Pensions Ombudsman

2.Main Content

Pensions Ombudsman

This page contains information about the Pensions Ombudsman, including:
What it does
Advantages and disadvantages
Which complaints are eligible?
Cost
Timescale
Procedure
Outcomes

What it does
The Pensions Ombudsman investigates and decides complaints and disputes about the way that pension schemes are run.

The Ombudsman can look at occupational pensions schemes, and personal pensions.

Occupational schemes are those set up by an employer. This can be a private company, or a public sector employer. The pension is linked to your job with that employer.
Personal pensions are pension schemes that are linked to you personally, not to your employer. However, employers can pay into personal stakeholder pensions.

As with all ombudsman schemes, before you take a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman, you should get in touch with your pension scheme directly and give them a chance to resolve the dispute. If you are not happy with their response, each scheme should have an internal dispute procedure. The Pensions Advisory Service can give you free advice about how to do this. If you are still not happy with the outcome, the Pensions Ombudsman is the final option.

Deciding whether the Pensions Ombudsman is the right place to take your complaint can be confusing, as there are a number of related ADR schemes. For example:

Complaints about the sales and marketing of pensions go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

Complaints about state pensions go to the Department for Work and Pensions and, if unresolved, to the Parliamentary Ombudsman; see Benefits.

The Pensions Ombudsman is also undertaking the role of Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman. The office will also deal with appeals against Financial
Assistance scheme decisions.

This information applies in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Pensions Ombudsman also has jurisdiction in the Isle of Man through parallel legislation.
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Advantages

it is free
it is private and confidential
it is independent of the companies it investigates
you will get a thorough investigation of the issues
the final decision is binding

Disadvantages

the ombudsman's decision is binding, so you can’t go to court if you are dissatisfied with the decision
you have to go through all the local complaints procedures first, which can take a long time
a large proportion of complaints are not taken on because there are other procedures you should try first

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Which complaints are eligible?
Complaints must first go to the pension provider you are complaining about. The Pensions Advisory Service can give help and guidance on the matter, and help you make a complaint. It may well be resolved at this stage. If not, you can go to the Pensions Ombudsman.

The Pensions Ombudsman can deal with both ‘complaints’ and ‘disputes’.
‘Complaints’ are about maladministration causing injustice, and usually refer to a fault in the way that the pension provider has made a decision, or taken some action. Have a look at the What is maladministration? page on this site for more information about this.
Disputes are disagreements about facts or about the law.

Those who are eligible to complain to the Pensions Ombudsman include:

members or ex-members of occupational pension schemes or personal pension schemes, including stakeholder schemes
spouses or dependents of members or ex-members who have died
people entitled to pension credits following the divorce of a scheme member
managers or trustees of occupational pensions schemes
employers, in relation to occupational pension schemes

Complaints can be against:

trustees
scheme managers
employers
administrators

There are more detailed categories on the Pensions Ombudsman website.

The Pensions Ombudsman cannot consider complaints about:

wrong advice on personal pensions
selling of personal pensions
the way an investment has performed
state pensions
complaints or disputes already subject to court proceedings

Work-based pension schemes are regulated by the Pensions Regulator. The Pensions Ombudsman will not investigate matters which are regulated in this way, unless the regulator has first completed an investigation, or decided not to investigate.

The complaint must be taken to the Pensions Ombudsman within three years of the incident you are complaining about, or within three years of when you first knew about the problem. If the local complaints procedure takes ages, the Ombudsman can extend this three year period to compensate.
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Cost
The scheme is free to complainants.
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Timescale
This depends on how complicated the issues are. Roughly a third of investigations are closed within 6 months. Another third are dealt with within a year. The final third may well take much longer.
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Procedure
Before making a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman, you must first use the local complaints procedure. Most occupational pension schemes are required by law to have an internal dispute resolution procedure as well. You can get advice and help with making a complaint, and with using local procedures, from the Pensions Advisory Service. If they recommend that you make a complaint to the Ombudsman, they will help with this as well.

If you are making a complaint, you can download a complaints form from the Pensions Ombudsman website (there is a link at the foot of this page). This needs to be completed, signed, and posted to the Ombudsman with copies of letters and any written evidence you have.

Once the Ombudsman has all the relevant information, a caseworker will contact you to let you know whether or not they can investigate your complaint. If they can’t, they will suggest what you should do next, or which organisation will be able to help. If they can, they will send details of your complaint to the scheme you are complaining about for their response.

The Ombudsman can decide to hold an oral hearing if he thinks it will be helpful. This is likely to be in cases where there are differing accounts of an event, and the honesty or credibility of the witnesses needs to be tested. You can request a hearing if you want one, but it is up to the Ombudsman to decide whether or not it would be appropriate. If a hearing is held, it will be in public. Both sides are allowed to have legal representatives.

Once the Ombudsman has completed his investigation, he will send a preliminary report to both sides for any final comments. Once his final decision is issued, it is binding on both parties. This means you can’t take your case to court if you are not happy with the Ombudsman’s decision – you can only appeal to the High Court on a point of law.
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Outcomes
If the Ombudsman upholds your complaint, he will determine what the pensions organisation should do in order to remedy the problem. The aim is to put you in the position you would have been in if the maladministration had not taken place. The Ombudsman can order pension trustees to reconsider a decision, to backdate pension benefits, or to pay compensation for distress.
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Revised October 2007