We can advise and progress pension mis-selling claims for anyone who has:

• Invested their fund in a high-risk scheme which has gone wrong
  e.g. off-plan property, store pods, carbon credits etc.
• Not received proper pension advice which explained their entitlement to an enhanced annuity.
• Been advised to transfer out of their existing scheme into, what turns out to be, a lesser scheme.

Mis-sold Pensions understand that for many investors, the money has been accumulated through a lifetime of working and saving. We will examine the sales process and consider all potential options to recover your losses.

It may be that we can:

• Recover pension funds that you previously thought lost.
• Get pension compensation for past losses and a better-paying annuity going forward

A self-invested personal pension (or a SIPP, as they are widely known) is a ‘do-it-yourself’ pension option, which allows you to draw together more varied investments than most standard pensions. For some people, SIPP pensions are helpful, as they allow increased flexibility in terms of the quantity and types of investments you can enter into.

However, in some cases, financial advisers have encouraged investors to transfer money into high-risk investments via SIPPs without proper explanations of the potential risks, sometimes resulting in significant financial loss.

SIPP investment funds are usually selected by the financial adviser, who has a duty to choose investments that are aligned with the customer’s needs and objectives, as well as their attitude towards risk. Despite this, some financial advisers have been placing customers’ funds into risky investments without the customer being properly informed of the dangers involved. As a result, some customers are facing depleted pension funds and potential financial difficulties during their retirement years.

You may have a claim for compensation if:

• Your financial adviser encouraged you to change your investments without properly explaining the reasons why;
• Your SIPP pension has fallen in value despite assurances from your financial adviser that it would increase;
• Your financial adviser failed to properly inform you of factors that could reduce the value of your investment.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has reported ‘serious and ongoing failings’ by a number of financial advisers with regards to SIPP investments. The main failings generally revolve around advisers not ensuring SIPP investments are safe and suitable for investors’ needs.

One of the advisers which has faced disciplinary action from the FCA is Tailormade Independent. Tailormade was involved with encouraging customers to transfer existing pensions into a variety of unregulated investments via SIPPs, including investments in:

• Biofuels
• Green oil
• Farmland
• Overseas property, including investments with property firm Harlequin, which has since been liquidated.

Tailormade Independent itself has now gone into liquidation, with three of its directors now being banned from holding any further senior roles within the financial industry.

According to the FCA, the directors of Tailormade failed to ensure that the SIPP pension products they recommended were suitable for customers’ needs, as well as failing to uphold transparency around activities that posed a conflict of interest.

We would particularly urge you to get in touch if your SIPP investments covered products such as:

• Off-plan properties
• Store Pods
• Wine
• Global Forestry Investments
• Australian farmland

Our experienced team may be able to help you to recover your losses even if your financial adviser or the firms you invested in are no longer trading.