Hartley Pensions Limited has entered administration at the request of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), with Peter Kubik and Brian Johnson of UHY Hacker Young LLP appointed as joint administrators.

Hartley Pensions is a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) operator authorised and regulated by the FCA, and also provides administration for a small number of small self-administered schemes (SSAS), regulated by The Pensions Regulator.

The business entered administration as of 29 July 2022 after seeking professional insolvency advice, with the directors subsequently recognising that the business was insolvent and no longer able to operate outside of an insolvency process. 

In addition to this, the FCA requested that the firm go into an insolvency process in the interest of clients.

At the time of failure, Hartley Pensions was also subject to a number of FCA requirements, which were imposed due to a number of serious operational, financial and regulatory issues that the firm was attempting to deal with.

The FCA has confirmed that it is in regulator contact with the joint administrators who are looking at the options available, including the transfer of Hartley Pensions clients to another FCA regulated SIPP operator.  

If this is not possible, the FCA explained that the administrators will look to pursue other options aimed at transferring SIPPs or returning SIPP assets back to clients.

Harley Pensions will not be accepting contributions from clients to be paid into their pensions at this time.

However, existing pension assets are currently unaffected by the firm going into administration, as these are held by trustee firms that are not regulated by the FCA and have not entered into insolvency.

The FCA said that the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is also working closely with the joint administrators and investigate whether there are any claims that meet the qualifying conditions for compensation.

If Hartley Pensions is not able to meet claims against it, and the FSCS identify any claims eligible under their rules, customers will be entitled to apply for compensation up to the limit of £85,000.

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