A group of pension advice firms has launched a legal challenge against the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over the setup of the British Steel redress scheme.
The companies are part of the British Steel Action Group and are being advised by FS Law.
The FCA said its decision to set up the redress scheme is “appropriate” and it will “vigorously defend it”. The watchdog criticised the move and accused the firms of taking legal action to “delay the payment of redress”.
It also said that advice companies should continue working towards the current timeline, as any changes will be communicated to all relevant stakeholders by the FCA if and when they may happen.
The watchdog added: “We are confident that our decision to implement a scheme will ultimately be upheld. However, in what we consider to be an unlikely outcome, if the scheme is cancelled the usual time limits for complaining and referring complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service will apply.
“This risks former BSPS members who think they may have received poor advice to transfer out in 2016 or early 2017 being timed out from making a complaint. As a result, former BSPS members who received advice before 30 April 2017 should complain now and refer their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman if they are unhappy with the firm’s response.
“If former BSPS members have already complained and are unhappy with firm’s response, they should refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman within six months of the date of the response to ensure that they are not timed out if the scheme is cancelled.”
