British Steel Pension Claims (BSPS): Who Can Still Claim?
Former British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) members advised to transfer out between 26 May 2016 and 29 March 2018 are covered by the FCA's mandatory redress scheme, which started on 28 February 2023. Members outside the scheme can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service or, if the adviser has gone out of business, claim from the FSCS (up to £85,000). Redress is calculated individually and can be nil where no loss is found.
What happened to British Steel pension members?
Around 8,000 former members transferred their guaranteed defined benefit pensions out of the British Steel Pension Scheme during its restructuring. The FCA estimates that almost half (46%) of those transfers followed unsuitable advice.
Giving up a defined benefit pension means giving up a guaranteed, inflation-linked income for life. Advisers were required to start from the assumption that a transfer would not be suitable, and to show clearly why it was in the member's best interests.
Who does the FCA's BSPS redress scheme cover?
The scheme, set out in FCA policy statement PS22/14, covers most former members who were advised to transfer between 26 May 2016 and 29 March 2018. It does not cover people who were advised not to transfer, people who transferred outside those dates, or complaints that had already been dealt with.
Firms had to contact customers in scope by 28 March 2023, finish reviewing the advice by 28 September 2023, and make offers by 28 December 2023 for lump sums or 28 February 2024 for pension payments. If you receive an offer, you have three months to accept it, and the firm must then pay within 28 days.
How much redress has been paid?
In July 2024 the FCA reported that £106 million in redress had been offered to 1,870 former BSPS members across the redress scheme, the Financial Ombudsman and the FSCS, and that more than 6,500 former members had been supported through those routes. The FCA was still quoting the same totals at its last update in January 2026.
The redress scheme itself delivered far less than the original estimate of about £50 million. Firms assessed 49% of the advice they reviewed under the scheme as unsuitable, but the FCA reported in July 2024 that the scheme had paid out only £8.7 million. Many unsuitable cases produced no redress because annuities had become cheaper, so on the FCA's calculation the member had not lost out.
How is BSPS redress calculated?
Redress under the scheme is worked out with the FCA's BSPS redress calculator, which applies the FCA's methodology for non-compliant pension transfer advice (PS22/13). The FSCS uses the same calculator for BSPS claims.
The calculation estimates the cost of providing the benefits you gave up and compares it with the current value of the pension you moved into. The result depends on your age, your BSPS benefits, what has happened to your transferred pension and market conditions on the calculation date.
What if you were not covered by the scheme?
If you were outside the scheme, you can complain to the firm that advised you and, if you are unhappy with its final response, to the Financial Ombudsman Service. For complaints referred from 1 April 2026 about advice given after 1 April 2019, the Ombudsman can award up to £455,000.
If the firm that advised you has gone out of business and been declared in default, you can claim from the FSCS, which can pay up to £85,000. For firms that failed after the scheme started on 28 February 2023, the FSCS assesses cases using the scheme's rules and guidance.
What to do next
Gather what you have — your transfer paperwork, the adviser's suitability report and statements from the pension you moved into. If you are unsure whether you were in scope, whether an offer was calculated correctly, or which route applies to you, we can review your position free of charge on a No Win, No Fee basis.
Sources: FCA, British Steel Pension Scheme redress scheme; FCA, BSPS transfers: action from the FCA, FOS and FSCS (data to 28 April 2024); FSCS, British Steel Pension Scheme claims.