Hartley Pensions Campaign

Three years after the FCA placed Hartley Pensions into administration, thousands of Hartley Pensions clients remain locked out of their retirement savings.

In November 2025, ShareSoc has upgraded its original Hartley Pensions Client Support Group into a fully-fledged Campaign to demand transparency, accountability, and swift resolution for affected investors.

We’re pressing regulators and administrators for long-overdue answers and action.

Index

What Happened
ShareSoc’s Role
The Misappropriated Monies Scandal
Unacceptable Delays
The Hartley Pensions Client Support Group
The Hartley Pensions Campaign
Communications
Join the Campaign!
Latest Updates

What Happened

Hartley Pensions, a provider of SIPPs and SSASs with over 16,000 clients, was placed into administration by the regulator on 29 July 2022. The FCA had intervened due to serious operational concerns, appointing UHY Hacker Young LLP as joint administrators. This triggered immediate restrictions on clients’ access to their pension assets.

Between 2018 and 2021, Hartley had acquired multiple SIPP books from failed operators, compounding its exposure to complex and illiquid investments. The administration process revealed significant cost burdens and delays in transferring client accounts to new providers.

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ShareSoc’s Role

ShareSoc was asked to intervene by one of our members in early 2023. Following liaison with the FCA and the Administrators, ShareSoc director Mark Bentley was appointed to an informal client committee established by the Administrators, alongside clients and client representatives.

Since then, we have:

Challenged the proposed “Exit and Administration Charge”, arguing that costs arising from Hartley’s failure should be covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Secured a major breakthrough in early 2024, when the FSCS accepted liability for administration-related costs—clearing the way for transfers to begin.
Engaged directly with the FCA, raising individual cases where administrators failed to respond adequately.

Despite this progress, transfers have been painfully slow, with many clients still unable to access their funds. The administrators have begun phased transfers to Morgan Lloyd, a new pensions manager, prioritising simpler cases first. But some clients may have to wait until 2026 for full resolution.

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The Misappropriated Monies Scandal

The administration has exposed serious financial misconduct. Over £21 million of client pension funds were invested without authorisation, including £13.6 million transferred to Wilton UK Ltd—Hartley’s parent company—for use in its lending business.

A further £6 million transferred by the administrators from the administration estate to Hartley Pensions remains partially unaccounted for, with £4 million allegedly diverted to the personal account of Tony Flanaghan, a director of the company. You really couldn’t make this stuff up!

This tangled legal web is preventing the return of client assets in some 1,300 cases.

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Unacceptable Delays

While the administrators face genuine legal and regulatory hurdles, the pace of progress has been widely criticised, not least by ShareSoc. The fact that fewer than 20% of clients have been transferred after three years suggests that the process is not proceeding with sufficient urgency.

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The Hartley Pensions Client Support Group

ShareSoc originally established this group to support clients of Hartley Pensions who were experiencing difficulties in recovering their SIPPs.

The group’s objectives were:

To assist former Hartley Pensions clients who are experiencing difficulties
To liaise with the FCA to try to prevent similar issues arising in future

Despite some assistance from the FCA, progress in extracting Hartley Clients’ SIPPs and SSASs continues to proceed at a snail’s pace, with the Joint Administrators (JAs) from UHY repeatedly pushing back expected dates for resolution. This has now become totally unacceptable.

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The Hartley Pensions Campaign

ShareSoc has therefore decided to upgrade the Support Group into a full Campaign, to highlight the “Hartley Pensions Scandal” to powerful parliamentary authorities that supervise financial services regulation and enforcement, and to the mainstream press.

The Campaign’s objectives are:

To expedite the transfer of Hartley clients’ SIPP and SSAS accounts to alternative providers.
To bring the matter to the attention of government, of parliament and of the media
To press for a review of the FCA’s powers to motivate, control and ultimately sanction the administrators of failed regulated businesses.

The Campaign will be led by a steering group, comprising 5-6 Hartley clients and chaired by a ShareSoc director. Steering group members will be able to draw on ShareSoc’s extensive experience of campaigning effectively and our resources for doing so.

Any Hartley client who is a full member of ShareSoc is eligible to join the steering group, but numbers will be restricted so that the group does not become unwieldy.

The steering group will perform the following tasks:

Develop and agree the campaign strategy
Identify specific tasks to further the strategy
Contribute to the work on those tasks
With ShareSoc’s assistance, liaise with all campaign members, to ensure that their views are represented by the steering group.

We are also keen to hear from Hartley clients with ‘horror stories’ who are prepared to speak to the press. One of the Campaign’s methods will be to seek to place stories in the mainstream press – human interest stories always go down well with the media.

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Communications

We have set up a private electronic forum for members of the Campaign who are full members of ShareSoc (you need to be logged in to our website before attempting to access the forum), to discuss matters of concern. If you are not already a member, you can join us by completing the form below.

We have also set up a Facebook group which Hartley clients, who are not full members of ShareSoc, can join.

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Join the Campaign!

To join the Hartley Pensions Campaign, please complete the form below. You need to be a member of ShareSoc to join the group, but can join as a free associate member, if you do not wish to pay an annual subscription. Please note that, even though ShareSoc’s directors are unpaid volunteers, we rely on full member subscriptions and donations to fund our operations and to operate effectively. The benefits of membership are explained here.

If you do not wish to become a full member but would still like to support us financially, you can Click here to donate to ShareSoc.

If you are already a member of ShareSoc, you will find it easiest to complete the campaign membership form below if you log in first (if not already logged in). If you are a member and are not able to login, you will find instructions here.

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Latest Updates

10/11/25 ShareSoc launches campaign regarding Hartley Pensions Scandal

23/10/25 ShareSoc writes to FCA regarding a proposal to accelerate release of client monies and transfer of accounts for SIPP clients that had money misappropriated from their accounts – and receives a prompt and encouraging response (available in our private forum for Campaign full members only).

22/11/2024 • ShareSoc News Hartley – the story so far

14/02https:/www.sharesoc.org/forums/topic/hartley-administration-news/page/5/#post-32350/2024 • ShareSoc News Human Impact of the Hartley Pensions Case and ShareSoc’s Role

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Campaign Membership - with optional full membership

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Group description:	Our group discuss a wide range of income generating instruments. Quoted dividend paying companies are usually the biggest topic for discussion; but we also discuss dividend paying Investment Trusts (including REITs) and ETFs, bonds (government and corporate), and preference shares.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online via Zoom.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on the 1st Tuesday of the month, from 6:30pm.

Group description:	The aim of this group is to share our investing ideas and experiences across all equity markets, brokers, websites and software to the benefit of us all. We do not discuss sums of money invested but may mention percentages gained and lost. We will rotate the chairperson who is responsible for creating, with member’s help, suitable agendas. We also rotate members to deliver a presentation, lasting between 15 and 45 minutes, on a topic of their choosing.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online via video conferencing.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on the 3rd Tuesday of the month, from 2-4pm.

Group description:	We welcome anyone interested in investments regardless of their level of knowledge and experience.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held in a function room of a pub in Beaconsfield New Town.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly on the 1st Wednesday of each month at 6pm.

Group description:	Investors of all levels of experience are welcome to join the Farnham (Surrey) group. Convened by David Stredder, who will be known to many as the founder of Mello, organiser of in person investment conferences and virtual Mello Mondays. David is also a director at ShareSoc and has been investing in quoted shares since the 1980s, with a focus on UK small caps. He has an extensive knowledge of UK companies and network of contacts in the investing universe.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held at a pub near to the railway station in Farnham, GU9.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11am to 3pm with a break for lunch.

Group description:	Our Group considers both US Small Caps (up to $2bn Market Cap) and Mid Caps (up to $10bn market Cap). Meetings include discussions around buys / sells / watchlists, a short Macro discussion and discussions led by group members on companies or topics of their choice.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are held online.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are held on the 3rd Monday of the month from 7pm.

Group description:	Our group is interested in sustainable investing and our goal is to identify and evaluate businesses that will thrive through innovation and their transition to a ‘One Planet Economy’. By leveraging the skills of group members, we aim to deeply understand these businesses, particularly focusing on how they develop long-term valuable benefits for their customers. Each year, we plan to evaluate around seven businesses to identify opportunities where our valuation exceeds the market price. A successful outcome is defined as achieving a compound annual growth rate (CAGR), including dividends, of 10% over a decade.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Meetings are in-person in a pub near to Waterloo station in London.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Meetings are bi-monthly on a Monday from 10:45am to 4:30pm. Members are expected to also pay for their own lunch which secures the group free use of a private room in the pub. The cost is expected to be £35-40 per person, per meeting, in addition to your SIGnet membership fee.

Group description:	A welcoming group open to all types of investors. Typical meeting content is to have a deep dive presentation on a topic selected by the participants and a session on buy/ sell/ key lessons learnt last month.
Meeting Type/Venue:	In person at a friendly pub close to Piccadilly Circus
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	Monthly during the evening on the first Wednesday of the month.

Group description:	All levels of experience welcome. A typical meeting agenda includes: – Macro Environment – Trades: Members review existing positions and identify securities with promising TA entry patterns or setups and with suitable risk/reward. Any security, long, short, futures, options may be considered. The convener takes actual positions in trades and maintains his own detailed ledger, accurately measuring performance of individual securities and cumulative activity. Members are notified by e-mail prior to the entries or exits that are decided upon. Following each meeting an updated copy of the ledger is circulated together with the next meeting agenda. Members may wish to maintain similar ledgers of their own but there is no obligation to do so. – Technical Analysis: Techniques and systems used in trades. Members can request discussion of particular aspects of TA.
Meeting Type/Venue:	Online via Zoom
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	The first Tuesday of every month from 7 to 9pm

Group description:	Open to all investors / people with an interest in investing. Typical meeting will involve members talking about recent purchases, successes, failures and possible future purchases. Also with occasional visiting speakers or members making presentations on a topic of interest.
Meeting Type/Venue:	We aim to meet on the last Tuesday of each month in a private room at a pub in Playhatch. Start time 7pm with members encouraged to meet up around 6pm for a bite to eat / drink before hand, if their diaries allow.
Meeting Frequency/Timing:	7pm on the last Tuesday of the month. Meetings likely to last about two hours but with informal ‘overspill’ before / after.

Hartley Pensions Campaign

Index

What Happened

ShareSoc’s Role

The Misappropriated Monies Scandal

Unacceptable Delays

The Hartley Pensions Client Support Group

The Hartley Pensions Campaign

Communications

Join the Campaign!

Latest Updates

Campaign Membership - with optional full membership

Related Content

Hartley – the story so far

Human Impact of the Hartley Pensions Case and ShareSoc’s Role

Law suits – Quindell, Lloyds, RBS and SIPPs