SJP hit the headlines recently following a high volume of complaints (largely due to awareness being raised about their lack of ongoing service and high charges), having set aside circa £430m for their client redress scheme.
However, that redress scheme is purely to address the fees that have been charged to clients who have not been receiving their annual reviews. It does not cover the more serious implications that a pension transfer, ISA transfer or even an advised final salary pension transfer into SJP could have had.
According to some of our clients, SJP have pro-actively encouraged them not to use a third-party solicitor like us. However, in many cases where SJP advisers convinced people to transfer out of existing pensions and investments, an annual management fee refund is not enough to make full redress.
If clients accept the redress from SJP as a full and final settlement, then it could mean they are legally unable to claim for the additional redress they are due, or by the time they realise they should have claimed for more money, they may be time barred.
This is not to say that people will always be better off using a specialist like us. In some cases, the claim is just for fees, but in many instances it’s worth a lot more.
To help people assess whether they want to bring a complaint against SJP directly or use a no-win no-fee service like ours, we set up a Financial Adviser Redress Calculator.
The calculator is designed to demonstrate how fees and overall performance can impact the value of a pension or investment and help customers make a more informed decision.
Just enter the amount you invested or transferred into your pension and investments, and the amount of time you held the pension or investment for. You’ll then be given estimate of how much you could claim for neglect or underperformance.
You can find all the redress calculators here.
Summary
St. James’s Place (SJP) has set aside around £430 million to refund clients who paid for ongoing advice but didn’t receive the service they were promised. However, this only covers one part of the issue. Many clients were also advised to move pensions or investments into SJP products that may have performed worse or carried higher fees than alternatives. In these cases, the compensation offered under the SJP redress scheme could fall far short of what clients are actually owed.
Conclusion
If you’ve been advised by St. James’s Place, it’s important to understand the full picture before accepting any offer of compensation. Once you accept a redress payment as ‘full and final,’ you may lose your right to claim for further losses, potentially worth thousands more.
That’s why it can help to get independent advice from a regulated claims management firm like Claim My Loss. Start by using our Financial Adviser Redress Calculator to help you see what your claim might be worth, and whether you should pursue additional compensation. When it comes to financial advice, understanding your rights is the first step to getting a fair outcome.
