The Lifetime SIPP Company Limited (“Lifetime”) went into administration in March 2018 and was liquidated on 2 April 2019. Lifetime had been the subject of a substantial number of claims by its customers relating to pension transfers involving high risk, non-standard investments which lost significant value or became worthless.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (‘FSCS’), which can pay compensation where an authorised financial services firm is unable to pay claims, is understood to have already agreed claims in relation to Lifetime totalling £44.3m. However, according to Lifetime’s liquidators many investors are yet to present claims to the FSCS, and they are being urged to come forward.
The FSCS declared Lifetime ‘in default’ in June 2019 meaning that the FSCS was satisfied that the firm was unable, or likely to be unable, to pay claims for compensation made against it. This paved the way for unhappy Lifetime customers to bring claims for compensation to the FSCS which is essentially the industry’s lifeboat fund or fund of last resort.
It is understood that by March 2022, the FSCS had agreed claims totalling £44.3m from 908 investors and was processing a further 149 claims. However, in their most recent report released on 7 June 2022, Lifetime’s liquidators have confirmed that most of Lifetime’s former customers have yet to submit a claim saying they expect to receive a total of 3,237 claims. Lifetime’s liquidator, Ian Robert of Insolvency Practitioners Moore Kingston Smith has recently written to creditors setting out the position suggesting that creditors should prioritise claims to the FSCS.
If you invested through a Lifetime self-invested personal pension (SIPP), you should consider taking action, even if you have not been contacted by Lifetime’s liquidators.
