Berkeley Burke Pension Holders Challenge Historic Deed Changes

Campaigners with Hartley Pension who previously held SIPPs with Berkeley Burke are actively seeking to revoke the power of attorney over their pension funds.

These campaigners assert that, following the sale of Berkeley Burke to Hartley Pensions, they were unknowingly removed as co-trustees of their SIPP schemes.

They allege that this removal has left them without any control over their SIPPs or the future of their assets.

A letter, seen by FT Adviser, disclosed that each member of the Berkeley Burke SIPP was included in a supplemental deed. This deed permitted members to act as co-trustees alongside the asset trustee, Berkeley Burke Trustee Company Limited, but solely for managing their individual funds.

However, one particular clause in this deed allowed the operator, Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Limited, to modify, add, or delete any scheme rules either immediately or retrospectively.

The operator used this clause to “unilaterally remove any trustee who is a co-trustee” as of 17 September 2019 and appointed Berkeley Durant Limited as an additional trustee.

This change was enacted when the joint administrators sold Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Limited to Hartley Pensions Limited.

At that time, the FCA stated: “The assets within each BBSAL SIPP will ultimately transfer to a Hartley SIPP and be held for customers, unless they contact Hartley to choose another option.”

Nevertheless, former Berkeley Burke members have now filed a deed of revocation to remove the power of attorney from BBTCL, BBSAL, and “any of their directors and officers, successors or affiliates, advisors, or any related parties”.

Paul Hewett, one of the campaigners, explained: “Three of us have submitted a revocation of power of attorney. We’ve created a legal document, sent it by post and email, had it witnessed and signed, and had our legal entity review it.

“The document essentially revokes the power of attorney because we suspected that actions were being taken on our behalf without our consent.

“The FSCS has indicated it will cover the £40mn transfer and exit charges, but we doubt this will happen.

“There has already been a significant delay in transfers, and now we have these tranches as outlined by UHY Hacker Young, but the first tranche was supposed to be transferred out this month.”

Background

BBSAL failed and entered administration on 18 September 2019 after it could no longer afford to defend redress claims made against it.

At that time, it was unable to cover the costs associated with defending claims related to the firm’s alleged due diligence failures when accepting high-risk investments between 2010 and 2012.

Immediately upon appointment, administrators RSM announced that the SIPP arm of the business would be sold out of administration in a pre-pack deal with Hartley Pensions.

However, in March 2022, the FCA informed Hartley that it could no longer accept new clients, leading to Hartley Pensions entering administration in July 2022 at the FCA’s request.

FT Adviser understands that the removal of members as trustees does not affect their position regarding the administration.

Even if members had remained trustees, they would still need to participate in the administration process, and their SIPP accounts would still require transfer to a new operator.