Financial Services Compensation Scheme Claims

If you or a loved one have been the victim of financial mis-selling, it is possible that the firm that advised you has gone out of business or is no longer trading.

As a failed firm, the FSCS will pick up the liability for claims of up to £85,000 for clients who have lost out and have no other source of redress.

The broad criteria for making a pension or investment claim to the FSCS claim are:

• The firm must have been regulated by the FCA at the time of the investment.
• The firm has failed and cannot pay any claims against it.
• You received unsuitable professional advice leading to financial loss.
• The firm failed to carry out sufficient due diligence on the investments leading to financial loss.

Whilst the FSCS does not cover unregulated investments, if the firm giving the advice relating to the investment was regulated, then the FSCS may step in and compensate – this is a very complex area that may require early specialist advice.

With our experience and expertise in presenting cases to the FSCS, we ensure that claims are processed as quickly as possible, with the best results achievable for our clients. FSCS claims are often complex, technically challenging and time-consuming. Having us deal with your claim is a good idea because:

• The FSCS sometimes close cases if they are struggling to find information needed to support a claim. We know what the FSCS are looking for and where to get it. Many third parties can be difficult about providing information to support claims, however, our team will ensure that they obtain the information and documents needed.
• We know that generally, the FSCS will rely on the information they are given rather than questioning it. As specialists, we ensure that the FSCS have all the correct details with which to assess a claim.
• We understand the financial jargon that claimants face and can explain this in a straightforward and easy to understand way.
• We ensure that cases are moved along by sending reminders to the FSCS and maintaining momentum.
• The paperwork and communications with the FSCS are time-consuming. We take the hassle out of the process for clients who do not have time to commit to making a claim.
• We can deal with the reassignment of a claim if, for example, further claims need to be made in order to maximise compensation.
• We look to ensure that our clients are compensated for their full losses and not just the loss of the amount they invested/transferred.
• With our sector knowledge, we monitor investments and will go back to the FSCS for any additional compensation that may be owed once investments or firms fail.
• We pick up any FSCS mistakes, ensuring that our clients receive optimal compensation. An example of this was where a client would have been under-compensated by £10,000 if our team had not pointed out to the FSCS that they had missed the terminal bonus on a notional payment in a claim.
• We understand the complex appeals process, so if a claim is rejected, we can advise on what to do next giving you the best chances of success.

Where clients have suffered losses that are more than the FSCS compensation limit, our team will investigate the possibility of making more than one claim linked to an investment or firm. It is important to get specialist advice in this regard as we can potentially double the amount of compensation our clients receive.

Even if you lost out through one particular investment you may still be entitled to bring multiple compensation claims for that one investment against different companies, up to the relevant FSCS limits.

Often the FSCS will only deal with a single claim, even though further investigation may show grounds for several separate claims. These additional claims can be hard to work out without the correct paperwork from all the relevant financial and other bodies involved. Our team are experienced in investigating and then bringing these secondary claims overlooked by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.