Curtis Banks Giant SIPP (PO-17453)

Ombudsman’s Determination

Outcome

Mr L’s complaint is upheld and to put matters right Giant shall pay Mr L £2,381.40. in respect of contributions that it failed to transfer into Mr L’s SIPP and £500 for the significant distress and inconvenience which Mr L has suffered.

My reasons for reaching this decision are explained in more detail below.

Complaint summary

Complaint against Giant

Mr L says Giant failed to:-

• Provide full details of deductions from his salary paid to the SIPP in 2014/15.
• Enrol him in the NEST Scheme from 1 April 2016.
• Allow him to pay AVCs to the NEST Scheme.
•   Deal with his complaints in a helpful and courteous manner.

To put matters right Mr L wants Giant to return the transfer out fee for leaving the SIPP plus IFA fees, pay contributions to the NEST scheme to meet its auto enrolment obligations from 1 April 2016 and pay him compensation for the distress and inconvenience it has caused him.

Complaint against Curtis Banks

Mr L originally complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and an adjudication, not upholding his complaint, was issued on 21 April 2017. Mr L subsequently revised his complaint to FOS on 30 August 2017. Following consultation with FOS Mr L’s complaint transferred to The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) for investigation. In respect of his revised complaint Mr L says:-

• A legally binding contract for policy …108 was established on 2 April 2015, but monies were transferred via BACS after 5 April 2015. Curtis Banks then changed the policy number to …110 to hide the mistake.
• Curtis Banks have omitted transactions from the SIPP referenced …110.
• Curtis Banks failed to provide suitable annual statements, to include all transactions.
• Despite instructing Humphries IFA that he wanted to make 100% contributions to NEST, units were still bought in the SIPP prior to him not accepting the SIPP’s new Terms & Conditions in October 2016.

To put matters right Mr L wants Curtis Banks to pay him compensation for wasting his time, to acknowledge that it has mismanaged the SIPP and not answered his questions in a timely manner.