Over the last few years, St. James's Place has built up a reputation in their field as a prestigious wealth management company, with the goal of providing customers guidance on investing their money and helping them plan for the future.
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Trust is crucial in wealth management, however, in 2017, the Which? team went undercover and posed as clients seeking independent advice from St. Jame’s Place on £100,000 of investible assets, and quickly encountered issues as they spoke to 12 advisers from St. Jame’s Place.
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The investigations by Which? conducted in 2017 highlighted the following key issues:

When investigators met St. James's Place advisers, they found that 4 of the 12 asked failed to talk in detail about the likely costs at all. This is directly against the guidelines for advisers set by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which state that they are supposed to inform clients about the costs of their services.
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Even where advisers did provide information, there were discrepancies in the information provided, with some advisers stating an initial charge of 4.5% of the money invested, where others put the up-front cost at £2,500 (5%).

In addition to up-front fees, St James's Place charges annual fees for both advice and the cost of recommended investments. According to Which?, only 7 out of 12 advisers disclosed these fees, and their estimates ranged from 1.25% to 2.3%
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There are some legitimate reasons why costs may vary, such as St. James's Place’s recommended funds have different charges, so the fees depend on which fund you choose.
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But it was found that even where St. James's Place did disclose these charges, their estimates tended to be on the lower side, which may encourage customers to invest based on inaccurate information, leading to customers paying more than what they thought they would.
There were also questionable claims from some advisers.

One described SJP's charges by saying 'there're no charges, there're no fees, the only thing is, if you do anything, that's when I would get paid.' This is nonsense, as if you're a customer the fees still ultimately come out of your pocket.
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It also emerged that St. James's Place were charging fees for ongoing annual reviews which never happened, and that when clients who tried to leave St. Jame’s Place and move their investment elsewhere, were faced with substantial exit penalties to get a hold of their own money.

St. James's Place faced criticism for their poor record keeping dating back to 2018, leaving them uncertain about the number of affected customers. The wealth management company has implemented a new system to document client services in 2021, however, prior to that evidence of provided services is lacking.

St. James's Place has made headlines with several issues uncovered recently, such as a group of ex-footballers suing the wealth management company over allegations, they received poor advice in relation to tax avoidance film and overseas property schemes.

Former Chelsea and Republic of Ireland star Andy Townsend is among a group of 14 former footballers suing St. James'sPlace for advising them to invest in the schemes. The group’s claim is estimated to be in the region of £15 million.

Following the Which? investigations, another area for concern is wealth management companies alleged misleading practices.
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The firm faces scrutiny over high fees and lack of transparency, which may diminish investor returns, and allegations suggest that the firm may have provided incomplete or inaccurate information, leading to uninformed investment decisions.

These issues could lead to significant reputational damage, regulatory scrutiny, legal action, and financial losses for the firm. St. James's Place has set aside £426 million to reimburse and compensate affected clients, and if you are, or have been a St. Jame’s Place client, you could have lost a lot of money over the years without realising it.