Annual report from the Pensions Ombudsman

11 July 2014

The Pensions Ombudsman has published his annual report and accounts for 2013/14. This includes an interesting analysis of the reasons why pensioners and others have complained to the Ombudsman in the past year.

The report identifies the three main topics of new investigations in the year as:

Incorrect, missing or overdue benefits 15%

Misquotations or wrong information 12%

Ill-health benefits 10%.

The Ombudsman also reports on a significant number of complaints about pension liberation, mainly relating to blocked transfers, where people had not been allowed to transfer out of schemes because the provider thought the intention was to take cash when tax rules do not allow it (an “unauthorised payment”).