Workplace pensions
Do you handle complaints about workplace pensions?
On this page you’ll find information about how we approach complaints about pensions advice and administrative errors relating to transfers, opt-outs and some types of occupational schemes.
On this page
Do you have a workplace pension complaint?
If you’re a consumer, see our guidance for consumers on workplace pensions. Or give us a call on 0800 023 4567.
Complaints we deal with
The Pensions Ombudsman deals with most complaints about workplace pensions, except those concerning advice. We’ll let your customer know if we can’t help them and direct them to the Pensions Ombudsman where appropriate.
We can only look at complaints about workplace pensions schemes that:
- are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), or
- involve FCA-regulated investments, financial advisers or pensions providers.
That means we can’t usually consider complaints about the workplace schemes of many large employers. However, we can look at complaints about:
- advice to transfer from or to a workplace pension, to opt out or not join one of these schemes
- advice to start employer-linked group personal pensions (GPPs) or executive pension plans (EPPs)
- small self-administered schemes (SSASs) – from the trustee about advice they received on investments within the scheme
- delayed or miscalculated payments of pension benefits from GPPs or EPPs
- a GPP or EPP taking too long to arrange, or being arranged incorrectly
- the capital invested in a GPP, EPP or SSAS being tied up inappropriately.
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The Pensions Review ran from 1994 to the early 2000s to address concerns about the mis-selling of personal pension policies between 29 April 1988 and 30 June 1994. Specifically, it looked at the sales of personal pensions, where customers were persuaded to transfer from, opt-out of, or not join their employer's pension scheme.
We get complaints from consumers who say they didn't get an invitation to request a pension review. And they now believe they got unsuitable advice about a personal pension they took out during the review period.
If the sale of a personal pension wasn't included in the Pensions Review, we may still be able to consider a complaint about it.
If a complaint was reviewed under the Pensions Review, we’re unlikely to look at it again, unless your customer believes there was an error in the way their pension was reviewed.
Rules on workplace pensions
When we look at complaints about workplace pensions, we use the regulatory and legal standards that applied at the time of the event the customer is complaining about.
For defined benefit transfer advice given since 1 October 2018, the requirements are outlined in the FCA's policy statements PS18/6 and PS18/20.
The FCA published what it views as good and poor practice in relation to ongoing advice services in February 2025. These guidelines outline expectations for fair treatment of customers and maintaining transparency in advice services.
How we resolve complaints
We only look at complaints you've had an opportunity to look into first. If your customer is unhappy with your decision, or you don't respond to them within the time limits, they can come to us.
In a complaint about advice, we'll look at the facts and evidence from both you and your customer and consider any:
- relevant laws, rules and regulations, guidance, standards and codes of practice that were in place when the event happened
- details you gathered about your customer’s circumstances and objectives – the ‘fact find’
- the advice you gave and whether it was suitable for your customer at the time, taking into account their circumstances and financial objectives
- the benefits they were entitled to under the workplace pension scheme they left or didn’t join because of your advice
- your ‘suitability report’ or ‘reasons why letter’
- the illustration of future benefits for the personal pension being proposed instead of the workplace scheme
- details of selected investment funds and any subsequent changes you recommended.
We may ask additional questions, or for specific information as we investigate.
We follow the FCA’s dispute resolution rules (DISP) and will take into account how you’ve tried to put things right. We’ll also consider whether the sale was by a 'tied' representative of a product provider, or an independent financial adviser.
If we uphold a consumer's complaint, we'll tell you what you need to do to put things right.
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We’ll look at whether you knew, or enquired about, any workplace pension scheme that was available to your customer. They may not have known they could join one.
Workplace pensions usually offer better financial benefits. So, in most cases, we’d expect you to have advised your customer to join one if possible.
If your customer was thinking of leaving the employer and so had doubts about joining their pension scheme, we’d consider:
- how soon they were planning to leave, and
- whether the next employer offered a pension scheme.
We may uphold a complaint where you arranged a personal pension and your customer:
- has opted out of a workplace pension that their employer contributed to
- has decided not to join a workplace pension, even though they were eligible
- should have bought ‘added years’ in that scheme with additional contributions.
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When considering whether your advice to transfer guaranteed benefits from a workplace pension was suitable, we’ll take into account:
- the number of years’ service the member accrued in the workplace pension
- other pension provision they had in place
- if they were moving to a new employer, what new pension provision was available
- how much their personal pension or SIPP would need to grow to match the benefit they’d given up at the time of the transfer
- their attitude to investment risk
- the time left from the transfer until their retirement
- whether there were compelling reasons for the transfer which outweighed the advantages of staying in their employer’s pension scheme
- whether you explained the consequences of the transfer, including the loss of guaranteed benefits.
We may uphold a complaint where it would have been better to advise your customer to:
- remain in a defined benefit or ‘final salary’ occupational pension scheme
- buy ‘added years’ in that scheme with additional contributions.
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We hear from customers who say:
- they didn’t receive, or respond to, an invitation to request a Pension Review but believe they were given unsuitable advice
- had a Pension Review but believe they weren’t awarded enough compensation.
We’re unlikely to look at a case if:
- you can show that the invitation and reminder letters were sent to the address where your customer lived at the time.
- we think it was properly handled under the Pensions Review.
However, if we may still look at whether advice was suitable if we believe:
- your customer didn’t receive an invitation to request a pension review
- they may not have been aware they had reason to complain.
We’d normally expect you to show us:
- pension review invitation letters – or templates if the actual letters are unavailable
- system evidence to demonstrate when and where those letters were sent
- evidence of address tracing, if relevant
- any letter offering compensation and explaining how that was calculated, if relevant, or
- evidence you relied on to establish there was no cause for concern or financial loss.
We may also ask for further information or documents, depending on the circumstances of the case.
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In these cases, we’ll look at how the mistake affected the customer.
For example, if your firm unnecessarily delayed applying contributions, we might ask you to recalculate and reconstruct the value of the complainant’s policy. That may mean you have to apply extra units to a plan.
If documents have been sent to a wrong address, or original documents have gone missing, we might tell you to pay compensation. Or we’ll say you should cover the cost of replacing the originals.
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We may find you gave your customer unsuitable investment advice or wrongly advised them to transfer to or from one of these schemes.
If so, we might tell you to pay compensation into their pension plan or to them directly.
Business Support Hub
Businesses and consumer advisers can contact our Business Support Hub on 020 7964 1400 for information on how we might look at a particular complaint, or for guidance on our rules and how we work.
We also work with businesses and other organisations to help prevent complaints.