YOUR PORTFOLIO
/ SIPPs /
SIPPing up
Pádraig Floyd investigates what is behind
the surge in complaints about the Self-
Invested Personal Pension
T
HE SELF-INVESTED
PERSONAL PENSION
(SIPP), long
considered to be the
ultimate in retirement
savings vehicles, has been getting
some seriously bad press of late, with
complaints to the Financial
Ombudsman Service seeing a
considerable increase.
“The name of SIPPs – and
financial advice, for that matter
– has been repeatedly dragged
through the mud in recent years
with endless stories of failed
investments, complaints and
compensation claims,” says Andy
Leggett, an associate at Barnett
Waddingham.
The number of complaints
concerning small self-
administered schemes as well
as SIPPs reached 1,574 in 2017,
an increase of 34 per cent on the
previous year.
Most complaints are split
between sales and advice on one
2
trustne t.com
trustnet.com
hand and administration on the
other, with a high proportion
(64 per cent) of SIPP complaints
upheld where they related to
financial advisers. For the most
part, the line between SIPPs and
shady dealings has been “unfair
guilt by association”, says Leggett,
although people are right to ask
what has happened and how.
“In simple terms, the story is
typically one of individuals being
persuaded by a few rotten apples
among financial advisers to invest
their money, especially pension
money, in unregulated investments
that then failed,” he ad