UK financial advice firm Better Retirement Group (BRG) has entered liquidation on 2 September 2022, the company’s website shows.
On the same day, it ceased trading and entered into creditors voluntary liquidation, with Constantinos Pedhiou of Begbies Traynor (Central) and Alan Clark of Carter Clark Financial Recovery appointed as joint liquidators.
On 7 September 2022, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) announced that BRG was under investigation as it was among the companies associated with the British Steel Pension Scheme scandal.
The lifeboat scheme confirmed to International Adviser it has already received claims against the firm, mostly related to pension transfer advice to British Steel members, but that it has not been declared in default yet.
A spokesperson for the FSCS explained to IA that in order to declare a company in default, the following issues need to be met:
- The lifeboat scheme has to receive at least one valid claim where a former customer is owed money by the firm, and
- The FSCS has to believe the firm isn’t able to meet the cost for the claim(s) itself.
In BRG’s instance, the company has entered voluntary liquidation, which meets the second point.
But the first part takes the longest to establish as the FSCS has to wait for claims to come in and then investigate them until it can conclude whether they are valid under compensation rules.
Considering BRG’s involvement in the British Steel saga, this is likely to prove complex and lengthy as the lifeboat scheme will need to contact third parties for information, prolonging the process of declaring it in default.
IA contacted the joint administrators for comment, but they did not reply in time for publication.
Timeline of events
This is not the first time BRG has had an encounter with the FSCS.
On 16 June 2021, the lifeboat scheme made investors aware that the company had failed and that they may be eligible for compensation.
But on 28 June 2021, the FSCS was forced to backtrack and reverse its previous declaration.
This is because BRG received a winding-up court order in December 2020, which was then rescinded in February 2021; meaning that the default declaration was based on the original court order, rather than the updated one.
Now, more than a year later, the company has stopped trading and is in liquidation.
