Now that the FSCS has declared Green Wealth Management Ltd in default, the question I’m asked most is a fair one: why do these claims actually succeed, and how much might I get back?
A quick recap on the firm
Green Wealth Management Ltd (FRN 729066), a Sheffield-area advice firm incorporated in 2011, entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation in 2021 and had its FCA authorisation cancelled. The FSCS declared the firm in default on 3 March 2026, meaning eligible clients can now claim compensation. The firm’s core business was pension and investment advice, including advice to members of the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS).
Why these claims are upheld
The reason these cases succeed so consistently comes down to one principle that sits at the heart of the rulebook for defined-benefit (final-salary) pension transfers.
1. The starting point is that a transfer is unsuitable
Under the FCA’s conduct rules, an adviser must begin from the presumption that transferring out of a defined-benefit scheme is not in the client’s interest. The scheme offers a guaranteed, inflation-linked income for life, and the adviser must show that giving that up clearly benefits the client. If the adviser can’t demonstrate that, the advice fails.
2. The British Steel context made it worse
During the BSPS “Time to Choose” exercise in 2017-18, thousands of steelworkers were rushed into complex decisions, and a wave of firms recommended transfers that regulators now regard as unsuitable. The FCA’s own review found that 46% of the BSPS transfer advice it examined was unsuitable.
3. What an unsuitable-advice finding usually looks like
A claim is typically upheld where the evidence shows one or more of the following:
- No genuine need to transfer, the client gave up guarantees they should have kept;
- The client’s attitude to risk and capacity for loss were overstated or not properly assessed;
- The transfer analysis (the comparison of what you gave up versus what you gained) didn’t support the recommendation;
- The receiving pension or SIPP carried high charges or unsuitable, higher-risk investments that eroded the fund;
- The client was wrongly treated as an “insistent client” to justify advice the adviser knew was unsuitable.
For a failed firm, the FSCS steps into the adviser’s shoes: it assesses the advice against the rules that applied at the time and, if it finds the advice was unsuitable, it calculates redress.
How much could a claim be worth?
Redress for an unsuitable pension transfer is not a fixed sum or a “refund of fees”. It is calculated to do one thing: put you back, as far as money can, in the position you would have been in had you stayed in your original scheme.
How the figure is worked out
The calculation works out the lump sum needed today to top up your personal pension so that, at retirement, it can buy an income equivalent to the guaranteed pension you gave up. The bigger the pension you left, and the more the fund has fallen short, the higher the redress.
Typical amounts
Because the figure depends on your personal circumstances, it varies widely. As a guide:
| Scenario | Indicative redress |
|---|---|
| Smaller / shorter-service case | A few thousand to ~£20,000 |
| Typical British Steel case (FCA’s expected average) | ~£45,000 |
| Larger transfer value / older member | £85,000+ (assessed), paid up to the FSCS cap |
Illustrative only. The FCA initially estimated an average BSPS redress of around £60,000, later revising it to roughly £45,000 as annuity costs fell; individual figures range from a few thousand to well into six figures.
The £85,000 FSCS cap, and why it matters here
Where a firm failed on or after 1 April 2019 (as Green Wealth has), the FSCS can pay up to £85,000 per eligible person for bad pension and investment advice. For most Green Wealth cases, this cap will cover the full assessed loss.
If your assessed loss is above £85,000, the FSCS will still calculate the full figure but can only pay up to the cap.
The “no limit” you may have read about applies when a solvent firm pays redress directly, that route isn’t available here, because Green Wealth is in liquidation.
Where a loss exceeds the cap, it can sometimes be possible to pursue the shortfall by other means; we’ll tell you honestly if that applies to you.
Time limits apply. Pension-claim deadlines can be strict, and the route to claim changes once a firm is in default. If you were advised by Green Wealth Management, now is the time to act. Find out why acting now matters or use our free redress calculator for an instant, no-obligation estimate of what your claim could be worth.
