Mark Beswick from Wakefield got back £17,150 for a mis-sold FSAVC

Mark worked for West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive and was a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme. He was 48 and wanted to put extra money towards his retirement planning so he could be financially comfortable when he stopped working at age 60. He arranged to see a financial adviser who was a Partner of St James’s Place.

Mark was advised to invest £55 per month into an Additional Retirement Plan and this gradually increased to £89.54 when he retired in 2009. The sum he had built up was used to provide additional income on top of his work pension.

Mark spoke with Goodwin Barrett after seeing our ad as we had highlighted that it was often unsuitable to put money into a separate pension when your employer offered a much better scheme. We compared the value of the income Mark was receiving to the benefits he would have received if he had put his monthly contributions into his occupational scheme. It was clear that he would have been much better off keeping with his original plan.

We sent our claim to St James’s Place explaining that Mark was advised incorrectly to pay into the Additional Retirement Plan and they investigated the recommendations they made to him. They agreed with our findings and paid Mark £17,150 in compensation.