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Pensions and annuities

Do you handle pensions complaints for the customers of a financial advice firm or pensions provider?

This page will give you an overview of the complaints we deal with and our approach.

On this page

  1. Complaints we deal with
  2. Resolving pensions complaints
  3. What is the complaint about?
  4. More information for financial firms

Do you have pensions complaint?

If you’re a consumer, see our guidance for consumers. Or give us a call on 0800 023 4567.

Complaints we deal with

We look at complaints about pensions providers and advisers that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), including those about:

  • personal pensions and 'self-invested personal pensions' (SIPPs) covering both advice and administration issues
  • transfers from one personal pension arrangement to another
  • transfers from occupational pension schemes to personal pensions or SIPPs, including issues relating to the Pension Review
  • additional voluntary contribution schemes (AVCS) and free-standing additional voluntary contribution schemes (FSAVCS)
  • in certain situations, advice on some types of workplace pensions where the member is also the trustee, such as executive pension plans (EPP) or small self-administered schemes (SSAS) 

If a complaint doesn’t fall under our jurisdiction, we’ll tell the consumer about other organisations that might be able to help them.

The Pensions Ombudsman deals with complaints about:

  • the administration – not advice – of personal pensions
  • workplace pensions, except those concerning advice
  • state pensions

You may be handling a complaint that the Pensions Ombudsman could also deal with – for example, the administration of a personal pension. Even so, your final response letter must still tell the customer clearly that they have a right to bring the complaint to our service.

You'll find the requirements for a final response letter in the FCA handbook.

Resolving pensions complaints

When investigating a complaint, we'll look at the facts and evidence from both you and your customer and consider any:

  • relevant laws and regulations
  • regulators’ rules in place when the event happened
  • guidance, standards and codes of practice in place at the time of the event

We follow the FCA’s dispute resolution rules (DISP). We’ll also look at how you’ve tried to put things right.

Every case is unique and we assess each one according to its own merits. But if we uphold a complaint we’ll usually ask you to put the consumer back in the position they'd have been in if the error hadn't happened – as far as possible. This could be by paying financial compensation into their pension plan or directly to the consumer. It might mean reconstructing pension plans. 

We might also make an award for any distress and inconvenience caused.

 

Understanding compensation

What is the complaint about?

To find out how we approach pension complaints about a specific type of pension product or service, select the relevant page link below.

Additional voluntary contribution schemes

Are you dealing with pension complaints from consumers about advice or the administration of AVC and FSAVC schemes?

Compensation for lost guaranteed pension benefits

Find out more about our approach to calculating appropriate compensation where we uphold complaints about transfers from an occupational scheme or where the consumer should have bought "added years".

Personal pensions

Read more about the complaints we see from consumers about personal pensions and see our approach to handling cases.

Transfers between personal pensions

Find out more about how we look at complaints from consumers about advice they've received to transfer from one personal pension arrangement to another.

Workplace pensions

Find out more about how we deal with complaints from consumers about workplace pensions (pensions arrangements organised by employers) including GPPs, SSASs and EPPs

Workplace pensions: transfers from a defined benefit scheme and the 'Pensions Review'

Find out more about how we look at complaints from consumers about advice they've received to transfer from a workplace pension to a personal pension.

British Steel Pension Scheme

If your business advised a former member of the BSPS to transfer their pension out of the scheme, here’s our guidance on what to do if they complain about that advice.

Unregulated collective investment schemes

Find out more about how we look at complaints from consumers involving unregulated collective investment schemes.

More information for financial firms

Businesses and consumer advisers can contact our Business Support Hub for information on how the we might look at a complaint, or for guidance on our rules and how we work. We also work with businesses and other organisations to help prevent complaints.

 

How we work with businesses