How a redress claim works
Five clear stages, with no upfront cost to you.
FSCS and FOS are mutually exclusive routes for the same loss event, not sequential steps. If your former adviser firm has failed (on the FSCS list), the claim goes to FSCS. If the firm is still trading, the complaint goes to the firm first and, if needed, to the FOS. Your route is determined at intake under DISP 1.6.2R (firm 8-week window) and DISP 2.8.2R (consumer time limits).
- 1Free indicative assessment
We compare the cost of buying back your defined-benefit pension today against your current pension value — the difference is your indicative shortfall. If your former adviser has failed (FSCS list), the award is capped at £85,000 per claim. If the firm is still trading, the claim is pursued directly via the FOS, where binding awards are capped at £455,000 for advice given on or after 1 April 2019 (£205,000 for earlier advice).
- 2Sign a Letter of Authority and accept our Platform Terms
Once you're happy to proceed, you electronically sign a Letter of Authority (so we can request scheme records on your behalf) and accept our Platform Terms covering Redress Advisory's role as the evidence, triage and coordination layer. At the same time you acknowledge that the regulated complaint/legal work will be carried out by the SRA-authorised law firm under separate regulated engagement and Damages-Based Agreement (DBA) documentation, which the partner will issue to you when the case is ready to hand over.
- 3Detailed case build
Our advisers obtain transfer values, original advice files and scheme data, then prepare your formal complaint, your assistance is vital to expedite matters.
- 4Handover to the SRA-authorised law firm
Once your case is qualified and the evidence pack is complete, we hand the file to the SRA-authorised law firm, who files and runs the regulated complaint or legal process with the firm, the Financial Ombudsman Service or the FSCS where appropriate. Redress Advisory remains alongside you as your support and intelligence layer, helping coordinate information and keeping you updated throughout the process.
- 5You receive any compensation
If your claim is successful, compensation is paid following resolution of the complaint or claim process and any agreed success fees under the engagement terms. No win, no fee.
The FSCS route — full timeline
The five stages above in detail: Letter of Authority, evidence gathering, loss assessment, FSCS adjudication and payment. Compensation capped at £85,000 per claim.
Read the full FSCS-route walkthrough →The FOS route — different from FSCS
When your former adviser firm is still authorised, the complaint goes to them first (8-week response window) and, if needed, on to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The FSCS £85,000 cap doesn't apply — instead, FOS binding awards are capped at £455,000 for advice on or after 1 April 2019 (£205,000 before). FOS investigations typically take 6–12 months.
Read the full FOS-route walkthrough →Why the FOS and FSCS uphold these claims
The FOS has upheld a high percentage of complaints concerning Defined Benefit pension transfers. The pattern across decisions is consistent.
“Cases are typically upheld when advisers failed to prove the transfer was in the client's best interest.”
Advisers regularly failed to properly account for the secure, guaranteed nature of DB schemes — index-linked income for life, spouse pensions and inflation-linked increases — which the FOS treats as generally superior to the risks of a personal pension.
Recommendations to transfer were frequently deemed unsuitable, particularly where investors had a low tolerance for risk or limited capacity for loss. Cautious clients should not have been moved out of secure schemes.
The investment return required to match the original DB pension was often unrealistically high — for example, 7.68% per year — meaning the transferred pot was almost certain to underperform the benefits given up.
FOS decisions repeatedly note a lack of evidence on the adviser's file justifying the transfer — no clear suitability rationale, no demonstrated need, no proper analysis of alternatives.
The FOS operates on the assumption that transferring out of a Defined Benefit scheme is not in the client's best interest. The burden of proof sits squarely on the firm to demonstrate the advice was suitable — not on you.
Where complaints are upheld, firms are required to put the consumer back in the position they would have been in had they remained in the scheme. This routinely involves significant restitution for lost secure income and growth.