The AMPS conference in London today featured a warning on the increasing proliferation of  ‘ambulance chaser’ companies seeking to press claims against SIPP providers.

Paul Gair, partner in the banking and financial services litigation team at London-based TLT LLP, told delegates at the Royal Society of Physicians that claims management companies’ voracious appetite was undimmed, especially after the number of claims over PPI mis-selling.

Mr Gair said: “There has been a consistent track upwards in the number of claims coming through.”

He said there was evidence the PPI claims companies were now turning their attention towards SIPP claims as the PPI deadline loomed.

He added that there was a rapid rise at present in radio commercials targeting SIPP claims.

Mr Gair warned that claims management companies were “farming” claims, with PPI and interest hedging as “classic examples,” of how they operate.

He said the firms were “always looking for the next pot of claimants,” because of the finite number each claim opportunity presented to them.

Speaking about the claims management companies, he said: “They are very used to dealing with FOS [and] how it operates.”

Adding that they also represent an attractive proposition for claimants as they are free for them and are “less onerous than going through the courts.”

He said the increase in SIPPs claims meant that “every time you turn your radio on at the moment there is an advert from a CMC (claims management company).”

Mr Gair advised companies to revise their terms and sales processes “to minimise risks [of claims] in the future.”