We recognise that some of you who were identified as being affected by the Transitional Protection discrimination may have incurred financial losses or may have taken, or been prevented from taking, a particular course of action had the discrimination not occurred. We’re introducing a process for any resulting claims to be made.

Contingent Decisions

We’re introducing a Contingent Decision process for those who would’ve taken or were prevented from taking a different action had the transitional protection changes not been introduced in 2015.

Once the process is in place, we’ll advise you on the claim process and requirements.

Financial loss

We’re also introducing a process for those of you who’ve experienced a financial loss due to the Transitional Protection. We’ll let you know once this process is in place and the requirements for submitting a claim.

You don’t need to pay to claim your remedy benefits and make your choice. Using a paid service doesn’t mean you’ll get your choice any sooner or affect the options you have. We’ve provided guidance to members about their remedy period choices, and we’ll contact you regarding your options.

A small number of you with particularly complex circumstances may feel you need support from an independent financial advisor or accountant regarding your remedy choice. We’re introducing a process to allow you to make a claim for some of the costs incurred in limited scenarios. Please note the following however:

• We won’t routinely reimburse you for amounts paid for independent financial advice (IFA) in relation to your remedy period choice of benefits. The relevant information you’ll need to make an informed choice is provided via our website, communications and Remediable Service Statements.
• If your circumstances are more complex, for example in relation to tax issues which you couldn’t reasonably address yourself, we’ll consider applications for compensation for reasonable costs of IFA (normally up to the amount of £500). Evidence must be provided that the advice you received was required due to the remedy/discrimination and the complexity of your particular financial circumstances, as well as proof of the amount paid. In exceptional circumstances, we may consider compensation for amounts in excess of £500.
• You have plenty of time to make your decision and are advised not to seek such advice before you’ve received your Remediable Service Statement and supporting information. We’ll not consider claims for IFA fees etc. under any circumstances where you’ve paid for services without having received and considered this information first.

We’ll continue to update you on these processes on the news page of our website.