The MP’s Nick Smith and Stephen Kinnock held a press conference yesterday to remind the FCA that 3 years after the hard closure of “Time To Choose” , steelworkers are still waiting for something to happen by way of compensation for their ill-treatment.
The letter sent to the FCA’s CEO Nikhi Rathi sits below, explaining the steelworker’s complaint.
But the most memorable moment of the conference didn’t come from the MP’s but the four steelworkers who testified . Chris Cook, Rich Caddy and Lyndon Phillips explained the frustration they felt at the time taken, the lack of engagement and the impunity of advisers.
There were two comments from Lyndon Phillips, a steelworker from Scunthorpe which need repeating again
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“You don’t know what it’s like”
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“I’m scared to spend my money in case it runs out for my family”
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“I trusted my adviser to do something that was out of my league entirely”
In these three comments , lies the nub of it. The FCA has failed to connect with the people they are supposed to be protecting. The financial issue is that the steel men have money but no wage for life but the breach of trust from some advisers has still to be addressed.
These three comments need to be heard by Nikhi Rathi as much as the letter read.
It is a tough one, but I think the FCA has closed the subject last year with that letter.
This is personal advice and only clients should be able to request their advice to be revised through the normal complaint procedure. They were offered this option by the FCA, some (rather few) have taken it, some not.
I have been in touch with a few steelworkers and reviewed some issues of their advice, in their case they had slightly better advice and it was not a clear cut they were miss-sold the transfer. I have always asked them to speak with a solicitor and take legal advice.