Self-invested personal pension (SIPP) operator, Hartley Pensions entered administration on 29 June at the request of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). 

The directors of Hartley first sought professional insolvency advice and which caused them to recognise that the business "was insolvent and no longer able to operate outside of an insolvency process," according to the FCA.

The FCA also requested that the firm go into an insolvency process "in the interest of clients," it said. 

SIPPs currently in drawdown and existing pension assets are unaffected by the firm going into administration, said the FCA.

"At the moment, Hartley Pensions is not accepting contributions from clients to be paid into their pensions. This will be kept under review and if this changes the joint administrators will contact any affected clients," said the FCA. "You should not try to make payments into or transfer assets into your SIPP. If you do, they will be returned to you."

The directors have appointed joint administrators, with whom the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) will be working closely to understand whether there are any protected claims that would allow it to pay compensation, it said.

"If Hartley Pensions isn't able to meet claims against it, and we identify any claims eligible under our rules, customers will be entitled to apply for compensation up to the limit of £85,000 per person. We will work closely with the joint administrators and investigate whether there are any claims that qualify for compensation," said the FSCS.

Last month, the Hartley Pensions asked the regulator to impose requirements preventing it from accepting ongoing contributions into the SIPPs/small self-administered schemes (SASS) administered by it. It also asked the FCA to temporarily stop transfers or switches of SIPPs or SSASs until 22 July at the earliest.

These restrictions were imposed due to a "number of serious operational and regulatory issues," at the firm, which it was attempting to deal with and these restrictions were intended to protect all of the firm's clients, according to the FCA.

The FCA also said that it was in "regular 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 administrators will look to pursue other options aimed at transferring SIPPs or returning SIPP assets back to clients," said the regulator.

Firm details

The provider, trading as Hubwise Hartley SIPP, Resolution SIPP, and Recovery SIPP, was authorized by the FCA in 2016.

On 17 February 2022, the regulator restricted the firm from disposing of, withdrawing, transferring, dealing with, or diminishing its assets without its written consent, according to the FCA register.

A few days later, the FCA prevented the firm from transferring client funds held in its SIPP and SSAS schemes to anyone within or connected to the firm. It also instructed the firm to hold its client funds in a bank account set up for each member at a deposit-taker authorized by the Prudential Regulation Authority.

Then in March, the FCA stopped the firm from accepting new clients without its consent. On 1 June 2022, the firm was ordered to comply with the liquid capital requirement.

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has upheld nine cases against the firm.

In August 2019, the provider bought the former SIPP provider GPC SIPP, which had entered insolvency a few months prior. The deal included the effective transfer of GPC SIPPs and SSASs held via the trustee company, Guardian Pension Trustees.

In February 2020, troubled SIPP operator Guinness Mahon was sold to Hartley Pensions after entering administration earlier that month. The sale included around 4,000 SIPPs previously administered by Guinness Mahon.