Who: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and Turner Lewis Ltd
Where: United Kingdom
When: 28 May 2025
Law stated as at: 16 July 2025
What happened:
In November 2024, a video published by Turner Lewis Ltd on a social media site (ad (A)) and an ad on the Turner Lewis website (ad (B)) advertised their services supporting customers in locating their Child Trust Fund (CTF) from the government. The social media video stated that the services are provided on a “no-win, no-fee basis, meaning you’ve got nothing to lose”, whereas the website stated that the services are offered on “a no win, no fee basis. Our fee is 25% plus VAT of the total amount in the account”. The website included the following, smaller text underneath: “Please be aware that you also have the option to locate your Child Trust Fund for free directly through HMRC. However, our dedicated team has successfully assisted thousands of clients, providing a comprehensive walkthrough, results and peace of mind”.
Issue 1: ad (A) was challenged on the basis that the claim “you’ve got nothing to lose” was misleading because Turner Lewis charged for its service when consumers could, in fact, locate their CTF for free through HMRC.
Issue 2: both ads were challenged as misleading consumers about the nature of the service, potentially deterring them from pursuing the free claim route through HMRC.
Issue 3: both ads were also challenged as being misleading by failing to include information on the cancellation fee and cooling-off period for the services.
Turner Lewis responded by saying that the phrase “you’ve got nothing to lose” in ad (A) highlighted the “no win, no fee” element of the service and the fact that, if no funds were located, the customer would be no worse off as they would not be charged. Turner Lewis suggested that it would be clear to consumers from the ad that there would be a fee for the service and that, if not, in any event it would be clear from the website or from speaking to staff that a fee would be charged.
Turner Lewis denied that the ads implied that its services would be free. It suggested that, although the ad did not include details of the fee, this was sufficiently explained in the terms and conditions and consumers had to tick a box to confirm they had read these before they signed the terms. Turner Lewis also believed that it did not make it appear harder to locate a CTF than it actually was, highlighting the part of its website that made consumers aware of the free route to obtaining the CTF. In Turner Lewis’ view, it was transparent about its services and its expertise justified the charges by making it easier to locate a CTF.
Turner Lewis also said that cancellation fees and cooling-off periods were standard to consumer contracts, such that consumers would expect fees to apply if they cancelled outside of that period.
The ASA upheld all three challenges.
Challenge 1: the ASA found that the statement “you’ve got nothing to lose” would be interpreted by consumers as meaning there would be no charge for the service. It highlighted the fact that both the ad and the landing page it linked to had no information on the fees or how they would be applied and did not inform users of the free route through HMRC. The ad (and the linked webpage) were therefore found to misleadingly omit material information and breached the CAP code rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising).
Challenge (2): the ASA found that, as the target audience of the ads was young people, inexperienced with financial products (given the nature of the CTF), the ads should make the nature of the service clear. The “no win, no fee” statements were interpretated as implying to consumers that Turner Lewis operated claims management services. In addition, ad (B) included multiple statements suggesting that the process was difficult and would need an expert, therefore deterring users from trying to use the free HMRC route. It was noted that Turner Lewis provided no evidence to suggest that it followed a different process itself for locating a CTF.
The ASA concluded that the ads misled consumers about the nature of the service and deterred consumers from using the alternative free route for locating a CTF. On this basis, the ads breached CAP Code rules 3.1 and 3.3 (Misleading advertising) and 14.1 (Financial products).
Challenge (3): the ASA highlighted that information about cancellation fees and cooling-off periods was not included in either of the ads (but acknowledge that it was included in the terms and conditions). The ASA found that, in many cases, Turner Lewis completed locating the CTF during the cooling-off period and a consumer would not have been able to cancel in any event. This amounted to a significant qualification that consumers should have been informed of before agreeing to use the services, meaning that the ads breached CAP Code rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.9 (Qualification).
Why this matters:
This ruling highlights the importance of providing all material information to users before they agree to a service. Marketers should carefully consider the use of statements such as “you’ve got nothing to lose” where this is not further clarified or explained. They should also consider any particular characteristics of target consumers (such as youth) that may make them more vulnerable to such statements.
