In recent years, many people in the UK have been given advice, recommending that they transfer their existing pensions to a SIPP (a self-invested personal pension), often against their financial interests. If you have received advice to transfer your pension scheme to a SIPP and have lost money as a result, you may have been mis-sold and could be among many who are eligible to make mis-sold SIPP claims for compensation.
We help people in England & Wales claim back what they are due following SIPP pension mis-selling. We can even help you get your money back, via the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, if the SIPP provider or the independent financial adviser who supervised the transfer has gone out of business. Alternatively, if a financial advisor that advised you to transfer from a workplace pension to an unsuitable scheme has not gone out of business, a claim could be made via the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Claiming with us is straightforward. It is free to sign up, and we act on a no-win, no-fee basis. If you believe that your personal pension scheme was mis-sold, contact us to find out how we can help.
Self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) are a type of personal pension scheme approved by the government. Created to fill a gap in the market, where a small number of pension holders wanted greater control over their investments, they were designed for experienced investors who potentially had an interest in the stock market. Sadly, this product has been abused by several financial advisers. As a result:
We have seen a disturbing number of cases where clients were recommended by a “professional” financial adviser to transfer their pension into a SIPP scheme and went on to invest in highly unsuitable and high risk investments. While investments like these can be very damaging to the pension holder’s finances, they normally pay extremely high commissions to financial advisers. There have been a lot of situations where individuals have reached retirement to discover their investments were worthless, leaving them distressed as well as out of pocket.
A self invested personal pension allows clients to manage their own funds and change their investments when they want to. Usually, SIPPs let the individual invest in a wide variety of assets, including unit trusts, investment trusts, insurance company funds, and commercial property, to name just a few. More often than not, SIPPs come with higher charges than other pensions and have more risk involved, so they are naturally better suited to large funds or experienced investors.
A mis-sold SIPP can occur when a financial adviser or pension provider either provides advice or acts in a way that is negligent according to the standards set by the UK regulator, the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority). This could be because the money would have been better placed in a Defined Benefit pension, or because the investments inside the SIPP were not appropriate for the personal circumstances of the holder.
Often, this is because the SIPP investments involved are high-risk investments, are not regulated by the FCA, or are based abroad. In most cases, the pension transfer began with a cold call from a pension introducer before a financial adviser was brought in to make the move to the new SIPP provider.
There are several different non-standard pension investments that have been offered in the UK over the past few years. Many of these have ended up being mis-sold SIPP investments that could qualify pensions holders for SIPP claims and compensation.
Non-standard investments are regularly put into SIPPs, as they help to generate big commissions for the financial advisor, even if it is detrimental to the pension holder. Mis-sold SIPP investments can include but are not limited to:
A pension product might have been mis-sold if one or more of the below factors apply:
If any of the above factors sound familiar, you could be entitled to claim compensation. Anyone who suspects that they had their SIPP mis-sold should get in touch with our team as soon as possible.
We will guide you with your claim every step of the way. Our team of expert solicitors are ready to discuss your case and the circumstances that led to you suffering financial loss and distress.
We offer extensive experience in mis-sold SIPP claims and strive to get our clients the maximum amount of SIPP compensation they deserve.
Working on a no-win, no-fee basis, you won’t face any fees or charges in the event that your compensation claim is unsuccessful. This protects your financial interests and gives you complete peace of mind that you won’t encounter further unnecessary financial charges.
Where multiple people have received negligent or fraudulent pension advice from the same professional advisor/company, we can help them to recover their losses collectively. Group actions can be a powerful tool and can have a bigger impact than a single claim.
CONTACT US TO DISCUSS A PENSION MIS-SELLING GROUP ACTION CASE
Here are some of the questions our clients have asked our expert lawyers about SIPPs and making a mis-selling claim.
Taking money out of any type of pension (including SIPPs) before the age of 55 could have tax implications. It is therefore recommended that you get independent and regulated advice from an IFA before proceeding down this path. However, in a lot of SIPP mis-selling cases, this would not be possible anyway.
‘Liquid' investments are a form of investment that can be sold fairly quickly and easily. In scenarios involving many high-risk and unregulated investments, the assets become ‘illiquid', meaning the funds are invested until the investment is sold. In circumstances where these unregulated investments weren't sold, the money can become entrapped in a ‘boom or bust' situation.
If the assets have been made ‘illiquid', it might not be possible to sell the investments to either withdraw the money, leave it in the SIPP in cash, or make other investments. That, and if you were a victim of mis-sold pensions, you could be missing out on compensation if you withdraw the money from your SIPP.
The amount of compensation you could receive will depend on a variety of factors. With that in mind, the exact level of compensation a client could be awarded for a SIPP claim can be anywhere from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds.
This means we cannot provide you with an accurate average figure of compensation for you. However, our expert team of solicitors will investigate every mis-sold SIPP claim in detail and work hard to ensure you get the best possible result and compensation outcome you deserve.
If you have been a victim of pension mis-selling, we can help you make a no-win, no-fee claim for compensation. Contact us today for a free, no-obligation assessment of your case.
CONTACT US IN CONFIDENCE TO DISCUSS YOUR CASE
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