On the go: Complaints to the Pensions Ombudsman rose by 5 per cent according to its recently published annual report and accounts for 2018/19.
The report, published on Thursday, showed that 1,528 new investigations were undertaken, with pension transfers one of the most common subject matters (7.12 per cent).
Other complaints related to misquotes and misinformation, ill health, failure to provide information, failure to act on instructions, incorrect calculation of benefits, administration, death benefits, late payment and failure to pay contributions into a scheme.
Over the last year, despite a modest increase of 5 per cent in traditional investigations, the ombudsman’s report said that it had also dealt with an extra 3,526 early resolution disputes, meaning its output has tripled in comparison with last year.
The Pensions Ombudsman received 8,205 phone enquiries and 5,759 written enquiries. It completed 1,268 investigations, resolved 2,165 early resolution cases and 1,361 written quick responses (complaints that are clearly resolvable with the minimum of intervention).
Eighty per cent of cases were resolved informally by adjudicators with a further 8 per cent being resolved without an ombudsman’s decision; meaning almost 90 per cent were resolved without the need for an ombudsman’s intervention.
Twenty-eight per cent of cases formally decided by an ombudsman were upheld or partly upheld.
Cases concerning the actions of the Pension Protection Fund continue to form a small part of its work, with 13 new referrals and 5 accepted for investigation in the year.
The Pensions Ombudsman took an average time of 5.3 months to complete new investigations and more cases than ever before (almost 90 per cent) are resolved at an earlier stage without the need for an ombudsman’s involvement.
This is the first annual report to include the work of the early resolution team that incorporates 240 volunteer pension specialists.
Commenting on the report, Anthony Arter, Pensions Ombudsman, said: “It has been another incredibly busy and exciting year for us as the changes from 2017/18 have had a chance to bed in.”
