At Money and Me Solicitors, we understand that mis-sold pension transfers can raise a lot of questions.
This FAQ page is designed to provide clear and concise answers to some of the most common enquiries we receive around pension transfers.
Don’t see your question answered here?
Feel free to contact us to discuss your specific situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Money and Me Solicitors adopt a ‘No Win, No Fee’ service. Therefore, if you allow us to proceed with your claim or claims to a conclusion, you will not be charged a fee if your claim is unsuccessful. Payment of our fee is deducted from the compensation award, and therefore not paid until the end of the process. This will be explained to you thoroughly prior to receiving the Client agreement to review.
So long as we do not have to issue court proceedings, we charge between 15% and 30% plus VAT depending upon the amount of compensation awarded. This is in line with the fee limits set by our regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Generally, compensation is paid as a cash payment. Sometimes, (with pension related claims) the company/entity that is liable for paying the compensation to you offers to contribute into a pension scheme, however, if preferred, this can usually be exchanged for a cash payment, with certain deductions for tax, etc. Options will be explained to you at the point of a successful outcome.
Generally, no. However, we do advise all our clients to check this with a tax specialist.
Money and Me Solicitors review your situation, particularly the advice that you were given in relation to the financial transaction. If it is the case that you have acted on unsuitable advice, then we aim (subject to any limits applied) to ‘put you back' to the financial position you would have been in, had you not acted on that advice. To do this, we establish what would have been the monetary value of your previous arrangement, compared to your existing arrangement. If a loss has occurred, then we would aim to recover the difference between your previous and existing arrangements.
No, progressing a claim will not have any effect..
Example: Client transfers £10,000 from a defined benefit/final salary pension into a personal pension in 1995, which has grown to £50,000 by the time a claim has been finalised. It is established that had the client remained in their defined benefit/final salary pension, their benefits would have been valued at £150,000. The £100,000 difference is paid as compensation (subject to any tax deduction and the existing pension (of £50,000) remains in place.
Money and Me Solicitors aim to have their investigation(s) complete within a 3 – 6-month period of being appointed, then depending upon whom the claim is against, it can take anywhere between 2 – 12 months (sometimes longer depending upon complexity of the claim and the speed of decision making bodies such as the Court, The Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme) to obtain a decision and subsequent payment of compensation.
Subject to any limits, upon successful outcome, you can look to receive the difference between the (hypothetical) value of your previous pension compared to your existing pension arrangement. If the company that provided the advice has gone bust, then we would present your legal claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) , who apply limits of £48,000, £50,000 or £85,000 depending on when the company that provided the advice went bust.
Usually this will be a UK regulated entity that we feel failed in their regulatory duties to you. This is generally financial advisory companies or SIPP operators. Subject to establishing the losses/damages suffered, it is not unusual for Money and Me Solicitors to establish that there is legally more than one claim which we believe legally can be pursued. Again, this will be explained to you thoroughly, prior to receiving the Client agreement to review.
No, you can make any claim yourself for free if you feel that you have the understanding and time to do so.
We specialise in claims where a client has been unsuitably advised to transfer their Final Salary (FS) / Defined Benefit (DB) Pension to a potentially inferior Pension arrangement, such as a Personal Pension and/or Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). Examples of FS / DB schemes include the Armed Forces, Mineworkers, Local Government Pension Schemes, Tesco, British Airways, Royal Mail, Rolls Royce.
If your monthly payment is made to you by the MOD/Equinity, that indicates that your Armed Forces Pension Scheme was never transferred to another provider and, therefore, there isn't a claim.
However, if your monthly payment is paid to you by a company other than the company you had your original pension with, you may have a claim.
The first thing to point out is that we are Authorised and Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, under licence number 670274. Our regulator places high standards and expectations upon us as to how we represent clients. We hope that a review of our website and what our clients say about us in the their reviews also gives you confidence that we would be a good choice to represent your best interests in pursuing any claim. Then, if all that doesn’t convince you, we would welcome you on a Zoom/Video call with us, and/or invite you to visit us at our offices.