, defined benefit pension transfers and the suitability of the underlying investments rested with the financial adviser.
However, many pension providers allowed transfers into their schemes without checking that their new clients had received suitable pension and investment advice, or without doing due-diligence checks on the investments or pension introducers.
For the last few years, the fate of mis-sold pension claims like these seemed like it was to be decided by carefully watched court cases involving Berkeley Burke and Carey Pensions.
Now, at least two SIPP providers has entered into administration.
If you transferred to a SIPP, SSAS or QROPs then you may have been mis-sold. Find out with a free mis-sold pension check.
Get Started NowIn short, any pension provider that has broken FCA (formerly FSA) rules about the provision and administration of pensions is involved in pension mis-selling.
But also, some firms may not have broken the rules themselves, but administrate pensions that were mis-sold by financial advisers.
Here are some names that have appeared in many mis-sold pension claims:
Berkeley Burke SIPP
Brooklands Trustees
Carey Pensions
Capital & Income Solutions
CharterGroup Financial Management
CPPT Services
Copia Wealth Management
Curtis Banks
DB Financial Advice Ltd
Embark Services
Falcon International Financial Services
Gaudi SIPP
GPC SIPP
Guinness Mahon
Greyfriars Asset Management
Greystone Financial Services
Guinness Mahon
Hartley Pensions
Hunstman Hawkes aka Fenchurch
Insight Financial Associates
Kingsway Wealth Management
Knavesmire Financial Insurance
The Liberty SIPP
The Lifetime SIPP Company
Lighthouse/Quilters Financial
Mattioli Woods / Stadia Trustees
NQ Minerals
Pacific IFA
Park Hall Financial Services
Stadia Trustees
SVS Securities
Tuto Money
Westbury SIPP
In most cases, court action against a pension provider may not be needed in order to receive compensation for a mis-sold pension.
The financial services industry in the UK is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, who sets the rules that all regulated companies have to abide by, including rules for pension providers.
If they are found to have broken these rules then a complaint can be made directly to them, or via the financial ombudsman service.
If the pension company is no-longer operating or cannot pay compensation, then the FSCS may step in if it can be proven that the firm broke FCA rules to the detriment of your pension.
In any case, the pension claim specialists at Spencer Churchill Claims Advice are always happy to help on a no upfront cost basis.
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
Speak with a SpecialistWhile the team of pension claim specialists at Spencer Churchill Claims Advice are always up for a challenge.
SIPPs (Self-Invested Personal Pensions) are a regular feature of pension mis-selling cases because high-risk, unregulated investments and even sometimes scams can be invested in through many of them.
Pensions like these can give savers more choice over their investments, but if they take bad advice from an adviser (or no regulated advice at all) then they can end up biting off more than they can chew with their investments, and lose a lot of money in the process.
Sadly, we have experience seeing too many cases where people lost their entire pension to unsuitable SIPP investments.
That’s why SIPP providers come up so often as part of mis-sold pensions, often the same names again and again depending on their policies on accepting non-standard investments into their portfolios.
That’s not to say that SSAS and QROPS pension cases aren’t dealt with either – both of these types of pensions have had the capacity to take on high-risk investments at various times and by various companies.
If you transferred to a SIPP, SSAS or QROPs, make time for a free chat with one of our claims specialists to see if you can begin the pension claims process.
Speak with a Claims HandlerA 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.