Mis-sold SIPP Pension Claims

83% Of Defined Benefit Transfer Requests Still Raising Warning Flags. Four in five (83 per cent) defined benefit transfer requests have raised one or more warning flags, according to XPS Pensions Group. The firm’s scam flag index recorded May to have the highest number of scam warnings in the tracker’s history, up from a near record high in March. This is an increase of roughly 30 per cent since the beginning of 2022. XPS Pensions Group client lead, member engagement hub, Hel

Two businessmen who mis-sold investments wiping out people’s pensions are linked to a firm making millions of pounds from providing emergency accommodation for the homeless – including those in Tunbridge Wells. The Times can today disclose the connection following an investigation into a complex web of companies and their directors. Paramount Independent Property Services makes more than £5million a year from providing emergency accommodation for the homeless in Kent but the

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has declared another two advice firms involved in the British Steel pensions saga in default. Newcastle-based Whitebridge Financial Planning and West-Yorkshire based Briggs Murray Financial Planning & Wealth Management, trading as Briggs Murray Wealth, were both declared as failed yesterday (April 26). The two firms, both of which are in default, have claims regarding the BSPS. The FSCS said it has received two claims for Whitebridge

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has declared another advice firm involved in the British Steel pensions saga in default. West-Yorkshire based firm Keywood Olley & Associates Ltd, trading as North East Mortgages and EMH Financial Planning, was declared in default on April 5. According to the Financial Conduct Authority's register, a previous name for the firm was Eden Pensions & Retirement Solutions. The FCA register also stated the firm was ordered to cease

An adviser has been blocked from challenging a number of decisions made by the Financial Ombudsman Service in relation to the firm's failure to properly advise on a pension transfer. Mr Justice Sweeting ruled against Portal Financial Services yesterday (March 28) after it took the FOS to the High Court over whether it should be responsible for the entirety of a client’s losses after a number of pensions were invested in unregulated collective investment schemes. Portal advise

The Treasury and Financial Conduct Authority are monitoring the availability of defined benefit pension transfer advice after concerns were raised about the sharp drop in the number of firms giving advice in this area. John Glen, economic secretary to the Treasury, said that the government and regulator were "monitoring the situation closely" after soaring costs of professional indemnity insurance has led to a flood of advisers leaving the DB transfer advice market. The marke

Sipp provider facing £600k FOS bill Sipp provider Heritage Pensions Limited has entered into liquidation following four claims upheld by the Financial Ombudsman Service requiring it to pay a total of up to £600,000 in compensation to clients. According to the Financial Conduct Authority, yesterday (March 17), Heritage sought professional insolvency advice following final decisions issued by the FOS. Therefore, the Bedfordshire-based firm’s directors appointed Paul David Willi

So who was to blame for the British Steel pension scandal? Five years on and we are still debating the issue because for the steelworkers the question is still relevant. They are still out of pocket, and they still want to know who was responsible. Some like to blame the pension freedoms. It is because of the flexibilities brought in by the 2015 reforms that transferring out of a defined benefit pension scheme suddenly became more appealing. And when you speak to steelworkers

The Financial Conduct Authority has ordered a Swansea-based IFA, which advised on transfers from the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS), to stop disposing of assets without the regulator’s permission. In an alert published yesterday (February 14), the FCA said it was concerned that AJH Financial Services does not have sufficient financial resources to pay potential BSPS redress claims. The regulator said the firm has paid out dividends rather than retaining its assets which

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has declared another advice firm involved in the British Steel pensions saga in default. Argent Wealth Ltd, trading as Orchard Financial Planners and Morley James Asset Management, was liquidated on January 20. The FSCS has received 17 claims applications from former customers of Argent Wealth which it is currently investigating. All of the claims relate to pension transfer advice, with eight relating to the British Steel Pens

A group of claimants have lost their chance to bring a case against a trustee for allegedly recommending inappropriate investments. In a High Court judgment, published October 13th 2021, Judge Jonathan Russen ruled the group of more than 60 investors should have brought their case against Castle Trust & Management Service in Gibraltar rather than the UK. Castle is a company registered in Gibraltar which operates as a professional trustee. It is the trustee of two Qualifying R

Nick Smith has vowed to continue his fight for a redress scheme for former members of the British Steel Pension Scheme as he warned time was running out for steelworkers to bring their claims. Speaking to FTAdviser, the MP for Blaenau Gwent who has been campaigning on the steelworkers' behalf, said he is “not letting go” of the idea of a BSPS redress scheme, adding he understands the City watchdog has “left the door open” to do this. Smith said: “[The Financial Conduct Author

An offshore property scheme which is still advertising for investment opportunities has sparked 2,430 claims at the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, FTAdviser can reveal. The FSCS said the claims, linked to Cape Verde-based property scheme The Resort Group, involve 51 financial advisers. The claims, the majority of which involved either Sipps or pension transfers, involve failed firms including Active Wealth, TailorMade Independent, and DFM and Sipp provider Greyfriars

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has paid out £21.5m to members of the British Steel Pension Scheme who were wrongly advised to transfer their defined benefit pensions, after payment figures have doubled in the past few months. The lifeboat scheme told FTAdviser it has so far made 482 decisions, including decisions to reject a claim, with an uphold rate of 88 per cent. The compensation amount has been £50,000 per claim but the overall payout could grow significantly

Unbelievably some of our heroes were purposely targeted and persuaded to transfer their pensions by unethical companies who made money from the transfer, despite the fact it would cause thousands of pounds of losses to their retirement fund. As they approach retirement or had retired, many were targeted by unregulated Advisers who actively encourage them to move their pension pot out of their MOD pension and into supposed “high return” investments. These are generally SIPPs (

The Financial Conduct Authority has no plans to revisit its second suitability review of retirement advice after it cancelled it several months ago. Speaking at a press conference September 24, Sarah Pritchard, executive director of markets at the City watchdog, said the regulator does not have “any immediate plans” to revisit its suitability review that it previously paused and then cancelled. Pritchard said instead the regulator is focusing on other areas in the pensions la

The directors behind Avacade have each received six-year directorship disqualifications after the Insolvency Service found they had paid themselves £1.4m during a tax investigation. Craig Lummis and his son, Lee Lummis, were banned by Judge Halliwell in Manchester’s High Court on August 27, due to the fact they repaid themselves £1.37m despite their company being under investigation by the tax authorities and slipping into insolvency. Avacade entered into liquidation back in

The Financial Conduct Authority will not set up a redress scheme for members of the British Steel Pension Scheme for the time being. According to the FCA’s board meeting minutes for 21 and 22 July, published earlier this week (September 7), discussions were held around the available options for securing redress for scheme members. One option could have been to implement a consumer redress scheme, akin to the one set up for Arch Cru victims in 2012, which compensated investors

Duped savers could each pocket a £50,000 windfall due to their underperforming pension schemes as part of a mammoth SIPP scandal engulfing the UK - which industry experts fear will overtake the current wave of PPI claims. A colossal £10 billion worth of badly performing SIPPs - Self Invested Personal Pensions - are believed to have been mis-sold to hundreds of thousands of Brits by unscrupulous financial advisors. Now potential victims are being urged to check if they can rec