Today, Berkeley Burke announced that they have entered into administration, with Adrian Allen and Diana Frangou of RSM appointed as joint administrators. It is understood that a sale of the business has been agreed and that Berkeley Burke’s SIPP clients will be transferred to the administrator in due course with a pre-packaged sale to Hartley Pensions Limited likely to be completed shortly.
By entering into administration, all ongoing legal action against Berkeley Burke will be stayed. In addition to this, it is understood that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’) will add Berkeley Burke to their default list, thus allowing applications to be made for compensation through the scheme. This will also affect those individuals who have ongoing cases being considered by the Financial Ombudsman Service.
We understand that through the coming weeks those individuals holding SIPP accounts with Berkeley Burke are likely to receive correspondence regarding this development, however, we urge those individuals seeking compensation to contact us to determine whether Hugh James can assist in obtaining compensation for them from the FSCS.
We already represent a large group of Berkeley Burke investors and will be seeking to ensure that their interests are fully protected in this process and in particular that the FSCS pays compensation that properly reflects the value of lost pension funds
