Hartley is the manager and operator of your Self-Invest Personal Pension ("SIPP") and/or Small Self-Administered Scheme ("SSAS"). Hartley is a separate legal entity to the corporate trustees which hold the money and assets within your SIPP/SASS on trust.
As a result of serious operational and regulatory issues, the Financial Conduct Authority ('FCA') imposed a number of requirements over Hartley. As a result, Hartley’s director sought professional advice and concluded that Hartley will or is likely to become cash flow insolvent in the future. Subsequently, the director has appointed Peter Kubik and Brian Johnson of UHY Hacker Young LLP as joint administrators (the “Administrators”) of Hartley on 29 July 2022.
Hartley remains subject to a number of FCA requirements agreed with by, or imposed upon, it. The requirements were agreed or imposed in an attempt for Hartley to correct a number of operational, financial and regulatory issues within the business and to protect Hartley's clients.
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Administration is an insolvency process by which Hartley has been placed under the control of insolvency practitioners, who will manage the affairs of Hartley, instead of the director.
The Administrators have a statutory objective of achieving a better outcome for creditors than in a winding up of the firm (without first entering administration) and intend to continue to operate Hartley while a transfer of its SIPP book is arranged in order to meet this objective.
Peter Kubik and Brian Johnson, both of UHY Hacker Young LLP, were appointed as Administrations by the director of the Hartley.
The Administrators are both qualified insolvency practitioners, regulated by the Insolvency Practitioners Association.
Yes, Hartley remains authorised and regulated by the FCA (in relation to SIPPs) and the Pensions Regulator (“TPR”) (in relation to SSASs). The Administrators are in contact with the FCA, which consented to the appointment of the Administrators, and are having initial discussions with TPR. They will also speak to other relevant agencies such as HM Revenue and Customs, the Financial Ombudsman Service ('FOS'), and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme ('FSCS'). You will be provided with all relevant information in due course.
Hartley is the manager and operator of your SIPP/SSAS. The money and assets held in the SIPP/SSAS are held on trust by a corporate trustee which is a separate legal entity to Hartley.
The Administrators are now engaged in an accelerated sale process to secure an alternative manager and operator of your SIPP/SSAS. It is the intention of the Administrators to trade Hartley whilst in administration, subject to funding, to allow the Administrators time to arrange an orderly hand over of the management of the SIPP/SSAS to an alternative provider.
Existing pension assets are held by trustee firms, which are not regulated by the FCA and have not entered into administration. If this changes the Administrators will contact any clients affected.
The Administrators are seeking to agree an orderly handover of the management of the SIPP/SSAS to an alternative provider as soon as possible. This will take some time but the Administrators would hope to give a more accurate timescale in August 2022.
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No, as you will be aware Hartley is restricted from receiving new or ongoing contributions, or from carrying out pension transfers or switches from any existing clients. We will provide further updates in due course.
The restrictions do not prevent you from accessing your pension in the normal course. For example, you are able to drawdown money in the usual manner, trade investments and request your pension commencement lump sum. The only restrictions are that no further contributions can be made to your SIPP and no transfers out can be made currently.
Members are not currently able to make any new contributions to their pensions. This is intended to ensure that no new member assets are received in a period in which customers cannot transfer out and/or Hartley is subject to the administration process.
Yes. It is intended that you will be transferred to a new provider, following which you may move to a provider of your choice. Any transfer to a new provider will require FCA approval.
No action needs to be taken at this stage whilst the Administrators identify an alternative service provider. Please bear with us. We will provide you with regular updates to let you know what is happening.
If you owe Hartley money you will likely be asked to pay that money. You will be contacted with details of where the money should be paid.
The Administrators are doing everything they can to facilitate a smooth transfer to a third party provider. They ask that you bear with them whilst they do this but if you want to make a complaint, you can submit this to the following address:
E: Complaints@hartleypensions.com
T: 0800 063 9113 (Freephone for UK callers)
+4420 3282 8151 (international callers)
The FSCS is the compensation scheme for customers of UK authorised financial services firms and protects consumers when those firms are not able to meet protected claims against them.
The FSCS will not be opening its online claims service against Hartley yet. Following Hartley's insolvency, the FSCS will investigate whether there are any claims protected under its rules that would allow the FSCS to declare a default and pay compensation.
If Hartley is not able to meet claims against it, and the FSCS identify any claims eligible under their rules, customers will be entitled to apply for compensation up to the limit of £85,000. The FSCS will work closely with the Administrators and investigate whether there are any claims that meet the qualifying conditions for compensation.
You can obtain further information about the FSCS on its website:
https://www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/failed-firms/hartley-pensions/
Claims management companies may approach customers of Hartley, offering to help them bring claims against it. Be cautious if you are approached by one of these companies. For the vast majority of Hartley customers there is no benefit in involving a third party in making a claim.
The FSCS is free to use. However, it is not yet open to claims, pending its investigations into whether there may be any protected claims against Hartley that would allow them to pay compensation under their rules. The FSCS will publish updates on its website:
https://www.fscs.org.uk/making-a-claim/failed-firms/hartley-pensions/
As a result of the appointed of the Administrators, Hartley is protected by a statutory moratorium which prevents any legal processes being initiated against Hartley. Consequently you cannot make a complaint to the FOS. However, if you want to make a complaint in the meantime please submit this to the following address:
FAO: The Administrators
Harley Pensions Limited (in administration)
c/o UHY Hacker Young LLP
Quadrant House
4 Thomas More Square
London
E1W 1YW
The Administrators will work with the FSCS to determine whether Hartley is able to meet eligible claims against it. The FSCS will not be opening its online claims services against Hartley yet.
If you already have a claim with the FOS, you don’t need to take any action at the moment. The FOS will be working closely with the FCA and the Administrators to agree an appropriate course of action. The FOS will contact you in due course regarding the next steps.
Hartley's staff remain employed and the Administrators will continue to liaise with the staff throughout this process.
You can contact Hartley in the usual way as follows:
Post: Hartley Pensions Limited, 5th Floor, 25 Marsh Street, Bristol, BS1 4AQ
Phone: +44 (0)117 316 9991
Email: admin@hartleypensions.com
Updates will be posted on the UHY website at:
https://www.uhy-uk.com/hartley-pensions-limited-administration
If you wish to advise the Administrators on any matters, please email them at hartleypensions@uhy-uk.com
You can also write to them:
FAO The Administrators
Hartley Pensions Limited (in administration)
c/o UHY Hacker Young LLP
Quadrant House
4 Thomas More Square
London
E1W 1YW
Please end the call and contact the Administrators on 0800 063 9113. Please remain alert to the possibility of fraud.
GDPR Fair Processing Notice
As part of our role as Administrators, we may need to access and use data relating to individuals. In doing so, we must abide by data protection requirements.
Information about the way that we will use and store personal data in relation to insolvency appointments can be found at https://www.uhy-uk.com/privacy-policy
It is important that you read this Fair Processing Notice so that you are truly aware of how and why we are using your data. This Fair Processing Notice supplements any other notices Hartley may have served on you and is not intended to override them.