Pensions Ombudsman Service Presentation to the Ombudsman Association First Contact Group Jane McCue and Paul Strachan 27 November 2015

Who we are Public body sponsored by Department for Work and Pensions Set up by law to investigate complaints about pension administration Combine functions of the Pensions Ombudsman and the Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman Service funded by levy on pension schemes Help scheme members and dependants / employers and trustees Determinations are final and binding with no financial limit

What we do Independent and impartial – not a regulator 40 staff, working within legislation set down by parliament In 2014/5 we received 4236 complaint enquiries Responded to 97% of enquiries within two working days In 2014/15 we took on 1,280 new investigations

Gateway team and TPAS Team of nine dealing with all new enquiries through the post, emails, phone calls as well as jurisdiction matters Many consumers use the services of the Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) before making a formal complaint to the Ombudsman TPAS works with consumers to try and resolve their complaints informally Many complaints are resolved by explanation or mediation, without the need for our involvement

Gateway team challenges Increased numbers of people applying to us: automatic enrolment, pension liberation, recent changes in the Budget to how pension benefits can be taken Consumers’ expectations: Waiting times at different stages Time taken to reach a resolution (around 12 months for entire process) Signposting: More effective signposting may help to shorten the consumer’s waiting times, reducing frustration and entrenched positions Jurisdiction overlaps with FOS

Pension Products UK has many different legal structures for personal and occupational pensions: Occupational pension scheme run by the employer, with an administrator and trustees – public or private sector Personal pension policy, run by an insurance company, held in the name of the consumer Self -invested personal pension plan (SIPP) Small self-administered pension scheme (SSAS) Additional Voluntary Contribution Contract (AVC) Deferred annuity or Section 32 Agreement Executive pension plan

Examples of the consumer’s journey There are many ways for a consumer with a pension problem to reach the Ombudsman Here are two examples of typical journeys

Personal pension signposting Consumer makes a complaint about poor service to the administrator of their pension policy Final response from pension provider signposts them to Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) should they remain unhappy Consumer completes a FOS application form. When FOS looks at the papers, it’s apparent they cannot deal with the complaint FOS signposts consumer to TPAS or to us, and their papers are passed accordingly, with consent of the consumer

Personal pension signposting If TPAS first: consumer completes a letter of authority. The complaint may be resolved with TPAS’s input, if not TPAS will advise the consumer to apply to us Consumer completes our application form, including the TPAS reference number We put in a request for the consumer’s file from TPAS Once papers received from TPAS, our jurisdiction investigators review paperwork to decide if we can investigate the matter

Occupational pension signposting Consumer doesn’t agree with the way their pensionable service is calculated. It has been raised with employer. Consumer calls us about the grievance We signpost the consumer to TPAS as we cannot advise whether employer is correct or not Consumer doesn’t want to speak to TPAS – the employer hasn’t sorted out the issue and they want us to take this up We establish if the consumer is a member of an occupational scheme. Explain it’s a legal requirement to attempt to resolve the issue using the scheme’s Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP).

Occupational pension signposting Consumer should contact us again when the IDRP is completed Hard to give practical guidance on how long the IDRP should take The Pensions Regulator’s Code of Practice - where an application is made for a dispute to be considered under scheme’s IDRP, the trustees or managers must “make a decision on the matter in dispute within a reasonable time period of them having received the application” After several months the consumer contacts us again, having been through both stages of the IDRP and still dissatisfied. Sends us a copy of complaint correspondence and a signed application form

Jurisdiction investigators Only when we have all of the paperwork can we decide if able to investigate Have to verify that parties to the complaint fall within our jurisdiction, establish the correct complaints procedure has been exhausted, and the matter falls within our statutory time limits If unable to investigate, we write and explain this, giving the applicant the right of review. If our decision is upheld on review, then the applicant’s recourse is via judicial review If we can investigate, the applicant is notified the case has been accepted for investigation - the file joins a queue, waiting for an investigator to become available

Gateway team – the future Automatic pension scheme enrolment Mandatory for all employers to enrol eligible staff into a pension scheme Large numbers of employees not previously included in pension schemes brought into our jurisdiction Their expectations of us may not be same as current consumers Our process may need to align more closely with their experience of pension scheme membership e.g. quick, web based access Will bring smaller employers within our jurisdiction, less used to dealing with pension scheme matters

The future Increasing numbers of consumers looking to use our service Smarter and more innovative ways of dealing with complaints Fluid approach, rather than one set way of dealing Gateway Team first to see any increase to the level of work Need to ensure all cases dealt with quickly and proportionately Consumer’s journey should be no longer than necessary

And finally…. Have you seen an increase in workload either over the short or longer term? How did you deal with the increase in work? What other ways can we use to simplify the journey from dispute to resolution?