Pensions compensator urges everyone to check they are protected after £2bn loss

Thousands of people have lost their retirement savings in the past five years, with almost £2 billion of pensions and savings wiped out, according to data from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

Since 2019, more than 43,000 people have filed claims with the FSCS after their pension providers went bust, leaving them without a nest egg for their retirement. Those who have an FSCS-protected scheme can get as much as £85,000 of their money back, but many without protection are left penniless.

FSCS protection does not cover all financial services and is only able to offer compensation to customers of authorised financial services firms that have failed or stopped trading. For retirement savers, this means that only lost savings in authorised private pensions and Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP) can be covered.

READ MORE: Calls to boost State Pension in line with Living Wage worth extra £156 per week

The industry-funded compensation scheme is publishing this data to highlight the scale of issues in the sector, as well as to urge people to check that their retirement savings are in a protected scheme. Of the £2 billion in lost pension savings, an astonishing four in five claims come from men, a group the FSCS is particularly keen to encourage to check.

FSCS’s analysis also shows that most claims for pensions losses have come from men over the age of 45. 77 per cent of the pension and SIPP claims handled by FSCS since 2019 have been made by men, with 95 per cent of all claimants aged between 45 and 75

The FSCS has partnered with veteran football broadcaster Jeff Stelling to raise awareness of the scale of the problems facing the pensions sector, as well as the gender disparity in those most at risk.

Je