Hartley Pensions Limited

The Joint Administrators of Hartley Pensions Limited are considering pursuing legal action against an entity within the Wilton Group to recover a loan made by the SIPP provider shortly before its administration.

Hartley Pensions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wilton UK (Group) Limited, was incorporated in 2015 and traded as a personal pension service provider, with its sole revenue stream achieved by charging fixed fees to its clients for providing pension schemes.

By 2021, the firm administered over 20,000 schemes with a value of approximately £2.3 billion.

Things took a turn for Hartley Pensions in February 2022, when the FCA prohibited the firm from taking on new clients and imposed a number of other restrictions on it, after identifying serious operation and regulatory issues, including allegations that the firm took client money without consent and failed to meet liquid capital requirements.

The firm ultimately entered administration on 29 July 2022, and Peter Kubik and Brian Johnson of UHY Hacker Young were appointed as Joint Administrators.

Since their appointment, the Joint Administrators have worked to realise the firm’s assets. As part of that process, the Joint Administrators have investigated various loans totalling over £1.4 million made by the firm to Wilton & Partners Limited (“W&P“), an Irish-registered entity within the Wilton Group, between August and November 2021.

Upon requesting payment of the loan, the Joint Administrators were provided with a loan agreement dated 12 July 2022 (17 days before the administration) between the firm, W&P and Wilton Group Limited, the ultimate parent. The loan agreement provides that the loans will be repaid upon the creation of a Wilton-controlled pensions holding company to be known as “Guinness Mahon” and, in the event the loans are not repaid in this way, they will be repaid from the sale of Bespoke Trustees Limited (which was bought by Wilton Group in September 2021 and is a SIPP operator). The agreement also provides that the repayment of the loans cannot be demanded other than as provided in the loan agreement.

The Joint Administrators contacted W&P to advise that the loans were transactions at undervalue and preferences and needed to be repaid. Following a meeting with the firm’s director, who is also a director of W&P, it was agreed that a sale of Bespoke Trustees Limited would be undertaken to allow the loans to be repaid. Nevertheless, no actions appear to have been taken to progress a sale. As a result, the Joint Administrators are considering whether to pursue legal action for the recovery of the loans.

The Joint Administrators have been assisted by DWF Law. Their Progress Report can be found HERE.