Complaints about self-invested personal pensions have risen by a third during the second quarter of 2015/16 compared to the same period last year, according to the latest Financial Ombudsman Service statistics.
Complaints received around Sipps increased from 210 to 281 over the year, although less cases went to the ombudsman, down from 144 to 120 this year, along with the uphold rate also decreasing from 59 to 47 per cent.
The figures will leave firms wondering whether they are about to be hit by another increase in Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy, following several warnings over how advice given around Sipps impact its calculations.
In March, the FSCS issued a £20m interim levy on life and pension advisers in March due to the rise in Sipp claims, with a warning that the number and costs of complex Sipp-related decisions would rise steeply during 2015/16.
The Fos data revealed it accepted 751 ‘personal pension complaints’ - including stakeholder pensions and retirement annuity contracts - in the last six-month period, compared with a total of 1,161 in the whole of the last year.
Should this trend continue at the same pace, it would mean a 30 per cent increase over the full year.
Complaints about annuities were broadly flat at 210 over the second quarter of 2014/15, from 207 over the previous period, with the uphold rate staying being 21 and 18 per cent respectively.
Income drawdown recorded 180 claims over the last year, but only 72 so far this year, with no claims in the last three months, as the Fos only lists complaints once it has received 30 individual cases.
Complaints concerning Isas continued to rise, with investment Isas up 29 per cent to 327 over the second quarter, from the 254 over the previous year. Complaints over cash Isas over the second quarter also increased 20 per cent to 243, from the 203 over the previous year.
In total the Fos took on 85,896 new cases in the last three months, more than half of which were about payment protection insurance, with an uphold rate of 51 per cent.
peter.walker@ft.com
