In 2018 Mrs R was wrongly advised by independent financial advisers, The Pensions Office and Mr Paul Davies (a firm) to transfer her pension with the British Telecom Pension Scheme to a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) administered by The Lifetime SIPP Company Limited. Her pension money was subsequently invested into the Harlequin property scheme which promised investors returns from a planned holiday resort in the Caribbean.
While Mrs R assumed her pension to be safe and secure for her retirement, her monies were in fact invested into the high risk and unsuitable Harlequin property scheme which subsequently collapsed in 2016 leaving investors out of pocket to the reported tune of £400 million.
Mrs R retained Hugh James to investigate her potential mis-selling claims in 2018.
We advised Mrs R that she had received negligent advice from The Pensions Office and Mr Paul Davies (a firm) given how unsuitable the investment was for her. We then proceeded with two successful Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) claims for her in which we recouped £100,000 in compensation in total.
The FSCS is a compensation fund that can pay compensation to customers where a firm is unable or unlikely to do so. It is essentially the industry’s lifeboat fund.
We also advised Mrs R that she had a further claim against The Lifetime SIPP Company Limited given the lack of due diligence they carried out prior to accepting her application to join their SIPP.
We therefore, submitted a third claim to the FSCS against The Lifetime SIPP Company Limited on Mrs R’s behalf.
The FSCS made a final award of compensation in her claim against the SIPP operator, in the sum of £64,272.54 to account for the remaining losses she had suffered as a result of her pension transfer and Harlequin investment.
Mrs R confirmed that she was pleased with the decision and happy to have the matter concluded.
Our Financial Mis-Selling Team has dealt with a large number of claims against failed advisers and SIPP operators. If you are concerned about advice you received in relation to a transfer of your pension into a Lifetime SIPP, then please contact us for a free and speak to our specialist Financial Mis-Selling Team today to find out how we can help. We offer ‘no win, no fee’ funding on approved cases.
