Consumers in Yorkshire and Humberside who may have been mis-sold a personal pension between 1988 and 1994 are being reminded by the Financial Services Authority (the FSA) that they have only until March 31 to get a form in to their pension company if they want their case checked.

Victims of mis-selling could be owed up to £34,000 or more in compensation.

The renewed push in Yorkshire and Humberside is part of a £310.5m publicity campaign which began last year. An FSA pensions helpline has so far received an estimated 12,300 calls from people in the region.

The aim of the publicity campaign is to raise awareness of the past pensions mis-selling and to reinforce the need to respond to letters sent to consumers offering them an opportunity to put their case forward to be checked if they think they may have been mis-sold a personal pension.

Ron Devlin, director of the pensions review for the Financial Services Authority said: "This campaign is a final reminder. Many people in Yorkshire and Humberside have received a letter from their pension company and have yet to respond. However, time is now running out for those who may have lost out to get their case checked in the personal pension review.

"It is important that those who want their case checked act now. Their pension company cannot check whether compensation is owed unless they receive the necessary information from customers."

Consumers who do want to sign up before 31 March 2000 should do the following:

those that received a mailing (or, in the case of the younger rebate-only investors, a factsheet) should read the materials sent to them and decide whether they should ask for their case to be checked - if so, the materials will tell them what to do;

any investor who did not receive such a mailing, or who has mislaid the materials, can contact their pension company asking for an information pack to help them decide what to do.

Consumers who have already asked for their case to be checked will be contacted by their pension company. The firms have until June, 2002, to complete the review of all cases although many will complete before then.

If, however, consumers haven't heard and are concerned or their circumstances have changed (for example, they have retired since sending back their form) they should contact their pension company and explain their current position.

The FSA Pensions Helpline continues to receive around 300 calls a week demonstrating that there are consumers still uncertain about what to do.

To ensure consumers have access to further information and assistance the FSA will continue to keep lines open. The Helpline number, which has received more than 130,000 calls since it was set up in January, 1999, is:

0800 003 007

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.