A financial planner has accused The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) of “not being fit for purpose”.
Penney, Ruddy & Winter director and chartered financial planner David Penney via X revealed an email he received from TPO.
The email stated that Penney had sent an application of a standard jurisdiction to TPO. At the time he had sent the application, TPO informed him that it would take 12 months to complete.
Despite the 12 months passing, TPO sent him another email which acknowledged that the 12 months had passed but the timescale has since been extended and will now most likely take another eight weeks before his case is progressed any further.
Purle Consultant principal consultant Jonathan Purle responded to Penney’s comment via X and put these long delays down to the public sector “failing to get their act together post-Covid”.
Purle was trying to make the point that “it’s not only TPO which is dragging its feet”.
He has a case with the Country Court and started proceedings with it in November 2022 and he was recently told that the hearing will not take place until July 2024.
Money Marketing understands TPO has witnessed a continued rise in demand for its services over recent years, which has resulted in customer waiting times to become longer than what the ombudsman would like them to be.
It is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to reduce the waiting times.
TPO does not provide average times for cases to be resolved as this can be based around the complexity of the case and the circumstances of an individual member.
Still, 74% of overall pension complaints were closed within 12 months.
The ombudsman case Penney is referring to involves a widow who is arguing with a UK pension scheme over a £700,000 tax bill that she has been told was unnecessary to pay.
