Michelle Mone's husband's company loses thousands from veteran's pensions
13.12.2022 - 08:23
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
Dozens of veterans were left out of pocket after being urged to switch safe pensions to riskier funds by a firm owned by Michelle Mone’s husband.
One 54-year-old who fought in Iraq lost £168,000 when he moved money from his final salary Army scheme to Financial Provisions Solutions, which later closed.
But he could only claim back £85,000. FPS is majority owned by Doug Barrowman’s Isle of Man business Knox Ltd. He and Tory peer Mone are under fire over the £200million PPE Medpro scandal.
The Financial Service Compensation Scheme has upheld 43 complaints against FPS, handing out £2.9million in compensation, with £85,000 being the maximum individual payout. And 39 of the 43 victims were ex-services personnel persuaded to transfer money from their “gold standard” Armed Forces Pension Scheme to less secure ones, which carry a risk of lower payouts.
The FSCS said it awarded payouts to FPS clients for “bad or negligent advice” they received. It is not suggested that Barrowman had any direct role in giving the advice by FPS. Nor is it clear which advice given was negligent.
The Gulf War veteran, who also served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, told how he had a pension worth £310,000 when he was advised by FPS. He said: “During our battalion reunions, there was talk about transferring out of the MoD’s pension as you could get your money at 55 rather than 65.
“It’s attractive as you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I transferred after I got a message from an introducer.
“I had no idea how much money I’d lost. If I had stayed with my MoD pension after 18 years’ service I would have built up a guaranteed income for life. I was devastated.”
The Manchester-based firm was bought by Barrowman’s Knox Group in