PENSION MIS SELLING

The pension mis selling scandal has its roots in the late nineteen eighties when ‘personal pensions’ were effectively launched by government, as a result of a change in the law, under the guise of enlarging consumer choice. The effect of the change in the rules was to allow workers who paid into the ‘state earnings related pensions’ (SERPS) scheme, which was effectively administered and overseen by government, to withdraw their pension credits and place them in a privately run scheme. Salesmen acting on behalf of the private schemes received very attractive commissions on the sale of a new business and as a result often cut corners and failed to give the consumer detailed advice in regards to the way in which the private schemes operated. The effect of this was that consumers believed that their new scheme was rock solid as had been the government SERPS scheme and that there would be an enhanced pension with no risk from a scheme run by the private sector. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Private schemes depend on investment in the stock exchange to provide funds upon retirement which is at the heart of the pension mis selling scandal. In their rush to sign up new customers and claim hefty commission, salesmen in the main failed to advise consumers about how exactly their contributions would be dealt with, failed to advise them that their contributions were to be invested on the stock market and failed to advise that investments can go down as well as up. There were also other issues in regards to what was and what was not said by salesmen to consumers at the point of sale and there are many other ways in which private schemes were missold.

The stock market did in fact hold up quite well until the late nineteen nineties at which time the value of many stocks and shares stagnated and a substantial number went into reverse often providing little or no income. The effect of this was that private schemes failed to achieve the growth that had been anticipated just ten years earlier resulting in funds that would, at maturity, pay out substantially less than had the contributions remained in the government SERPS scheme.

We deal with pension mis selling compensation claims associated with contracting out of the state earnings related pension scheme to join a private scheme. If you are one of these unfortunate people who were missold, you may be entitled to compensation. We offer no win no fee advice on compensation claims. You only have one opportunity to make a claim and if you get it wrong you may lose your chance for compensation. Why not get expert support to greatly improve your chances of securing the maximum compensation you deserve? We call upon experienced lawyers, accountants and actuaries to assist our claims team and can advise at an early stage on the prospects of recovery of compensation. If you would like free advice on our no win no fee compensation scheme just complete and send the contact form or call the helpline and an experienced financial claims adviser will discuss your potential claim at no cost and with no further obligation.