Tayside Pension Fund | Successful win of £85,000

Amount won: £85,000

Employer/Fund: Tayside Pension Fund

FA Firm: The Mortgage Finance Store and Capital & Income Solutions

Introduction:

Our client contacted us to investigate a claim for a mis-sold pension after seeing an article on our website.

In 2011 he was advised by Mike Connelly of The Mortgage Finance Store and Capital & Income Solutions to transfer his Tayside Pension Fund company pension, along with 2 other personal pensions, into a Standard Life pension plan.

Then in 2017 he was advised to transfer a further personal pension into the Standard Life plan.

The Background:

Our client had previously worked for the local council for 14 years and had a deferred defined benefit company pension with a value of circa £78,350. His 2 personal pensions had a value of circa £50,360.

Our client was a mortgage customer of The Mortgage Finance Store and during a meeting with one of the directors he mentioned that he had seen negative press about how defined benefit company pension schemes were apparently underfunded. Our client was then introduced to Mike Connelly and told he was a pension specialist.

He advised our client that his pensions were “dormant” and that he should consolidate these into the Standard Life pension, as they would perform better being combined and he would save on charges.

Then in 2017 our client was again passed to Mike Connelly to discuss what he should do with his personal pension set up by his employer, as he had now left the company and set up his own business. He was advised to transfer this into the Standard Life pension.

The Consequences:

• Our client was not advised of the valuable benefits and guarantees he was giving up by transferring away form the Tayside Pension Fund pension.

• He would no longer have an inflation proof pension and it would now be subject to the volatility of the market.

• His pension could run out and he would have to pay fund fees until this time or until the day he died.

• He paid an initial fee of 5% in 2011 and 2017 and on both occasions was advised this would cover the initial advice plus ongoing reviews but these never materialised.

Our client paid the following fees:

• Adviser fees of circa £6400 for the initial transfer in 2011
• Ongoing fund fees of 0.5%
• Adviser fees of circa £3300 for the further transfer in 2017

Mike Connelly was not authorised or regulated to give pension transfer advice. He was using a regulated firm called Capital & Income Solutions to sign off the pension transfer but our client never spoke to a representative of that firm.

Capital & Income Solutions are now in liquidation.

The Settlement:

We obtained our clients files from his previous and existing providers and were able to determine that he had a claim. We submitted the claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) with substantial evidence. The claim was submitted to FSCS as Capital & Income Solutions, the regulated firm, are now in liquidation.

FSCS calculated our client’s losses at £165,471.49 but since the FSCS have a limit to what they can pay out our client received the maximum compensation of £85,000.

This was paid directly into his bank account.

Have you or someone you know worked for a local Council and transferred their final salary pension?

So even if you think you were given sound advice to transfer your workplace pension, how do you know? That’s why we make it simple. Call our team on 01382 200474 or complete our on-line enquiry form and we’ll be in touch a soon as possible AND remember, that between Beat the Banks and our trusted partners, do all the hard work on your behalf, PLUS claiming has absolutely no effect on your current pension arrangements.