FCA orders three more advice firms to reverse BSPS offers

The FCA has imposed requirements on a further three firms which it says were seeking to avoid their liabilities under the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) redress scheme.

The firms were associated with the British Steel Adviser Group and made unsolicited offers to its BSPS clients, which had not yet complained.

The FCA says that Alpha Financial Services made offers of £100 to 100% of its clients, QED Financial Associates Ltd made offers of £300 to 93% of its clients, and Harvest Associates Ltd made offers of either £50 or £200 to 91% of its clients.

In a statement, the FCA said: "We are seriously concerned that these unsolicited settlement offers were not calculated in line with our guidance, and were a deliberate attempt to exclude former BSPS members from the redress scheme." 

All three firms will now be required to ensure that consumers who accepted these unsolicited offers are treated in the same way as customers who did not. This will ensure they receive the appropriate redress they are entitled to, putting them back in the financial position they would have been in at retirement had they stayed in the BSPS.

The FCA has previously imposed similar requirements on firms and says it will "continue to take action where we identify this malpractice".