The Stream International (NI) Ltd Employee Benefits Plan (CAS-59303-Y0Z8)

Ombudsman’s Determination

Outcome

1. The complaint should be partly upheld against Aviva and upheld against the Trustees. 

2. The complaint is partly upheld against Aviva because: -

   1. Its delay and the failings in its communications with Mr Y between June and September 2020 amounted to maladministration.

   2. This situation has caused Mr Y serious distress and inconvenience for which he shall receive an award. 

3. The complaint is upheld against the Trustees because: -

   1. Having agreed to accept the transfer into the Scheme, they negligently failed to provide the information required by the ceding scheme to complete the transfer, which has caused a financial loss to Mr Y. 

   2. Mr Y has since transferred his benefits into another scheme, the Babcock Scheme, on 15 March 2024.

   3. The Trustees shall comply with my directions so that Mr Y is put in the position that he would have been in on 15 March 2024 (plus applicable interest), if the transfer into the Scheme had been made promptly in August 2020. 

   4. The Trustees shall also facilitate a transfer from the Babcock Scheme into the Scheme, if Mr Y wishes to proceed in this way, and if the Babcock Scheme is able and willing to make such a transfer.   

   5. This situation has caused Mr Y severe distress and inconvenience for which he shall receive an award.

       

Complaint summary

1. Mr Y’s complaint concerns a request to transfer his pension from Lifesight to the Scheme, which has not been completed.

2. Mr Y complains that:

   1. There has been maladministration on the part of Aviva as follows:

      1. Aviva has not provided the necessary documentation regarding the status of the Scheme as a registered pension scheme and therefore the transfer could not proceed.

      2. Aviva also failed to provide up to date Scheme documentation, including the identity of current trustees of the Scheme, or any assurance to Mr Y that his benefits were safe, for a protracted period.

      3. As a result of the failure to transfer, he has suffered substantial financial loss, as the value of the benefits that he wished to transfer would now be worth more if they had been transferred in a timely fashion.

      4. There have been failings in the service provided to him by Aviva and in its communications with him, including delays and an allegation that he was called a misogynist. 

   2. There has been maladministration on the part of the Trustees:

      1. The Trustees have not provided the necessary documentation with details about the status of the Scheme as a registered pension scheme and therefore the transfer could not proceed.

3. Mr Y’s complaint is against Aviva and the Trustees. Mr Y has not made any complaint against Lifesight or its administrators, Willis Towers Watson.