Victims of the Hartley Pensions collapse have moved a step closer to having their funds unlocked with the appointment of a firm to receive transfers from the Hartley SIPP business, which is currently in administration.

Administrators UHY Hacker Young have appointed Morgan Lloyd, a subsidiary of Clifton Asset Management, to be the nominated operator and receive transfers from the Hartley SIPP business.

Clients will also have the option to transfer to other providers.

The appointment has been agreed by UHY Hacker Young and the FCA.

Morgan Lloyd is a pensions management and administration business with 20 years of experience.

Staff at Morgan Lloyd have experience running both Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSASs) and Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) for financial advice firms and industry third party Investment platforms.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) declared SIPP and SSAS provider Hartley Pensions in default in February. Hartley Pensions went into administration in July 2022.

In January the FSCS confirmed that it will pay the exit and administration charge (EAC) that the joint administrators propose to levy on Hartley Pensions Limited (HPL) customers, despite earlier saying that it could not do this.

The U-turn came about after the FSCS, “obtained and considered further evidence,” it said.

The EAC is intended to cover costs, including the costs for customers to transfer to other regulated companies where possible, until Hartley’s administration is concluded. The costs are likely to be around £36m, according to Hartley administrators UHY Hacker Young.

Hartley Pensions went into administration in 2022 after several regulatory interventions and a failure to find a buyer. An estimated 16,000 clients were hit by the collapse. It had been subject to a number of FCA requirements in early 2022 due to, “serious operational, financial and regulatory issues.”

In previous years, Hartley Pensions had acquired the client books of several failed SIPP providers. It bought the Guinness Mahon book in February 2020 after the firm collapsed. The deal meant the transfer of 4,000 SIPPs previously administered by GMTC which suffered a string of problems and legal actions from unhappy clients.

Other SIPP books the firm acquired in recent years included GPC, Berkeley Burke SIPP and Greyfriars AM.

John Dowding, technical director of Morgan Lloyd, said “Whilst we acknowledge the complexities and challenges ahead, our priority is to make this transition as smooth as possible, upholding the standards of service that clients rightly expect and deserve. We will continue working closely with the administrators and relevant stakeholders to make this possible.”

Anthony Carty, Director, Clifton Asset Management, said: “Our appointment as the nominated operator to receive transfers from the Hartley SIPP business marks a new positive chapter for those clients, who will experience the benefit of our communication and service. Morgan Lloyd’s robust proprietary technology has been built to scale so our business is ready and able to support the transfer process.

“There is a journey ahead, as we work through areas of poor data and more complex cases within the Hartley SIPP book but our focus will be to provide stability and reassurance throughout. I have confidence that our highly experienced team can restore integrity to the pension schemes of Hartley SIPP clients.”

Hartley SIPP clients have already been informed by UHY Hacker Young that they will be transferred out in tranches. UHY Hacker Young has also received confirmation from the FSCS that funding has been made available to cover the cost of the transfer out process.

The majority of Hartley SIPP clients will have the option not to transfer to Morgan Lloyd SIPP Services Ltd (MLSS) if they wish. In this case, the client will have to choose another SIPP provider independently.