New pension rules in the UK mean that more people than ever before now have the right to transfer from their final salary pensions to free up money. We now have more choice about how our pension savings will be used and, ultimately, what we do with them. However, the flipside is that these savings are often transferred to risky and unregulated pension schemes. The results are bleak, with countless people across the UK losing their retirement money.
If this has happened to you, please contact our team. We work on a no win, no fee* arrangement and have vast experience helping people in the UK make compensation claims after they’ve been mis-sold a pension transfer. Get in touch if you feel that you have an eligible compensation claim, and we’ll happily discuss your options. You can even see what some of our clients have said about our services, here.
What is a pension transfer?
A pension transfer enables you to swap your occupational (work) pension – along with the associated benefits – for cash, which is then invested into another kind of pension scheme that is usually unregulated.
Pension transfers are extremely risky because the success of your returns (how much money you’ll get when you retire and thus begin to cash the pension) will rely entirely on how you invest the pension. If you make a bad investment, you risk losing your retirement money completely. Transfers are irreversible, so in the worst case scenario there is almost no way back. Fortunately, our mis-sold pensions team can help.
How can a mis-sold pension transfer happen?
It’s unlikely that transferring your pension from a safe and guaranteed pension scheme into another scheme will actually benefit you. There’s a minority who it may benefit, but given the risky and complicated nature of pension transfers, they are generally not a good idea (especially if you think about the valuable pension benefits you’d have to give up).
Essentially, the problem is that you cannot guarantee that you will be better off by transferring your pension. Another problem is that once your pension is transferred, there’s no going back.
With that in mind, you need to stay vigilant if you suspect that a financial adviser is mis-selling you a pension transfer. Here are a few things they MUST do if they’re legitimate.
A legitimate pensions adviser MUST:
- Have sufficient experience and qualifications to legitimately give pensions advice
- Have been given specific permission from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to give legitimate pensions advice
- Provide you with sufficient information for you to make an informed decision
- Provide you with their honest opinion so that they can guide you in the right direction according to what is in your best interests
Before a transfer is completed, the adviser must have a strong understanding of your financial circumstances and that you understand the risks.
If your pensions adviser does not fulfill any or all of the above requirements, they may well be mis-selling you a pension transfer and you should get in touch with our team.
Signs you’ve been mis-sold a pension transfer
If you’re familiar with any of the below signs, then you may have been mis-sold a pension transfer.
- Your final salary scheme was your main or only source of retirement income
- You were not made aware of the risks involved with a pension transfer
- You were actively encouraged to transfer (even if you suspected it wasn’t in your best interests)
- The transfer value was just a little more or less than the income you would have received if you had not taken the transfer
- You were not confident in your experience and/or ability mitigating investment risks (this creates a perfect opportunity to take advantage).
Get in touch if you’ve been mis-sold a pension transfer
Our team are very experienced in handling pension transfer claims, so if you suspect that you’ve been mis-sold a pension transfer then call us on 0161 968 0768 or, alternatively, get in touch here. We also have a claims form accessible from anywhere on our website and it takes just 30 seconds to complete.
