"One of the UK's leading specialists in financial mis-selling…"
The Times
You may know that something has gone wrong with your pension without knowing exactly why.
You may have reason to question the advice you received if:
You do not need to know whether your pension was “mis-sold” before speaking to us. Our solicitors can look at what happened and help establish whether the advice you received may give you grounds for a claim.
Pension mis-selling can happen when you are recommended a pension, investment or retirement strategy that is unsuitable for your circumstances. The problem may be the product itself, the advice behind it or both.
Poor pension advice could involve:
Whether advice amounts to negligence depends on what happened at the time and whether the adviser met the professional standards expected of them. A pension losing money does not, by itself, mean that it was mis-sold.
Financial advisers should understand your financial circumstances, retirement objectives, attitude to risk and capacity for loss before making a recommendation. They should recommend a suitable course of action, explain the important risks and, where ongoing advice is provided, review whether the arrangements remain appropriate as your circumstances change.
Answer a few quick questions and request a free callback. Our team will contact you for a no-obligation chat and explain the next steps.
Problems with pension advice can happen at different stages of retirement planning. Select a topic below to learn more.
Transferring out of a defined benefit or final salary pension can mean giving up valuable guaranteed benefits. If you were advised to transfer and now question whether that advice was suitable, find out when you may have a claim.
Pension drawdown gives you flexibility over how you use your retirement savings, but poor pension drawdown advice can lead to excessive withdrawals, inappropriate investments or an unsustainable retirement income strategy.
Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) give greater investment choice, but poor advice can result in retirement savings being placed in inappropriate, high-risk or unregulated investments.
The advice isn’t always the only issue. Claims against SIPP providers can involve how investments were accepted into or administered within the SIPP and whether the provider met its responsibilities.
An annuity converts pension savings into retirement income. Poor annuity advice may mean you received less income than you could have, missed a more appropriate option or were not properly informed about the choices available.
Pension problems are not always caused by a particular product. Financial adviser negligence can involve unsuitable recommendations, poor explanations or failures to properly review advice over time.
Some warning signs are obvious, such as pressure to act quickly, promises of unusually high returns or unregulated investments. Others can be much harder to spot.
Warning signs may include:
None of these warning signs proves that your pension was mis-sold, but they may provide a reason to look more closely at the advice you received.
When our solicitors investigate pension advice, they look at both the recommendation and how the advice was given. Some recurring problems include:
Knowing whether someone considers themselves cautious or adventurous is only part of the assessment. Advisers should also consider capacity for loss and what a significant fall in pension value would mean for that person’s retirement plans.
Putting too much of someone’s retirement savings into one investment, fund or asset class can leave their pension heavily dependent on how that particular investment performs.
Pension advice should be based on the individual, not a standard recommendation. We look at whether the adviser properly understood what the client wanted to achieve, their financial position and how the recommendation would affect their retirement.
Where clients were paying for ongoing advice, we look at whether reviews genuinely reassessed the pension rather than simply repeating previous recommendations. Retirement plans, income needs and investments can change, and the advice should respond where appropriate. Read more about why meaningful annual pension reviews matter.
When investigating a claim, we look at the timing of key documents and decisions. A fact find, risk assessment and recommendation should form part of a genuine advice process, rather than paperwork being completed together or after the client has already committed.
“It’s about the journey — being taken from where your circumstances are to the recommendation at the end, rather than everything happening in one go.”
Several businesses or individuals may have been involved in arranging your pension or providing advice. These could include a financial adviser, pension provider, SIPP provider or introducer.
Our solicitors establish who owed you relevant duties, who actually gave the advice and what role each party played. Responsibility may rest with one party or involve more than one organisation.
We reconstruct what happened by looking at your circumstances at the time, the advice you received, what was recommended and the reasons given. Documents such as recommendation letters, fact finds, pension records, review documents and correspondence can help establish what each party did and whether their actions met the standards expected of them.
We also consider whether any failings caused financial harm and which party, or parties, a claim should be pursued against.
There is no standard amount of compensation for a mis-sold pension. The aim is generally to put you as closely as possible into the financial position you would have been in if you had received appropriate advice.
Depending on the circumstances, this could take account of investment losses, pension benefits you gave up, unnecessary fees or charges, and growth your pension might otherwise have achieved.
Calculating the value of a pension claim can be complex, particularly where long-term investment performance or valuable guaranteed benefits are involved.
Every pension claim is different, but the process usually starts with understanding the advice you received, gathering the relevant evidence and identifying who may be responsible. We keep you informed throughout and explain the next steps as your claim progresses.
Strict time limits apply to pension mis-selling and negligence claims. Generally, a claim may need to be brought within six years of the advice or event that caused the loss, or within three years of when you first knew, or could reasonably have known, that you may have suffered a loss because of the advice.
Different time limits and exceptions can apply depending on the circumstances and how the claim is pursued.
One of the most common misconceptions our solicitors encounter is that older pension advice must automatically be too late to challenge. That isn’t necessarily the case. We look at when the advice was given, when you became aware that something may have gone wrong and whether other circumstances affect the time available.
Read more about why an older pension claim may not necessarily be out of time.
We understand that you may already be concerned about the financial impact of poor pension advice. If we take on your claim, we can usually act under a “No Win, No Fee” Agreement, so you don’t have to pay legal fees upfront.
What This Means for You
For over 17 years, our solicitors have handled pension mis-selling, SIPP claims and negligent financial advice, giving us extensive experience of investigating complex pension claims.
We have recovered more than £150 million in compensation for thousands of clients across the claims we handle, including cases involving unsuitable pension and financial advice.
We succeed in around 90% of the pension mis-selling cases we agree to take on, reflecting the careful assessment we carry out before pursuing a claim.
If we agree to take on your claim under a No Win, No Fee agreement, you will not pay legal fees upfront. We’ll explain how our fees work before you decide whether to proceed.
As a firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA No. 468940), we operate to the highest standards of ethics and client care.
You’ll have direct contact with an experienced solicitor throughout your claim, giving you continuity and a clear point of contact as your case progresses.
With little financial experience, Ms H was advised to transfer her pension into a high-risk SIPP and lost access to her £250,000 fund. We are representing her in a compensation claim against Carey Pensions.
Approaching retirement, Mr J was advised to transfer his pensions into a high-risk property investment fund. When the fund was suspended, he suffered losses. We secured £30,000 in compensation.
Instead of securing an annuity, Mr W was advised to invest his pension in a high-risk plan. After losing a significant part of his retirement fund, we helped him recover £56,500.
The types of pension complaints we see are changing. Historically, many involved unregulated or unauthorised businesses, unsuitable SIPPs and high-risk investments that caused substantial losses.
Increasingly, concerns involve advice from regulated financial advisers, where the problem may develop gradually rather than through one major event.
We are also seeing some clients question their pension advice earlier. Easier access to pension information means people can monitor performance more closely and seek help when they first notice a problem, rather than waiting until significant losses have developed.
Advice to invest in high-risk investments through a SIPP may warrant investigation if the pension arrangement or underlying investments were inappropriate for you. We would look at why they were recommended, whether the risks were properly explained and whether the recommendation reflected your financial circumstances and retirement objectives
A claim may be possible if you were advised to transfer out of a final salary pension and the recommendation was unsuitable. These pensions can provide valuable guaranteed benefits, so we would look at what you gave up, why the transfer was recommended and whether the risks and alternatives were properly explained.
No. A pension losing money does not automatically mean it was mis-sold or that your adviser was negligent. Investment values can rise and fall. The important question is whether the recommendation was appropriate based on your position at the time and whether any failings in the advice caused your loss.
A claim may be possible if poor pension drawdown advice caused you a financial loss. This could involve excessive investment risk, unsustainable withdrawals or a recommendation to use drawdown that did not properly reflect your retirement needs.
Whether pension advice was unsuitable depends on your circumstances at the time and what the adviser recommended. Concerns may arise if the recommendation did not reflect your financial position or retirement objectives, important consequences were not explained, or ongoing advice failed to respond as your needs changed.
Useful evidence can include your suitability or recommendation letter, fact find, risk assessment, pension and investment statements, review documents and correspondence with your adviser or provider. Don’t worry if you no longer have everything yourself. Relevant records can often be obtained as part of investigating a potential claim.
Strict time limits apply. Generally, you may have six years from the advice or event that caused the loss, or three years from when you first knew, or could reasonably have known, that you may have suffered a loss because of the advice. However, different rules and exceptions can apply, so don’t assume an older pension claim is automatically out of time.
That depends on who was involved and what went wrong. Responsibility could lie with a financial adviser, a pension or SIPP provider, or another party involved in the advice or pension arrangement. Where several businesses were involved, we establish what role each played before deciding who a claim should be pursued against.
Explore our specialist services for different types of pension mis-selling and negligent financial advice.
Our pension solicitors share practical insights from their experience of reviewing pension and retirement advice claims.
Making changes to your pension isn't always the answer. Discover why experienced pension solicitors believe doing nothing can sometimes be the right approach.
Think your pension claim is too old? The age of the advice may not tell the whole story. Discover why pension claim time limits aren't always straightforward.
Is a falling pension always the sign of poor financial advice? Discover why our pension solicitors look beyond investment performance when assessing retirement advice.
Tim qualified as a solicitor in 2011 and has substantial experience handling professional negligence, financial mis-selling and fraud-related claims, including complex group actions involving systemic mis-selling.
Tim has reviewed this page to help ensure the legal information is accurate, up to date and relevant to individuals considering a potential claim.
If you’re concerned that the pension advice you received may not have been suitable for your circumstances, tell us what happened. Our team can review the details and let you know whether your claim may be worth investigating.
Provide your details to start your free eligibility check. You’ll be guided through a few short questions so we can direct you to the right specialist and assess how we can help.
You do not need legal representation to make a financial services claim. You can complain yourself at no cost and under FCA rules, the financial services provider must provide a response. If you feel this is unsatisfactory, you can complain to the statutory redress bodies, the FOS and FSCS who can award you compensation. This is a free service.
The information appearing within this website does not constitute legal advice and is provided for general information purposes only. No warranty, whether express or implied, is given in relation to such material, and we do not accept any liability for reliance on it.
Neglect Assist is a trading style of Wixted & Co Solicitors which is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) A copy of the SRA handbook can be obtained from www.sra.org.uk. Wixted & Co Solicitors, 57 Putney Bridge Road, London SW18 1NP.
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