THE SITUATION
Mr J. served in the Armed Forces from September 2001 to August 2011. In April 2014, Dave Clark and Steve King, representing Caledonian International Associates (CIA), approached him, as they did with numerous servicemen, and referred him to Cowley and Miller Independent Financial Services (CMIFS), claiming, “you will get nothing if you leave your Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) as it is”. Mr J. was advised by CMIFS to transfer his AFPS to a Personal Pension plan with Royal London. The Service Personnel & Veterans Agency confirmed that the amount transferred to it was £35,103.22.
After speaking with a friend who was already pursuing a claim, Mr J. decided to contact Money and Me Solicitors (MMS) to look into the advice he had received from CMIFS.
OUR APPROACH
MMS conducted a thorough investigation, and we established that had Mr J. remained in the AFPS, the equivalent ‘hypothetical value’ of that pension would have been £106,848.21. This meant that he had suffered a significant loss of £72,094.13.
THE OUTCOME
On 19 August 2024, we were delighted to inform Mr J. that we had achieved a successful outcome for him; Money and Me Solicitors’ experience, persistence and knowledge of this kind of claim had paid off. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) awarded him £72,094.13 in compensation for his losses. The case was submitted to the FSCS in February 2024 and was settled by August 2024, well ahead of the FSCS’ stated service standards.
It should be noted that Mr J.’s Royal London pension remained in place and was unaffected by the claim or his subsequent award.
Mr J. stated, “Our community is quite small; everyone knows everyone, and we trusted the advice of the Financial Advisers. The compensation will be life-changing for me, and I plan to invest in Spanish property to ensure a secure future for my kids. I thank everyone involved in my case, and I will certainly recommend Money and Me Solicitors”.
