Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Limited, a financial services and investments provider, entered administration on 18th September 2019.
According to the industry regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Limited entered administration because it can no longer afford to defend redress claims made against it by clients who were mis-sold certain Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) investments between 2010 and 2012.
In 2017, the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) found against Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Limited, following a complaint regarding the level of due diligence carried out before accepting ‘non-standard investments’ for clients. As highlighted previously by the TLW financial mis-selling team, a Judicial Review launched by the SIPP providers to overturn this decision failed.
Further compensation claims were then made in a group action by 28 Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Limited clients, each with similar complaints about mis-sold SIPP products. Given the number of potential claims to follow, the company appears to have had no option but to enter administration.
What happens next?
+ −The Administrators, Adrian Allen and Diana Frangou of RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP will contact investors to explain the next steps. They have sold Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Limited’s SIPP business to Harley Pensions Ltd, which will manage the remaining assets in clients’ SIPPs. Clients will be offered the option to move their investment to another company or product if required.
Mis-Sold SIPP investment claims
+ −If you have transferred your pension into a SIPP and lost money on your investments, it may be that those investments were not appropriate for you or your SIPP. Where a SIPP provider goes out of business, compensation claims up to the value of £85,000 can still be made through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
You may be entitled to compensation if:
- Your financial adviser encouraged you to change your investments without properly explaining the reasons why;
- The investments which your adviser chose for you were actually unsuitable for you;
- Your SIPP pension has fallen in value despite assurances from your financial adviser that it would increase;
- Your financial adviser failed to properly inform you of the risks involved in certain types of investments.
TLW Solicitors’ view
+ −Looking ahead to the possibility of other financial providers defending similar claims, Peter McKenna, Partner and Head of the Financial Mis-Selling team at TLW Solicitors commented:
“It will be interesting to see whether another SIPP company pursues a Judicial Review once they are on the wrong end of a Financial Ombudsman Service decision and how many other SIPP firms follow Berkeley Burke SIPP Administration Ltd into administration.”
TLW Solicitors can help
+ −Working on a ‘no win – no fee’ basis, TLW’s experienced team can help you through the compensation process. Our clients are reassured by our knowledge and experience of FSCS procedures and, indeed, we have had FSCS claims successfully upheld for clients whose claims had previously been refused on purely technical grounds.
If you are concerned about your SIPP investments, please get in touch with TLW Solicitors today by calling 0800 169 5925, emailing info@tlwsolicitors.co.uk or completing our callback form.
Time limits apply to cases like this and so anyone wishing to bring a claim should do so without delay.
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