Firms rush to join pensions action group

THE PERSONAL pension steering committee of law firms acting for victims of mis-sold pensions products continues to grow, with two new firms joining and another nine waiting in the wings.

Wolverhampton-based Foster Baxter Cooksey and Girlings in Margate have joined the three other firms - Ringrose Wharton in Bristol, Wolferstans in Plymouth and J Keith Park & Co in St Helens - to form a national group.

The firms have around 550 clients who claim to have lost money after being badly advised, particularly on opting out of occupational pension schemes or transferring funds to a private scheme, since the Financial Services Act came into force in 1988. Wolferstans has already issued writs for damages of up to u170,000.

Meanwhile, DJ Freeman is advising the IFA Association on its application for leave for judicial review of the SIB's guidance, which forces IFAs to break the rules of their own indemnity insurers by trawling for clients to lodge compensation claims against them.