Canada Life UK Division Staff Pension Fund (PO-22000)

Ombudsman’s Determination

Complaint Summary

Mr Y complains that the Trustees and Aon, the Scheme administrator, provided him with a series of incorrectly overstated illustrations of the benefits available to him on retirement from the Scheme which he had requested over the years after becoming a deferred pensioner. He says that he had relied upon these erroneous illustrations to his financial detriment by:

• securing a mortgage on his home and using the funds to assist his daughter buy a new home;
• ceasing rather than increasing his regular contributions into his A J Bell self- invested personal pension (A J Bell SIPP); and
• spending money on several expensive holidays.

To put matters right, he considers that the Trustees and Aon should honour the incorrectly estimated higher benefit figures available to him assuming he retired on his Normal Retirement Date (NRD) of 31 March 2020 as shown on an illustration which he received in November 2014.

Summary of the Ombudsman’s Determination and reasons

The complaint should be partly upheld against the Trustees and Aon. To put matters right for the part that is upheld, the Trustees and Aon should pay Mr Y £1,000 in recognition of the significant distress and inconvenience which he has suffered in dealing with this dispute.