The FSCS declared Lifetime in default in 2019, This means the firm cannot meet their financial obligations to clients.  Hartley SAS purchased the “untainted” SIPP part of the business. Hartley Pensions entered administration on 29 July 2022.

In June 2019 FSCS posted on its website that it was accepting claims against The Lifetime SIPP Company (Lifetime) and said the claims “… relate to the SIPP operators’ due diligence obligations when accepting customers’ investments.”

It also acknowledged “SIPP operator due diligence has been an industry ‘hot topic’ in recent years.  Lifetime has exposure to failed investments such as Harlequin, Ethical Forestry, InvestUS as well as other high risk or unregulated investments such as The Resort Group and Rimondi Grand just to name a few.

Some Lifetime customers were advised by independent financial advisers to transfer their existing pensions into a Lifetime SIPP.  After the pension transfer, customers had their pension funds placed these high risk, non-standard investments.  Some of these investments have since become illiquid, which means they cannot be sold or traded.