120 Blythswood Road
Ilford IG3 8SG

Email: andy.walker@talk21.com
Tel: 07956 263088

My Complaints about the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS)

I say that CIS are paying unsustainable commissions to their staff which cannot be recovered on commercial terms. My legal action involves a stakeholder pension where a commission of 13.6% of the first year's premium is payable on a pension that charges 1% of the annual fund value. I have recently found that CIS are now paying up to 27% of the first year's premium on a pension charging 1%. My second complaint is that the CIS is wrong to pay zero annual bonuses on personal pensions because some have guaranteed annuity rates.

District Judge Lightman Judgment
District Judge Lightman judgment attached dismissed my claim, but appears flawed because at paragraphs 18 and 21 the judge states I owned stakeholder pensions. I do not and did not, my claim is that commissions paid on Stakeholder pensions are loss making and impacted upon my endowment and personal pension policies. The judgment does not take on board that my personal pensions had guaranteed annuity rates.

His Honour Judge Knight QC Judgment
Despite me informing His Honour Judge Knight QC in my skeleton argument that I had no stakeholder pensions and a day for the Judge to read the file, the attached Knight judgment supports the Lightman finding that I had stakeholder pensions. I am seeking permission to appeal at the Court of Appeal. Again the judgment does not take on board that my personal pensions had guaranteed annuity rates.

Standard Life Case
It is similar to the CIS one, except Standard are prepared to cut the 1% stakeholder pension charge to 0.8% and call it a bonus, this appears a differential bonus policy made unlawful by the Equitable Life case.

What you can do
If other policyholders submit either an adjourned claim of write to the financial ombudsman it will be helpful to me. I only advise claiming at court if you have a legal expenses policy which often comes as part of building and/or contents policy. Should you wish to investigate making an adjourned claim against Standard Life, I suggest you print off the particulars of claim and send it to your insurance company and ask if they are prepared to lodge it for you with a request that the claim is adjourned pending the result of the High Court case, Walker v Standard Life reference number HQ09X00126. If your insurers do decide to submit a claim in the small claims court, it would be helpful if you could let me know. Alternatively, you could submit a complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman and ask for it to be adjourned pending the result of my claim.

For the avoidance of doubt, please do not spend any money on obtaining legal advice on this matter. While I remain confident that I have a reasonable prospect of success, I do not wish anyone to spend money on this claim in case the courts rule against me. To submit a claim an adjourned claim Co-op or submit an adjourned compliant at the Financial Services Ombudsman, please contact me and I will provide you with further information. If you want to register your support please become my facebook friend.

Yours sincerely

Andy Walker