01 July 2009
In the year ending March 2009, The Pensions Advisory Service
(TPAS) dealt with a total of 7,746 complaints compared to 7,026 in
the previous 12 months - an increase of 10%.
Full details with case examples are given in TPAS's Annual
Review "Advising on Pensions: A Review of Activities
08/09" published today (1 July 2009).
The biggest single cause of the rise in complaints was poor
administration with increases in both delays and mistakes
contributing heavily to the figures. Most of the complaints
concerned individual pension plans, whilst complaints against
occupational schemes actually fell by 2% compared to the previous
year.
TPAS Chief Executive, Malcolm McLean, acknowledges that the
tough economic conditions in the second half of the year may well
have exacerbated the problem. "There was undoubtedly a
'double-whammy' effect", he says, "Many savers had experienced
significant reductions in the value of their pension savings from
continuing stock market falls and delays in obtaining an annuity
quote or award often meant a further reduction in the pension
eventually secured."
A significant proportion of the complaints about delay reflected
administrative malfunctions following insurance company mergers and
take-overs. Problems in integrating systems after a take-over
frequently caused delays in the payment of pension benefits and in
responding to requests from policy holders. Individuals also
advised TPAS of long delays in simply trying to get a response to
their complaint.
Similarly, errors and mistakes were a source of discontent for
many individuals. They resulted, not only in some instances in a
loss of expectation, but actual financial loss when expenditure or
commitments had been entered into in the belief that a pension
award or lump sum was correct when, as it later transpired, it was
not. In these instances, it was sometimes possible with TPAS's help
to obtain compensation and/or a write-off of an overpayment where
it could be shown that the individual had relied or acted on the
incorrect information to their financial detriment.
The Annual Review details more of TPAS's activities in the year
2008/09. The number of general enquiries it received from the
public continued to rise - 75,000 calls were dealt with on the
helpline on top of the 12,500 written enquiries received by email
or post. .
Visitors to the TPAS website seeking information and guidance
about pension issues across the board were also substantially
increased. A new web tool Annuity Planner was introduced. In total,
including the website visits, nearly three quarters of a million
people used the TPAS service during the year.
A particular feature of the year was the increasing number of
questions about the security of pension schemes and pension
providers. There was also a rise in enquiries from people with
money worries who were seeking information on whether they could
access their pension funds to improve their financial
situation.
Due to popular demand, the dedicated helpline for women's
pensions continued throughout the year. Changes to state pension
ages and qualifying rules from 2010 were also increasingly the
subject of enquiries from both men and women. At the year end there
was considerable interest in the changes to voluntary national
insurance contribution rates and the extended right to pay these
from April 2009.
The TPAS 'talks in the workplace'
service continued to flourish. During the year 80 presentations
were made to over 2,500 people.
