The Pensions Ombudsman Reviews 

“We will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right”

Part XXIX Magna Carta (1297)

The concept of neither delaying, nor denying, an individual the right to justice enshrined in the Magna Carta all those years ago remains on the statute books to this day – See Legislation.Gov.UK.

This fact has clearly eluded Mr Arter and his minions.
After a five year ‘investigation’ by them, and several attempts to fob me off, he finally dismissed my complaint a few days ago. It is apparent that they are currently working at full speed to clear all the aging cases they have been sitting on for years, prior to Mr Arter stepping down in January.

Let me be the first to wish him a short and miserable retirement.

Over the last few years I have, unfortunately, had dealings with many ‘public servants’ like Mr Arter.

I have discovered that the two things that these people hate most is,
1) Being reminded of Lord Nolan’s principles (see the list of 7 below) and
2) The Freedom of Information and Data Protection laws.
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Selflessness · Integrity · Objectivity · Accountability · Openness · Honesty · Leadership

Nope. None of these words comes to mind when I consider how they have dealt with my case.

Incompetence - Cynicism – Bias – Arrogance – Fraud

Yep. That’s more like it.

Now there are – allegedly – other public servants who are ‘champions’ for “ethical standards across public life”.

They are the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
Their remit, apparently, is to “conduct broad inquiries, collecting evidence to assess institutions”. However, they have “no remit to comment on or investigate individual cases”.

They can ignore us as individuals but if every person let down by Arter and Co emails them, they might act – they certainly won’t be able to deny knowledge of any problem.

Their email address is on-line. Apparently, I am not allowed to reproduce it here!?

I haven’t sent an email to them yet as I am waiting on a response from the Ombudsman to a Subject Access Request I made (under the DPA / GDPR). A previous SAR provided me with evidence to support the views I have expressed here.

I’d recommend that you do the same if you are interested in what they have been up to. Some organisations will supply helpful information on making such a request and have a dedicated email address – not apparently the case here, so I sent mine to their general enquiries email address.

Whilst I have absolutely no doubt that the evidence in my case would allow me to win an appeal, I can’t risk going to court and facing the prospect of losing everything I have ever worked for. Arter and Co know that us ‘little people’ effectively have no recourse. Only the rich and those eligible for legal aid stand a chance of obtaining justice.

I will keep fighting to get the truth out there. There are thousands of members in the same scheme as me – affected by the same issues. One day – one of them will be successful and prove me right.

As per the other genuine reviews here - total complete and utter waste of time - The Pensions Ombudsman is most definitely not fit for purpose. Our dreadful SIPP provider James Hay did not respond in the required time to our complaint, which was urgent as we have been unable to invest the money in our SIPPs. We therefore filled out the forms for the TPO, eventually we were advised it would take 7-8 months via their “Early Resolution Team”, finally just received a reply after 9 months. I was expecting The Pensions Ombudsman to ask us for information like all the emailed communications, instead they just took their information from the very people we were complaining about – James Hay, not surprisingly the response could have been written by James Hay themselves (we did not choose James Hay as our SIPP provider, they took over the company we were with).
No wonder the pensions industry feels free to act / charge as they please, if this is the only recourse for pension holders! Something needs to be done about the TPO, waste of tax payers money.

Dealt with Wilson Lam at PO S who was, to me, a lackey of the pension provider and of no assistance at all

I was entitled to over £20,000 due to an error stretching back over 10 years

Clearly I was entitled to the capital sum which I was paid.

I did not receive interest on the non payment over 10 years but Lam agreed with the pension provider that I was not entitled to the interest
If I was entitled to the principal sum which had not been paid for years surely I must have been entitled to the interest on the amount I was due but not paid.

Inexplicable to me unless the decision maker was in the pocket of the pension provider

Justice denied but so similar to the experience of so many others!!!

Ian F Cox

My pension was altered by the company two years after restructuring. The company stated that they had changed our pension in restructuring. The company could not prove that talks or notification had taken place regarding our pension. The pension ombudsman ruled in their favour stating probability was they intended to change the pension. We had witnesses stating that they had gone through the same process as our group and did not have their pension changed. Pension ombudsman did not even take this on board.
Companies can do what they like, as proved so this department is a waste of time and money.
How these people can sleep is beyond me, knowing companies are taking people's pension.

I brought a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman against the TRW Pension Scheme which was accepted.
I had lost over 60% of my Pension by reason of "mistake". Unfortunately the Ombudsman decided to stop the investigation and over-rule the original staff who accepted the case, by reason of my application was outside of the 3 year time limit. This was a lie, I was within the time limit. My further investigations revealed possible serious corruption issues at the Pension Ombudsman. I used the Ombudsman complaints process and got nowhere. I ultimately raised my concerns with Caroline Rookes who is the Chair of the Pensions Ombudsman. She falsely claimed that my concerns had been fully investigated and refused to take any action. She recommended I go to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO), unfortunately such was her dishonesty she "forgot" to mention that of the 226 complaints received by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman about the Pensions Ombudsman in the past 10 years, not a single one of the complaints has been accepted for investigation. (Source Money Marketing 12 July 2021 ).
What is particularly worrying is that the Ombudsman has the power of a court, his decision is binding on both parties. It seems there is nobody to go to if there is a problem.

Just thought I would share my views on this ombudsman, but sadly it is exactly the same as the Financial Ombudsman. I have level 6 pension qualifications with the standard of level 4 being the minimum for a financial adviser. I have been helping my wife with an issue she had with the NHS Pension scheme. The Pensions Ombudsman have taken 12 months to respond. The response simply denies what is written in hard copy from the NHS. They must think if they say something it must be fact. Then to top it all off the fellah signs off with, if she wanted she could transfer out of the NHS Pension scheme. This shows the lack of knowledge of pensions as it is not an option to transfer out of the NHS pension scheme. How on earth does someone that incompetent get a job making where they have to make these decisions. Don't waste your time by contacting these jokers.

I filled in all the necessary paperwork and responded to follow-up emails (there are lots of hoops to jump through before you can even have your case considered) and was eventually advised that my case would be passed on to the Early Resolution Team.

I mistakenly assumed this would actually involve a phone conversation at some point in time but having completed yet more forms and waited for a significant amount of time, I merely received an email effectively saying that my case had been closed even though none of my concerns had been addressed. It was a perfectly nice email which tried to explain the stance of the organisation and the position of my pension provider but it really didn't help in the slightest.

I was primarily complaining about the lack of information regarding significant changes to my pension but it would seem that I don't even have a right to accessible information about my pension - which kind of says it all.

While I don't doubt that there are well meaning and very knowledgeable people working for this organisation, I don't understand its function. It appears to be woefully understaffed and seems to have no desire to actually pick up the phone and communicate with people; it also seems to have no teeth at all. It feels like an organisation set up to tick the box of providing an ombudsman service when in reality it has neither staffing levels nor authority to do very much.

An absolutely useless and toothless organisation.
Had a complaint with a pension company and after a couple of letters heard no more -that was nearly a year ago!
No wonder some of these company’s could not care less.

Absolutely hopeless, slower & less efficient than the pension providers they are supposed to oversee!
Unnecessarily complex, impossible to contact & slow or non-existent responses.
A complete waste of time.
An initial assessment period of 11 weeks, then followed by an investigation period of 7 months!
Not for for purpose.

I have a Workplace Pensions issue and lodged a complaint on 18 June. I received an email on 14 July saying that a case has been opened and will get a response within .....

9 MONTHS

Seriously? Are you hoping I will die before you get round to having to do something?

Its been almost three years since I lodged a complaint with the organisation. The complaint has recently been allocated to an officers who so far does'nt seem interested. Her decision could cost me thousands of pounds.
Judging by the reviews I'm concerned that the outcome will go against me eventhough I have a recording of the misadvice and email confirmation of communication.
Update: More than 3 years since I made the complaint the Ombudsman has decided to uphold complaint by has offered no remedy re financial loss I have incurred several thousands of pounds over the life of the pension.

Seems like there is no one home, I am on a rolling 4-6mth delay. I have no doubt that when someone does look at it there will be no sanction against the pension company. Three years its taken and covid19 is now a perfect excuse to further delay. What are they doing?

My experience spans over eight years.
The time it has taken for me to receive an answer to a straightforward question.
The Situation and Question:
The doctors treating me consider me unfit for work. The Occupational Health doctors employed by my former employer claimed that I am fit for work. I was denied medical retirement award.
Which doctor's opinion should I follow? If I return to work and get injured or injure a colleague or others due to ill health I could be legally liable because I ignored the opinions of the doctors treating me.
Answer:
It turns out that there is no answer to this question. That’s right no answer because the question could expose bias towards the employer rather than the employee.
In addition, it also turns out that as a public servant the variety of pension schemes available all possess different criteria relating to what they consider as unfit-to-work. To the ordinary public being, unfit-to-work has a single interpretation. Apparently, the authorities have several interpretations. Why that might be I will leave the reader to decide.
It is the Department to decide whether someone receives a medical retirement award – not the Occupational Health doctors who act on their behalf. This allows a Department to select only those it chooses
The fact it has taken more than eleven years for this issue to be made clear says more about the system the Pension Ombudsman supports than it does its victims.
Anyone who today considers joining a public service should thoroughly read what the pension scheme includes in relation to injuries at work and the possibility of receiving a medical retirement award. Do not rely on what you are told by anyone. Always read the pension policy for yourself and remember that senior management accountability does not exist.
The Pension Ombudsman is an irrelevance because its remit does not extend to it resolving legal loopholes in which an employer has the upper hand. Personally, I consider that as failing the impartiality test.

I have spent the last few months supplying this service with untold scanned paperwork, emails and correspondence. I was told they thought I had a case so they took it on. Not long after it was handed to the case worker I received a very nicely laid on email from him explaing why they couldnt do anything. What a waste of time. I got the usual excuse that covid restrictions meant working from home makes dealing with complaints harder but it also seems to make it so some organisations do not give a toss. I would not bother with them if your case is not straight forward or easy for them.I worked in the public sector which included working on site, at home and in the office still providing a good service through covid.

The Pension Ombudsman has failed to review or reopen their own decision which was based on false evidence provided by the employer. Even the employer was unable to substantiate their own evidence. It took over 4 years for my pension to be processed and even then they denied me access to justice. A corrupt establishment at best

Being a 1950's woman denied her state pension by 6 years, given NO notice whatsoever, I find it truly shocking that after submitting complaints to ombudsman we are still awaiting a response, more than 2 years later. Ombudsman claim they are looking at complaints from a different perspective than the recent court case used so why then the delay? If this was any other organisation taking this extraordinary length of time then surely they would held to account. Given the age factor are the ombudsman aware 90.000 women have already died waiting for response.

No protection from Pensions Ombudsman against practices by Govt on State Pension that would be illegal if private company. Found out completely by accident no state pension six years ZERO NOTICE only three months before retirement. NHS RGN just retired nearly 65 after catching COVID19. Done nothing to help in cases submitted YEARS AGO.

I had been fighting to get my LGS pension released early, due ill health, after a sudden illness caused me permanent health issues, for many months. I was getting nowhere and suffering a lot of stress and anxiety So, I contacted TPO for help. It took a couple of months for one of their volunteers, who specialises in early release due to ill heath, to be available, his name is Nathan. Once he was on the case he went all out to help me. The pension provider, occupational health and my former employer all gave him the run around, making various excuses, but he kept at them. In the end he got me an early resolution, without needing to go through the lengthy full complaint process. I know that without Nathan I would still be struggling to get my pension and still be extremely stressed by the whole thing. I can't fault him and as he was a volunteer, not a full-time professional, the time and effort he put in was really appreciated (some of his emails had time codes in the early hours of the morning)

I wrote on the 26th June asking for them to intervene in a dispute I had with one of my pension providers.
I had an acknowledgment email and despite reminders I have heard nothing since nearly two months on.

Had a poor and slow experience where Legal and General had taken months to provide me with information in order to retire. I retired 3 months late as a result. The Ombudsman did not find in my favour despite clearly demonstrable mistakes and delays. I get the impression that the Ombudsman is toothless and leans towards the business side. Extremely disappointed.