Rebecca Orr
Stakeholder manager at The Pensions Ombudsman, on how to use the organisation.
This article was first published in The Pensioner
The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) recognises that pensions can be complicated and difficult for people to understand. Most of the time, people have no issues with the way their pensions are run, but if there is a problem, and you are unhappy with the way your scheme handled it, you can bring your complaint to us.
We are a free and impartial service for scheme members, pensioners and beneficiaries of pension schemes. We look at what both parties have to say before deciding how the problem should be resolved.
Our process
Many of our cases are resolved at an early stage by our Early Resolution Service (ERS), which includes TPO staff and around 200 volunteer advisers, who are all pension professionals with many years’ experience. Last year, the ERS helped to resolve 1,442 complaints. You can find out more about the ERS from our factsheet at this weblink: tinyurl.com/2p9xh4mp. Sometimes a simple explanation of what went wrong, or a nudge to put the matter right, is enough to resolve matters.
But if it isn’t, or any of the parties tells us they do not want to use the ERS, the complaint will move to our adjudication team to conduct a formal investigation. An adjudicator will write to all parties and give their view of the complaint and how it could be put right, if appropriate. This is called an
adjudicator’s opinion.
If all parties accept the opinion, we will close the case. If one of the parties disagrees with the opinion, they can ask for the complaint to be referred to TPO. TPO can issue a determination, which is final, binding and enforceable in court, unless there is a successful appeal on a point of law.
Before you submit your complaint to us, you will need to give the parties you believe are at fault a chance to put things right. If it is against the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, this will involve going through the scheme’s internal dispute resolution procedure (IDRP). Our factsheet, Complaining to the party/parties at fault – see tinyurl.com/287za2ab – may help you to do this.
If you are not satisfied with the response, or you do not receive a response within the IDRP time limits, please contact us as soon as possible, as we have our own time limits for bringing a complaint to us.
To find out if we can help, visit our website and use the tool ‘Check to see if The Pensions Ombudsman can help you’. Then you can submit your complaint online.
Guidance and factsheets
As well as resolving complaints, we provide guidance and factsheets on the publications page of our website covering various subjects:
- Early Resolution Service
- Complaining to the party/parties at
fault - Pensions scams
- Death benefits
- Ill health pensions.
For more about TPO, including who we are, how we investigate complaints and how to make a complaint, please visit www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk.
