The managing director of Devon-based IFA Philip J Milton & Co said that he had received an enquiry about his hearing and noisy work environments in the past, and urged his peers to follow his lead in logging calls.
Mr Milton, who said he had sympathy for those who have difficulty hearing, added that some people sought any means to chase claims.
He said: “The Ministry of Justice regulates claims management companies and these things are abuses of the present rules, let alone the new rules which should be coming into force soon.
“I have had the first telephone call enquiring after my hearing and my noisy work environment in the past.
“Religiously I report all such unsolicited calls to the Ministry of Justice and perhaps all readers should do the same.
“I have to have confidence they are being logged and that at some point something will be done about them.”
According to Mr Milton, the MoJ had acknowledged all of his messages, and he advised more advisers to follow suit in the hope that increasing numbers will make the ministry “act more quickly”.
In an email he previously sent to the Ministry of Justice, Mr Milton urged it to look into questionable claims and criticised claims management companies for encouraging dubious ones.
The email said: “Someone must start to bring these miscreants to justice. There are rules and laws and they are being flouted blatantly and there appear to be no penalties and no sanctions against these firms despite the letter of the law.
“As far as they are concerned, they brave the wrath of a regulator who is toothless in their eyes and where the penalties, if ever any are levied, are less than the potential income from canvassing in this way.”
Mr Milton added that it was important for the MoJ and the regulator to understand the “immense” costs faced.
He said: “The time cost of dealing with these unsolicited claims-chasing companies is immense and they are not paying for it as they should be.”
ADVISER VIEW
Adam Bell, a partner at Hertfordshire-based BPH Wealth Management, said: “Fortunately we don’t have any issues along those lines. The only case I’ve had was over 10 years ago when a claims management company tried to submit a spurious claim, which we sorted by writing direct to the client pointing out that his actual situation was totally different, in that he’d never actually taken a pension transfer, contrary to the claims company. Presumably, as the PPI gravy train is drying up, these firms will cast their net wider. Certainly, if I started getting suspicious calls for completely invalid cases, I’d definitely report them to the Ministry of Justice.”
