Wellington Court Financial Services Ltd has the distinction, if it can be called that, of being a firm against which the Financial Ombudsman Service upheld every single complaint it received. Of 31 complaints submitted since March 2021, all 31 were upheld. A 100 per cent uphold rate is not an anomaly or a statistical quirk. It is a clear, consistent verdict that the advice Wellington Court gave to its clients was wrong.
An Irish Firm Operating in the UK
Wellington Court was incorporated in Ireland and operated in the UK under passport permissions, establishing a physical presence in Devon before closing it at the end of 2021. The firm held FCA authorisation from December 2016 to advise on investments, including pension transfer advice.
Unsuitable Pension Transfers Into Guinness Mahon SIPPs
The firm’s activity centred on advising clients to transfer their existing pension arrangements, including defined benefit final salary schemes and personal pensions, into Self Invested Personal Pensions administered by Guinness Mahon Trust Corporation Ltd. Those SIPPs were then used to hold investments that proved to be high-risk and deeply unsuitable for the clients involved.
The FSCS Default and Early Payments
Following a joint investigation by the FSCS, the FCA and the Financial Ombudsman Service, Wellington Court was declared in default in May 2023. The FSCS confirmed that valid claims may exist for eligible customers, dependent on the specific facts of each case. Early payments totalling over £260,000 had been made in five successful cases at the point of the default announcement.
For clients who transferred a pension on Wellington Court’s recommendation, there may also be grounds for a claim against Guinness Mahon Trust Corporation, the SIPP operator that accepted unsuitable investments into the pension wrapper. Our team can assess whether both routes apply in your case.
If you transferred your pension based on Wellington Court’s advice and your retirement savings have since suffered, please come and talk to us. The FOS upheld every complaint against this firm. You are not alone, and you are not at fault.
Get Help With Your Claim
If you had dealings with Wellington Court Financial Services and are worried about your money, please book a free consultation with our team. You may feel embarrassed about what has happened, but you should not. You were let down by people who had a professional and legal duty to act in your best interest. We will carry out all the investigative work on your behalf, at no cost to you. If your claim is not successful, you will not pay a penny. Call us during office hours or email hello@claimmyloss.co.uk , we are here for you.
