22 May 2024
The settlement scheme (“the Scheme”) set up in response to the suspension of the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (“the Fund”) received High Court Approval on 9 February 2024 and became binding on all Scheme Creditors on 5 March 2024. We’ve now received the first payment from the Settlement Fund. Here’s an update on when and how the first payment will be paid out.
The fund, previously known as LF Woodford Equity Income Fund, was suspended on 3 June 2019. Link Fund Solutions Limited (LFS), the authorised corporate director of the Fund, offered to settle potential claims which ‘Scheme Creditors’ may have in connection with the suspension and wished to establish a Settlement Scheme.
What’s happening now?
The Settlement Scheme received High Court Approval on 9 February 2024 and became binding on all Scheme Creditors on 5 March 2024. The Scheme will be used to make payments to clients that held units in the fund when it suspended on 3 June 2019.
We’ve now received the first payment from the Settlement Fund.
How will my clients get their money?
We’re in the process of reconciling the payment received against our own internal data. Once our reconciliations and calculations are complete, we’ll pass on the payment to your clients.
For clients that were invested in the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund through their policies when it suspended on 3 June 2019, a payment will be made as follows:
For non self-invested policies
- We’ll apply the payment to their policies as an additional investment.
- We’ll add the payment to the Phoenix Wealth Artemis Income fund unless a previous fund choice has already been provided.
You don’t need to take any action, a payment will automatically be added to your clients’ policies.
We’ll confirm the payment by sending a statement your clients.
For self-invested policies
- We’ll add the payment to the Artemis Income fund unless a previous instruction has been provided by you or your clients.
- We’ll write to you once this is in your clients’ account.
What happens next?
We’ll continue to update this ‘News and views’ section of our website, as and when we receive further payments from the Settlement Fund. Please check back regularly for any further updates.
Where can I find out more?
- About the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund Settlement Scheme: you can find more information about the scheme on Link’s dedicated website here.The site will be updated with relevant announcements and documents as the scheme progresses.
- Fund research: you can find details of the Phoenix Wealth Artemis Income fund, including performance and a factsheet through our fund information centre.
- Clients’ existing fund portfolios: you can view the funds your clients are invested in online. To do this, you’ll need to be registered for our online services. Registering is easy:
- Previous update: you can find a reminder of our previous article about the proposed settlement scheme here.
You can also contact us- we’re here from 8.30am to 5.30pm, Monday to Friday.
