RegulationJul 2 2015

Pensions Regulator sees complaints quadruple

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Pensions Regulator sees complaints quadruple

Data published in The Pensions Regulator’s annual report shows that the number of complaints it received quadrupled year-on-year.

Over 2014-2015 the regulator received 49 new complaints at stage one of the formal process. By the end of March this year, eight of those complaints remained in progress.

Compared to 2013-2014, only 16 new complaints were received.

TPR said it its report that this remains a small proportion of those who made contact during the year, particularly in the context of the major expansion during the year in the number of stakeholders that have automatic enrolment duties, for example. “These duties have seen us send 771,518 letters to employers during the year,” it added.

At the first stage in the complaints process, 59 per cent of complaints were not upheld, 25 per cent were upheld in whole or part, whilst 16 per cent remained in progress at the year end.

The regulator received eight requests for review of the complaint at stage two, with all completed by the end of the year and none upheld. During the year, one complaint was investigated by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, whose review had not been completed by the end of the period, noted the report.

The regulator also responded to 674 whistleblower reports and reviewed 1,362 suspected instances of non-compliance with auto-enrolment duties.

The latest FCA annual report, also published today (2 July), revealed the it received more calls from whistleblowers warning about the behaviour of financial advisers than any other part of the industry.

In total, around 787,000 letters were sent by TPR to raise awareness of auto-enrolment over 2014-2015, with 35,003 employers confirming that they met their duties by completing a declaration of compliance.

Elsewhere, the report revealed that 72 information requests were made under the Freedom of Information Act, while eight subject access requests were also made under the Data Protection Act. This compares with 75 FoI requests and five subject requests the year before.

Finally, TPR said that 62 per cent of defined benefit schemes surveyed in the third quarter last year said that they ‘fully integrate’ the management scheme funding, scheme investments and the employer covenant. This exceed last year’s result which was 42 per cent, and TPR’s target of 49 per cent.

ruth.gillbe@ft.com