If you opted out of SERPS into a personal pension between 1988 and 1994 on the advice of a salesperson — or if your employer's scheme stopped contracting out and you were moved into a personal pension — there's a real chance you were caught up in one of the largest financial mis-selling scandals in UK history.
The Personal Pensions Mis-Selling Review (sometimes called the "SERPS mis-selling scandal") ran throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Billions of pounds in compensation were paid out. But the review didn't catch everyone — some claims were made too late, others were missed entirely, and a smaller second wave of complaints continues today.
This guide explains what happened, who's eligible to complain, and how to start the process — including where the Government and free regulators can help.
The Pension Tracing Service® is a pension finder and a regulated pension transfer adviser — not a claims management company. We don't run mis-selling claims on your behalf, and we don't take a cut of any compensation you receive.
What we do is find your contracted-out SERPS pot so you can see whether you have grounds for a complaint in the first place. That trace is free. If you do have grounds, the actual compensation claim goes through the provider that sold you the pension (or the Financial Ombudsman Service if the provider rejects your complaint).
We'll point to the right next steps below — most of them are free and don't require any third party to take a fee.
In 1988, the Conservative Government allowed employees to opt out of SERPS into a personal pension (an "Appropriate Personal Pension", or APP) instead of staying in the State Additional Pension or in their workplace scheme. The Government heavily incentivised this — including a temporary 2% NI rebate bonus for new APPs.
A vast sales push followed. Door-to-door pension salespeople, tied agents at major insurers, and direct-mail campaigns persuaded huge numbers of workers — including teachers, nurses, miners and other public-sector workers — to opt out of perfectly good defined-benefit workplace schemes (or stay out of SERPS) and into personal pensions instead.
The personal pensions on offer often:
Carried higher charges than the workplace schemes they replaced
Provided less generous benefits (no employer contributions, no guaranteed accrual)
Were inappropriate for the customer's age and circumstances
Were sold by salespeople paid on commission rather than by independent advice
By the mid-1990s the regulator (then the Securities and Investments Board, later the FSA, now the FCA) had recognised this as systemic mis-selling. The Personal Pensions Review was launched in 1994 and ran in two phases through to the early 2000s.
Total compensation paid out: estimated at over £13 billion.
The Personal Pensions Review covered customers who:
Opted out of an occupational pension scheme into a personal pension between 29 April 1988 and 30 June 1994, or
Did not join an occupational pension scheme they were eligible to join during that period (because they were sold a personal pension instead), or
Transferred a deferred pension from an occupational scheme into a personal pension during that period
Customers in higher-priority groups (older customers nearing retirement, public-sector workers in good schemes) were reviewed first. Most of the original review was completed by the early 2000s.
The original review didn't catch everyone. Reasons claims may have been missed:
The customer wasn't aware they had grounds for complaint and didn't come forward in time
The provider that sold the pension had failed and the FSCS didn't pick it up
The customer's circumstances changed (e.g. a previously-stable workplace scheme later closed)
The case was dismissed at the time but new evidence has since emerged
You may still have grounds to complain today, particularly if:
You only recently realised you were opted out of a much better workplace scheme
The provider's records or your own records have surfaced new evidence
You're now approaching retirement and can see clearly that the personal pension underperformed the alternative
The good news: you don't need a claims management company. The process is free if you do it yourself.
You need:
The name of the pension provider
The date you took out the personal pension (for in-scope claims, between 29 April 1988 and 30 June 1994)
Details of the workplace scheme you opted out of (or didn't join)
Any paperwork from the original sale
If you can't remember the provider, a free pension trace will identify it for you.
Write to the provider that sold you the personal pension (or the current administrator if the provider has been acquired or rebranded — Phoenix, Aviva, Aegon, Standard Life and Royal London hold many old contracted-out books).
State clearly:
You believe you were mis-sold the personal pension
The original sale date and circumstances
Why you believe it was inappropriate (e.g. you were opted out of a generous workplace scheme, you weren't given proper advice, the salesperson was paid commission)
That you want the complaint investigated
The provider has 8 weeks to respond.
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is free to use and provides an independent review of financial services complaints. If the original provider rejects your claim, refer it to FOS within 6 months of the rejection.
Where: financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Cost: Free
Time limit: Generally 6 years from the event you're complaining about, or 3 years from when you knew (or should have known) you had grounds — but this is often more flexible for historic mis-selling cases
If the provider has gone out of business, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) may be able to compensate you directly.
Where: fscs.org.uk
Cost: Free
Coverage: Compensation up to specified limits depending on the type of claim and when it occurred
You'll see ads from claims management companies offering to handle SERPS mis-selling claims on a "no win, no fee" basis. They typically take 20–30% of any compensation you receive.
You don't need them. The Financial Ombudsman Service is free. Writing to the provider yourself is free. The success rate is the same whether you use a claims firm or do it yourself — claims firms simply take a cut.
If you don't want to write the letters yourself, Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk) provides free help with financial complaints, and MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk) has guidance on how to make a pension complaint.
We help with the find step — locating any contracted-out SERPS pot in your name so you have the underlying facts before deciding whether to complain. We don't process compensation claims — for that, contact the original provider, the Financial Ombudsman, or Citizens Advice.
Our free trace returns:
The current scheme(s) holding any contracted-out SERPS contributions
The current value of each pot
The original provider name (often important when making a mis-selling complaint, especially if the provider has since been acquired)
The widespread mis-selling of personal pensions to UK workers between 1988 and 1994, where customers were inappropriately opted out of perfectly good occupational pension schemes (or out of SERPS) into personal pensions on commission-based advice. The Personal Pensions Review of the 1990s/2000s paid out an estimated £13 billion+ in compensation.
You may be eligible if you opted out of an occupational pension scheme into a personal pension between 29 April 1988 and 30 June 1994, didn't join an eligible workplace scheme because you were sold a personal pension during that period, or transferred a deferred occupational pension into a personal pension during that period.
Write to the provider that sold you the personal pension (or its current successor) explaining your complaint. They have 8 weeks to respond. If they reject the claim, refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service (free) within 6 months.
No. Claims management companies typically take 20–30% of any compensation. The same complaint process is free if you do it yourself or with help from Citizens Advice or MoneyHelper.
Contact the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) at fscs.org.uk. They may be able to compensate you directly if the original provider has failed.
Generally claims must be made within 6 years of the event, or within 3 years of when you knew (or should have known) you had grounds — but historic mis-selling cases are often treated flexibly by the Financial Ombudsman. Don't assume you're out of time without checking with FOS.
No. We're a pension finder and regulated transfer adviser — not a claims management firm. We help you find any contracted-out SERPS pot you've lost track of (free). The compensation claim itself goes through the provider, the Financial Ombudsman, or FSCS — all free routes that don't require a third-party fee.
A SERPS refund is a less common request — usually referring to wanting NI contributions returned, which generally isn't possible because they were redirected into a private pension (which is now the asset). SERPS compensation is what you may be owed if you were mis-sold the personal pension that received those NI rebates. The two get conflated online.
It varies enormously depending on what you were sold, when, and what the alternative would have looked like. Some compensation amounts during the original review ran into tens of thousands of pounds; others were much smaller. The FOS and the original provider will calculate your specific entitlement based on the comparison between what you have and what you would have had.
SERPS mis-selling was a large, recognised scandal — and the route to complain remains free through the original provider, the Financial Ombudsman Service, and (if the provider has failed) the FSCS. Don't pay a claims management company to do what you can do yourself.
If you don't know which provider holds your contracted-out SERPS pot, we'll find it for free so you have the facts to start a complaint.
Related: What is a SERPS Pension? · Contracted Out of SERPS · How to Find Your SERPS Pension
You can also request contact details from the Pension Tracing Service by phone or by post.
The Pension Tracing Service
Telephone: 0800 1223 170
From outside the UK: +44 (0) 1782 389134
Monday to Friday, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Address
The Pension Tracing Service
The Lantern
High Street
Ilfracombe
EX34 9QB
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The Pension Tracing Service® is a trading style of Millennial Wealth Ltd. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA number 914746). Pinnacle House, 34 Newark Road, Peterborough, PE1 5YD. Registered company number 11557299.
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