Pension Complaints

Complaints about occupational (workplace) schemes — defined benefit (final salary) and defined contribution (money purchase) alike — are handled by the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO), which operates under Part X of the Pension Schemes Act 1993. Its jurisdiction covers two things: maladministration (how the scheme was run) and disputes of fact or law about your entitlement under the rules. That second limb is unusual and valuable — TPO can decide what your benefits actually are, not merely whether the process was poor.

Typical complaints include errors in benefit calculations, incorrect transfer values, refusal of ill-health early retirement, disputes about pension increases, trustees failing to follow the scheme rules, delays in paying benefits, incorrect information relied on to your detriment, and the exercise of discretion over death benefits.

Start with the scheme's Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure. Every occupational scheme must have one by law, and it must be given to you on request; most run in two stages, with the second stage decided by the trustees. Write to the scheme administrator or trustees, quote your membership number, set out a dated chronology, identify the scheme rule you say was misapplied, and say what you want put right. If the scheme misses its own IDRP deadlines, you can go to TPO without waiting for it to finish.

Personal pensions, stakeholder pensions, and SIPPs sit across two schemes, and choosing wrongly costs time.

• Financial Ombudsman Service — complaints about advice and sales: being advised to transfer out of a defined benefit scheme, an unsuitable product recommendation, misleading projections, or a failure to warn about risk. The FOS also handles a SIPP operator's due diligence on high-risk investments.
• Pensions Ombudsman — complaints about administration and entitlement: errors in units or contributions, transfer delays, incorrect benefit statements, and disputes over what the contract or scheme rules give you.

Where the two overlap, the schemes have a memorandum of understanding and will decide between themselves; you will not be sent round in circles, but you should say clearly which parts of your complaint are about advice and which are about administration.

Deadlines differ. The FOS requires referral within 6 months of the firm's final response, with longstop limits of 6 years from the event or 3 years from when you ought to have known. TPO normally requires the complaint within 3 years of the act or omission, or of when you knew or ought reasonably to have known of it, with a discretion to allow longer where it was reasonable not to have complained sooner. Both services are free.

TPO first offers an Early Resolution route: an informal, faster attempt to settle straightforward cases without a formal determination. Many complaints end there, and it is worth engaging with it — a scheme that will not move informally rarely improves later, but one that will saves you months.

If the case proceeds to formal investigation, an adjudicator obtains the scheme's file, invites responses from every party said to be at fault, and issues an opinion. If either side rejects that opinion, the case goes to the Ombudsman for a determination. Cases are decided on documents; oral hearings are very rare.

What TPO can direct: that benefits be recalculated and paid correctly; that a transfer be reinstated or the member put back into the position they would have occupied; payment of financial loss with interest; correction of records; and a separate award for distress and inconvenience — modest in amount, and calibrated by severity rather than by the size of the pension. There is no statutory cap on the financial-loss element, which is the main practical difference from the FOS.

What TPO cannot do: fine or discipline trustees, change the scheme rules, decide matters that belong to the Pensions Regulator or a court, award punitive damages, or investigate a complaint already before a court or tribunal.

A determination is final and legally binding on all parties, and enforceable as a county court order (or in the Court of Session in Scotland). The only challenge is an appeal on a point of law to the High Court, and permission and short deadlines apply — get advice quickly if you are considering it.

Neither pensions ombudsman deals with the State Pension. The route depends on who made the error.

National Insurance record problems — missing years, unrecorded credits, voluntary contributions not allocated — go to HMRC. Use HMRC's two-tier complaints process, then the independent Adjudicator's Office within six months of the Tier 2 final response, then the PHSO via your MP. See how to complain to HMRC.

State Pension payment and entitlement decisions go to the DWP Pension Service. Where you disagree with a decision — the amount awarded, a refusal, an overpayment — the route is a mandatory reconsideration and then an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal, not a complaint. Where the problem is service — delay, lost paperwork, wrong information — use the DWP complaints process, then the Independent Case Examiner, then the PHSO via your MP.

The three-month deadline for a mandatory reconsideration runs from the decision letter and complaining does not extend it, so if both a decision and poor service are involved, protect the appeal first.

MoneyHelper (moneyhelper.org.uk), run by the Money and Pensions Service, gives free specialist pensions guidance and can help you work out which route applies before you commit to one.

Pension scams can cost victims their entire retirement savings, and the complaint route varies depending on who was at fault. If you believe you have been the victim of a pension scam — a cold-call investment offer, a guaranteed high return, or pressure to transfer out of your workplace scheme — take the following steps.

Report to Action Fraud: Contact Action Fraud (actionfraud.police.uk) to report the scam. This creates a crime reference number and feeds intelligence to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. Even if individual recovery is unlikely, your report helps protect others.

Report to the FCA: If a regulated firm was involved in giving advice that led to the transfer, report to the Financial Conduct Authority via the FCA's ScamSmart portal (fca.org.uk/scamsmart). The FCA can take enforcement action against regulated firms and can assist in identifying unregulated individuals.

Complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman: Where the scam involved a legitimate pension scheme failing to carry out adequate due diligence before processing a transfer — for example, failing to warn you about known scam indicators — you may have a complaint against the scheme trustees. The Pensions Ombudsman has upheld complaints against schemes that processed transfers in breach of their own rules or without following proper checks.

The Equality Act 2010 and pension complaints: If you believe a pension scheme has treated you less favourably because of a protected characteristic — such as disability, age, gender, or sexual orientation — you have rights under the Equality Act 2010. Pension schemes are service providers for Equality Act purposes, and discriminatory rules (for example, historical rules that denied survivor benefits to same-sex partners before civil partnerships were introduced) can be challenged. Complaints about discriminatory scheme rules should be directed to the Pensions Ombudsman, who has jurisdiction to consider Equality Act arguments, and to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) for systemic issues.

Evidence to gather: For any pension complaint, assemble: your original joining documents or pension scheme booklet; all correspondence with the scheme administrator, trustees, or financial adviser; transfer documentation including transfer value quotations; any marketing materials you were shown; records of phone calls or meetings; and bank records showing any payments made in connection with the pension. A well-organised evidence bundle substantially speeds up any investigation.