23 June 2008
Charlie Gordon, the deputy pensions ombudsman, has found that
scheme trustees who do not record the reasons for refusing
incapacity benefits to members are guilty of maladministration.
In 'G Hedley v Pearl Group', Mr Gordon found that the scheme
rules had been interpreted correctly when taking the decision to
deny payment of an incapacity benefit in their reconsideration of
the case, despite that the member was in receipt of state
benefits.
However, Mr Gordon also commented that "failure to record within
the scheme records the precise reasons why an application has been
rejected must surely amount to maladministration."
