Yahoo Finance ‘St James’s Place took a year to pay £20,000 for my mother’s care’
John Coles needed £20,000 to help pay for his mother’s care fees – but St James’s Place took so long sending the funds that she passed away before they could be received.
When Mr Coles’ mother went into care in 2017, the fees were initially around £3,800 a month. Over the years however they climbed higher and higher, eventually hitting £5,000. Eventually, the family were forced to sell her home, which had been in the family since 1935, to cover the eye-watering cost.
Mr Coles, who had Power of Attorney over his mother’s finances, worked out he could cover the fees for a year by pulling together his own money as well as funds from his mother’s pension and her Individual Savings Account (Isa).
But when he asked St James’s Place to send him £20,000 from her Isa in March 2022, weeks passed without him receiving a penny.
Then, on 27 April, his adviser contacted him to say the wealth manager’s administration centre was querying whether the Power of Attorney they held was the complete document.
He sent them another copy of the Power of Attorney – identical to the one St James’s Place already possessed – but still the funds were nowhere to be seen.
The next day, suddenly and without warning, his mother passed away at age 93.
While he was in the process of winding up her estate, St James’s Place messaged him to say the money had been sent to his mother’s NatWest account, which was of course now closed.
“I immediately rang St James’s Place,” said Mr Coles, “and spoke to a very helpful young lady who informed me that there was no need to worry, as the money would be returned from NatWest to St James’s Place, if the account was closed.”
This seemed to resolve the issue – or so Mr Coles thought. It was only after finally distributing his mother’s estate in July 2023, a year later, that he discovered the £20,000 was still missing.
NatWest confirmed to Mr Coles that they had received the funds and sent them back to the wealth manager.
St James’s Place finally managed to locate the missing £20,000 after Telegraph Money got in contact.
A spokesman told Mr Coles that the administration centre had misunderstood the details around the Power of Attorney document and asked his adviser for more information.
Mr Coles held Power of Attorney “jointly and severally” with his brother. Power of Attorney held “jointly” means permission is required from parties before instructions can be carried out, whereas “jointly and severally” means either attorney can act alone. The administration team seemed to misunderstand that Mr Coles held the document “jointly and severally”.
The resulting delay meant the payment was made on 5 May. NatWest returned it on the following day.
A spokesman for St James’s Place said: “We apologise for any trouble and upset the delay in returning funds may have caused. When the funds were returned by NatWest we were unable to identify the client these belonged to which has resulted in the delay. We recognise that the usual high quality service that all clients should expect to receive from St James’s Place has fallen short in this instance and we have therefore returned the funds, with interest owing alongside a gesture of goodwill.”
As well as returning the £20,000, St James’s Place has offered to pay Mr Coles £1,871 in interest, increased to £3,871 in recognition of the upset caused.
Mr Coles said he had no complaint with his St James’s Place adviser, who pushed for an “urgent investigation” to be opened and encouraged him to complain. He said the blame seemed to lie with its administration centre, adding, “This is not the service I used to get.”
He continued that he was “disappointed” that it took so long for the missing £20,000 to be returned.
St James’s Place’s shares plunged as low as 16pc on Friday following reports it is under pressure from the regulator to overhaul its fee structure.
The wealth manager’s charging structure has come under increasing scrutiny since the introduction of the new Consumer Duty, which requires firms to prove they are offering fair value to their customers.
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