Mike Kelly, 72, had no contact with his wealth manager apart from yearly generic update letters - Christopher Pledger

After paying St James’s Place around £1,500 a year in fees, Mike Kelly expected a high level of service from his wealth manager.

But the 72-year-old, from Chineham, Hampshire, said that in the period he was with St James’s Place, between 2017 and 2024, and paying close to £10,000 in fees, he never once met his adviser. When his fund dropped by 14pc last year, he had to phone him to ask why.

Unhappy with the service, he left the wealth manager in January this year.

“I don’t care about getting the money back,” said Mr Kelly. “I just think people should be held to account. I was self-employed for 47 years and I know the importance of customer service.”

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It comes as Britain’s biggest wealth manager faces a surge in complaints as it prepares to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation to overcharged clients.

Last month, St James’s Place revealed it was setting aside £426m in potential refunds for clients who were charged annual fees despite not receiving ongoing advice. Now, current and former clients are coming forward with stories of high fees and poor service, asking if they might be eligible for compensation.

The FTSE 100 firm’s share price has plummeted to a twelve-year low since the wealth manager admitted that some of its clients had gone for years without once meeting their adviser.

St James’s Place said its records show that Mr Kelly received annual reviews, with notes suggesting changes in circumstances were discussed.

Ordinarily, this will involve an in-person meeting, though it can also be done over the phone or via video. However, Mr Kelly told The Telegraph that such meetings did not take place. “l had no contact from my adviser, apart from yearly generic update letters.”

Advice firms must review their client’s portfolio at least once a year to justify charging an ongoing advice fee. This is to ensure the client’s financial plan is still suitable even if their life circumstances have changed.

The wealth manager said it has since switched off ongoing fees for about 2pc of its clients – around 19,000 people. It had already unveiled the biggest change to its fee structure in its history in October. The firm took these decisions following a spike in complaints and a regulatory crackdown.



Over the last year, the number of complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service (Fos) about St James’s Place has more than doubled – from 238 in 2022-23 to 492 in 2023-24.

These include complaints about product mis-selling, unfair fees and poor service. The Fos found in the consumer’s favour in 39pc of cases in 2023-24, up from 32pc the year before.

St James’s Place, which looks after over 900,000 clients, says only a minority have complained and that it boasts high retention rates of 95pc.

The news has prompted others to reflect on advice they received decades ago. In 2001, Richard Crow, from Buckinghamshire, was charged £3,000 just to transfer his £19,000 pension into a Self Invested Personal Pension (Sipp).

Mr Crow said: “I’ve gone on to become a full-time private investor since those days. I was inexperienced back then but have gone on to realise how my wife and I were ripped off.” Richard Crow was charged £3,000 just to transfer his £19,000 pension into a Sipp - John Lawrence

St James’s Place said Mr Crow incurred the high fee because of an old charging structure that was common in the 1990s.

The wealth manager added that Mr Crow was provided with documentation which detailed the charges and confirmed there was a chance he could get back less than invested if he surrendered in the early years.

Mr Crow complained about the advice he had received in 2012, but by this point he was too late as the complaint was outside the statute of limitations.

Customers can complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service about a business within six years of the event they are complaining about. If it is later than that period, then the Fos can investigate within three years of the customer becoming aware they had cause to complain.

The £426m has been set aside for clients who paid for advice they did not get from 2018 onwards. St James’s Place said it has chosen this cut-off point because that is when MiFID 2 regulation came into force explicitly requiring firms to carry out an annual review.

However, the claims management firm AMK Legal has said it is seeking compensation for cases going back to 2013.

Mike Barrett, of research firm the Lang Cat, said: “We’ve seen a rise in claims management companies offering ‘no win/no fee’ services, and at this stage these feel unnecessary. If there are valid complaints, I’d expect a company with the size and profile of St James’ Place to treat them seriously, and the recent announcements in their results indicate this is the case.”

It is thought that other wealth managers could be forced to make similar provisions for clients who received no ongoing advice, as experts fear the problem is widespread. The Financial Conduct Authority has at various points flagged concerns that ongoing advice is not always working for consumers.

Justin Modray, of financial adviser Candid Financial Advice, said: “St James’s Place’s action is probably the tip of the iceberg. This is an industry-wide issue.”

In February, the regulator said it had written to 20 of the largest advice firms asking if they had assessed their ongoing services since the Consumer Duty came into effect. These new rules require firms to prove they offer good outcomes for customers.

Rob Powell, of the Evidence-Based Investor, said: “Although it’s St James’s Place that’s currently in the eye of the storm, there are many other advice chains that will come under scrutiny for high and opaque fees in the months ahead. St James’s Place is by no means the worst offender in this regard.”

A spokesman for St. James’s Place said: “We continue to focus on good outcomes for our clients and have enhanced our approach to evidencing the delivery of ongoing servicing, so we can be confident clients are receiving the service they pay for.

“All SJP clients are encouraged to speak to their adviser whenever they wish, regardless of whether it’s time for a review meeting. If clients prefer to contact SJP directly, they can find information on how to do this on our website.

“We urge any client who feels they have not historically been serviced by their adviser not to go through a claims management company or law firm. This will not result in getting any payment earlier. Moreover, these claims management companies often simply take a client’s information and pass it on to SJP to investigate whilst charging the client commission of more than 40pc of any resulting redress.”

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