Our role is to provide an impartial, efficient and effective method of resolving complaints and disputes concerning pension arrangements referred to our office under our governing legislation.
We will write to you wherever possible in plain English although sometimes we may need to refer to legislation or to court judgments. We will deal courteously and constructively with all people having contact with the office.
If you are making an initial enquiry or complaint, we will:
- acknowledge it within two working days of receipt
- advise you what to do if we cannot deal with the matter
If a complaint or dispute is accepted for investigation, we will:
- process it as quickly as possible (our target is that the average time of all investigations from application to final decision will not be more than 12 months)
- review the file at least monthly to minimise delays
- keep all parties informed of progress and, if delays cannot be avoided, tell you and indicate the likely time scale
You can telephone us:
- on normal working days between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m. and outside these hours you may leave a message on our answerphone which we will deal with on the next working day
- we will answer the telephone promptly, usually within 5 rings
If you are unhappy with our service
please let the person you are dealing with know.
If you wish to complain formally about our service (but not about decisions reached), please write to:
The Casework Director
Office of the Pensions Ombudsman
11 Belgrave Road
London SW1V 1RB
We will acknowledge your letter within 2 working days unless we can provide a full reply within 4 working days. We will normally reply in full within 7 working days.
If we cannot do so, we will explain why, and when we expect to be able to issue a full reply.
If you remain unhappy about our service you can ask a Member of Parliament to refer the matter to the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
He may review the way that the case was handled but will not consider formal decisions made by the Pensions Ombudsman or his staff. |
