Help re FSCS SIPP provider/advisor claim

[big fish]

Hi All

 

I am considering making a claim via FSCS against The Lifetime SIPP Company and The Pensions Office.

 

Both of whom gave bad advice without due diligence re my SIPP that included Harlequin Development, Rimondi Grand and crop growing in Uruguay

 

I am informed that I could claim £85000 from Lifetime and £50000 from Pensions Office in compensation.

 

To use a claims company will cost in the region of £20000.

 

Can anyone with any experience of this advise as to the correct t wording required in my FSCS claim please?

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

Is your SIPP provider still in business? 

 

And could you tell us why you want to claim against the Pensions Office please?

 

HB

[big fish]

Hi

 

SIPP company Lifetime SIPP out of business

 

Claim against Pensions Office Ltd as they advised for One Stop Finance who I incidentally made an initial claim for £50000 via FSCS

 

Big Fish

[honeybee13]

So are all these people out of business? Otherwise FSCS don' t get involved.

 

HB

 

[big fish]

Hi 

 

The Pensions Office Ltd  - Firm Ref No 434677 is dissolved , it was declared in ‘default’ by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in 2015

 

The Lifetime SIPP Company Ltd (Lifetime) Firm Ref No 464526 was placed into administration in March 2018 and later went into liquidation on the 2 April 2019.

 

I know I can claim but wondered if there are any previous letters or templates I could adapt in the process of my claim against the two companies e.g. specific wording relating to lack of due diligence. FSCS advise as below.

 

 

FSCS is accepting claims against this firm.

We’re aware that some Lifetime customers were advised by independent financial advisers to transfer existing pensions into a Lifetime SIPP. 

 

After the pension transfer, customers had their pension funds placed in high risk, non-standard investments. Some of these have since become illiquid, which means they can’t currently be sold or traded.

 

For FSCS to be able to pay your claim we must prove that Lifetime failed in its due diligence - in other words, did it do certain checks on the non-standard investments that would hold its customers’ pension funds, before accepting them into its SIPP investment portfolio?

 

Did it make sure they were appropriate for a SIPP, and did it identify any potential issues with them? Also, if it did identify potential issues, did it tell the customer?

 

There are currently civil claims cases against SIPP operators underway in the High Court regarding their due diligence requirements.

 

The outcome of these court cases will affect whether we can pay a claim against SIPP operators like The Lifetime SIPP Company Ltd.

 

We’ve already assessed and paid several customer claims against authorised IFAs declared in default by FSCS, in relation to advice they received to transfer their pension into a Lifetime SIPP.

 

[honeybee13]

There isn't a template for this as every case is different.

 

I'm not clear if either of the companies was an IFA or which was the SIPP provider.

 

What paperwork do you have from whoever gave the advice so that you can show the FSCS that you were badly advised?

 

You may find something in this thread where the OP had a similar problem. He ended up going to the FSCS as well.

 

HB

 

 HB

 

 

 

[big fish]

Hi 

 

The Lifetime SIPP were the SIPP provider

 

Pensions Office prepared an assessment of advantages / disadvantages re proposed transfer of benefits from my pension scheme.

 

I am happy to  upload an anonymised copy of the pension transfer report, for analysis.

 

[honeybee13]

We can have a look but we don't have anyone with actuarial experience AFAIK.

 

Are you complaining about the advice to leave the pension scheme you were in or the funds they put you in, would you say?

 

HB

[big fish]

Hi I am complaining about the poor advice and lack of due diligence re transfer of my pension pot. The pot was placed in high risk, non-standard investments. Some of these have since become illiquid, which means they can’t currently be sold or traded.

 

 

 

merged.pdf

[honeybee13]

Thank you for the document.

 

Would you say that they followed your views on having a medium risk investment? I haven't seen any discussion of their fund choice and why it was suitable for your circumstances.

 

The report writer also seems to say at one point that the investment return you would need for your retirement plans could be ambitious.

 

They seem to talk a lot about you not wanting a widow's pension paid to your ex and having flexibilty, taking maximum tax-free cash at retirement, etc. Is all this correct?

 

Also, did you have meetings with a consultant from TPO?

 

I imagine what the FSCS might expect to be looking at is whether TPO understood your situation properly and recommended a suitable investment for you. Also that they took account of your risk profile when recommending the investment funds.

 

I may have missed something but is there something in writing about why these funds were recommended for you?

 

HB

[big fish]

Hi HB

 

Thank you for the information that is very helpful.

 

I would not say my views were followed on medium risk investment. There is no discussion of fund choice or suitability, could this go against my claim? Or should it have been included?

 

Info re widows pension etc I do not recall but they mention a questionnaire.

 

I do not recall any meetings with TPO.

 

In answer to your previous question the pension fund was frozen with my employer at the time.

 

I have attached 2 further letters that are all I have from TPO and an excerpt from the suitability report from One Stop Financial Services relating to advice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

merged.pdf

[honeybee13]

OK, that's a lot of documents. I'll do my best to have a look tomorrow or more likely Tuesday.

 

One question for no please. The One Stop Financial document says TPO didn't think a transfer was appropriate and said that it would be your responsibility if you transferred.

 

What happened after that please?

 

HB

[big fish]

I transferred funds to SIPP.

 

Does the One Stop doc say TPO didn't think transfer was appropriate though?

[honeybee13]

That's how I read the one page document from One Stop. Obviously I don't know what happened yet but they're trying to say that if you transferred your pension it would be an 'execution only' transaction and your decision to go ahead. I just wondered if any of this rang a bell with you.

 

They could still be in the wrong, it's up to the FSCS to decide. But if you remember anything about what happened after you had the report it would be useful.

 

HB

 

 

 

 

[big fish]

Hi HB

 

Unfortunately I don't, there was very  little communication  as I recall.

 

The majority of communication came from what I think is termed an "introducer".

 

This was an ex work colleague who initially brought the SIPPs to the attention of numerous employees left with sizable frozen pensions by the company at the time.

 

As previous, I have already received £50000 due to One Stop's involvement, just included this as thought may have some significance.

 

Regards Big Fish

[honeybee13]

I can't copy and paste from your Word document for some reason. As I read it, One Stop and TPO are saying that they don't think it's a good idea to transfer your fund.

 

The last sentence in the One Stop excerpt says 'This is classified as an instructed sale and you are aware of this and content with this arrangement.'

 

I didn't realise you already got £50k from One Stop. Did you go to the FCA and what basis did they award it on please?

 

HB

[big fish]

I claimed through FSCS on my own. Hence the reason to try and recoup more of my lost funds from the 2 companies who have since liquidated and considered at fault.

[dx100uk]

ive converted the files to a mass pdf 

please dont put up .doc or docx file as they contain peoples personal details in file info/properties

 

your should find you can copy and paste now too

 

dx

 

[big fish]

Many thanks for this Dx

 

I did try and merge original docs as PDF having scanned as JPEG's but over 5Mb, limit said 4.8Mb

[honeybee13]

11 hours ago, big fish said:

I claimed through FSCS on my own. Hence the reason to try and recoup more of my lost funds from the 2 companies who have since liquidated and considered at fault.

 

To make sure I understand, you originally went to One Stop who referred you to TPO for a pensions transfer report.

 

And then Lifetime SIPP provided the wrapper for your funds to be invested in?

 

Well done for sorting out One Stop with the FSCS on your own. Could I ask why they paid £50k and not the whole amount please?

 

Who recommended the investment funds to you?

[big fish]

Yes that is the correct sequence of events.

 

At the time I originally claimed against One Stop the limit was set at £50000.

 

I think One Stop recommended the investments and prepared what was referred to as my portfolio.

[honeybee13]

Thank you.

 

What do you think your reasons for claiming against TPO and Lifetime SIPP would be?

 

HB

[big fish]

Hi HB

 

I am claiming against both parties for uncompensated loss -  a  hypothetical value of my pension fund £262,851.67 being quoted, when FSCS awarded £50000 against One Stop in 2015. 

TPO - Losses flowing from the advice of this IFA to transfer pension into a SIPP and any associated investment losses. I believe they failed to take into account my financial circumstances, objectives, and attitude to risk (medium). A report was produced that was  suggestive of transferring my assets in order to realise maximum values. Consequently I transferred my pension scheme to an investment that represented a much higher level of risk than was suitable for my attitude to risk. My knowledge and understanding of investments and investment strategies was low.

 

One Stop quoted "You are aware that 1 Stop Financial Services do not offer advice or hold the necessary permissions to conduct reports on these schemes so with your permission we contracted a qualified pension specialist, The Pensions Office Ltd to analyse this for you." I question the purpose of TPO involvement, did they analyse or conduct reports on the schemes? They are also suggestive of my pension's growth not being achievable growth  over a medium to long term from a conventional portfolio of investment funds.

 

I do not recall any further contact/advice from TPO in regard to my proposed transfer to SIPP. In summary I feel TPO did not offer best advice considering my financial circumstances and attitudes to risk. There appears to be a  lack of due diligence here with no sound acknowledgement of risk to safeguard my investment. The actions of TPO  enabled substantial profits for advisers and introducers whilst in essence, they should have been looking after my best interests.

 

At the time I had no real idea of complexity of what I was about to invest in. As a consequence,  I lost safe guarded benefits that would have provided for my dependents in the event of my death and a considerable amount of income for at retirement. These provisions were mentioned by TPO referring to their questionnaire.

 

Lifetime SIPP - Losses arising from due diligence failures as SIPP Operator. If the company was still solvent I  could claim in the civil courts requesting to be put back in the position I would have been in but for the firm’s due diligence failures.  I believe the firm was negligent, not completing checks on the non-standard investments that would hold my pension funds, before accepting them into their proposed SIPP investment portfolio. I now question whether they were ever appropriate for a SIPP,  and whether they identified any potential issues. If they did so I was not made aware.

 

The transfer was facilitated by Lifetime, knowing I was to invest in an unregulated illiquid investment and the high risk nature of these investments was not properly explained.

 

There is obviously some crossover with the contents above between each complaint.

 

Big Fish

 

[honeybee13]

Hi.

 

Could you have a look at TPO's report and tell us which bits about your aims and objectives you disagree with please?

 

I would really like you to get more compensation but I have to say my impression from their report is that they didn't advise doing a transfer. This is from their report, there's more.

 

'You are in receipt of the report that the Pensions Office Ltd prepared for you. The findings of the report were based upon the questionnaire you completed on 01/11/2011. You understand that monies transferred out of your final salary scheme will have to achieve a return of at least 7.5% average per annum (classed as a critical yield) in order to produce better benefits than if you stay in your current scheme. The opinion of the pension specialists was that this is a rate of growth which they believe would not to be achievable over a medium to long term from a conventional portfolio of investment funds.

You have been advised that neither The Pensions Office Ltd nor 1 Stop Financial Services accept any liability if you act against the advice of the Pension Transfer Office and transfer your final salary scheme. We have given you the information for you to make your own decision on the movement of this final salary scheme. This is classed as an instructed sale and you are aware of this and content with this arrangement.'

 

HB

 

 

 

 

[big fish]

Hi HB

Are TPO referring to a conventional portfolio with the suggestion the proposed one would do better?

 

Where is the advice not to transfer they refer to?

 

I am aware claims companies will have a wealth of info from other test cases available. I felt they were convinced there would be a case against TPO. There are some misgivings and the company were responsible for poor advice. I feel these companies all fed each other to a degree in the SIPP failings

 

Did you feel the Lifetime info was relevant?

 

Are TPO not failing by not looking into the proposal from One Stop re the proposed assets?

 

Big Fish