How do I know if I was mis-sold a pension?

Recently in the UK, there have been a wide range of non-standard pension investments on offer. Despite being high-risk and unsuitable for the vast majority of investors, these non-standard investments were commonly added to people’s SIPP’s by financial advisors who placed their commissions ahead of their clients best interest. The practice of selling this type of investment to ordinary investors was banned by the Financial Conduct Authority in 2013 but unfortunately many non-standard investments were mis-sold before the ban.

Examples of non-standard Investments include:

• You were advised to transfer your retirement money to a Self-Invested Personal Pension or SIPP.

• You were not given ongoing support, projections or annual reviews.

• Your pension was moved over to a high-risk investment portfolio.

• You had your money transferred away from a pension with a higher tax-free cash limit.

• You were advised to move your retirement money away from a Final Salary Company Pension.

• You felt pressured into taking out a new pension without considering better alternatives.

• Your pensions advisor did not discuss whether your company pension would yield better results.

• You continued to be charged service fees.

• Your advisor convinced you to make an investment that was higher risk than your financial circumstances were prepared for.