Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSAS) were introduced in the 1970s for business owners and investors looking for a wider range of investment opportunities from their pensions.

SSAS is still a useful product to this day. Company Directors often use them as small corporate schemes or for family trust planning. They allow for up to 12 members, can be a scheme for senior management, and are a tax-efficient way to do such things as purchasing company premises or even lending money to the company as well as a string of other potential benefits.

SSAS’s are not regulated by the FCA they, therefore, do not fall under the protection of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) which means they have been open to abuse from unscrupulous companies and individuals looking to get around the protections that regulated pension products provide to individuals.

Often people, who had been cold called about a free pension review, were encouraged to set up a Limited Company purely for the purpose of allowing them to set up a SSAS and then transfer their pension money into it on the promise of a wider range of investments paying much higher returns such as Hotels in Cape Verde, Storage Pods, German Property investments and many more.

Unfortunately often many of these investments were unregulated and subsequently failed resulting in innocent people losing their pension investments.

However, whilst the SSAS is not regulated many were set up on the advice of a regulated Financial Adviser and therefore a claim may be made against the Financial Adviser to attempt to recover lost pension money.

Regardless of how money was invested, a SSAS is often a more expensive scheme to run than a personal pension, and therefore if you have a SSAS it is always worth reviewing whether or not the advice to actually set up a SSAS was in fact suitable for you.

If you were encouraged to transfer your pension, regardless of the scheme, we offer a no-obligation free consultation with one of our experts by phone. They will be able to quickly assess what has happened and whether you may be due financial redress or compensation.

Book your free consultation with one of our experts today or call us on 0161 840 1560 to see how much financial compensation or redress you may be due

SSAS has remained popular amongst entrepreneurs and high net-worth individuals as they allow for up to 12 members to join and offer unrivalled flexibility in terms of investment even allowing pension money to be lent to unregulated limited companies directly including the sponsoring employer.

Sadly SSAS has also been abused by companies, individuals, and even regulated advisers hoping to raise money for unregulated investments in order to earn commissions.

The results have seen lots of people transferred into SSAS’s which are then entirely unsuitable for their circumstances. If you have a SSAS and you are not a business owner then there is a strong likelihood you may have been mis-sold.

Just because SSAS is not regulated by the FCA does not mean the person who set it up or transferred your existing pensions wasn’t so if in doubt give us a call.

If following a free consultation we think you may have a claim we will carry out a full investigation on your behalf on a no-win no fee basis so you have nothing to lose.

If in doubt call us today or register for a call back.