Volunteering in retirement - A blog by Les Andrews
I became a volunteer adviser for TPAS (later TPO) on retirement at age 60. At the same time I became an adviser for CAB.
My main motivation, initially, was somewhat selfish in wishing to use my knowledge to help people in the complex world of pensions and to keep my brain active! The knowledge I obtained over my career in pensions, plus the bonus of keeping up to date with developments has, I think, been mutually beneficial. TPO staff have been very helpful and courses etc have been beneficial over the years.
The main skill, beyond the technical knowledge, has been (as at CAB) "managing people's expectations". Pensions is somewhat different to normal "commercial complaints" in that you can only get what you are entitled to - this applying also to overpayments. It is sometimes difficult to get this message across but an essential skill to our role.
As far as time management is concerned it has not been a burdensome task. Cases are normally dealt with by correspondence, and we are not generally pressed for instant answers.
Related news
- TPO sets out its position on trustees’ obligations when considering a member’s request to exercise a pre-2021 statutory transfer right from an occupational pension scheme.Date:The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has published a Determination concerning a pension scheme member (Mr D) who transferred from the British Steel Pension Scheme (the Scheme) to a small self-administered pension scheme in 2014. Mr D complained, some years later, that although this was in accordance with his wishes at the time, the transferring trustee (the Trustee) failed to carry out sufficient due diligence to check for scam warning signs, and then communicate the presence of those warning signs to him. As a result, Mr D claimed he had lost valuable retirement benefits.
- Deborah Evans, Chair, reflects on her first month at TPODate:In her first blog, Deborah Evans, TPO’s newly appointed Chair, sets out her thoughts on joining the organisation at such a pivotal time.