Understanding compensation for pension transfers - hail DISP App 4

Ghosts of pension scandals past and present continue to haunt the regulator. With a new appendix to the FCA Handbook setting out how to calculate redress for mis-sold transfers from defined benefit occupational pensions into defined contribution schemes, Adam Samuel welcomes "some degree of clarity on an extremely complex subject".

Adam SamuelBA LLM DipPFS MCISI FCIArb Certs CII (MP&ER) Barrister and Attorney may be contacted atadamsamuel@aol.com.For links to where you can buy the second edition of 'Consumer Financial Services Complaints and Compensation', seewww.adamsamuel.com/writing.

New chapters of DISP do not come along very often. So when, on 1 April 2023, DISP Appendix 4 entered the fray, this should have been an occasion for a major fanfare. The new appendix covers the calculation of redress for mis-sold transfers from defined benefit (final salary, largely) occupational pension transfers and can be used for opt-outs and non-joiners from such arrangements and even FSAVCs. Essentially, the Financial Conduct Authority has updated the old Personal Investment Authority (PIA) Pension Review redress guidance issued in the 1990s and put it where it belongs: in DISP.