Local Pensions Partnership Ltd (LPPA), your employer (or former employer) and your administering authority take complaints and disputes extremely seriously. The formal Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure’ (IDRP) is a requirement of the Pensions Act 1995.
Please note, if you’re a member of the Havering Local Government Pension Scheme, you should use the scheme’s IDRP policy, which you can find here.
There are two types of complaints:
1. Complaints regarding your Pension Scheme
For example:
- A decision on whether you can combine several pensions
- Your employer deciding whether you can retire on ill health
- A decision on whether to accept a transfer from another scheme or to authorise a transfer to another scheme
- You haven’t received the information you require
- You feel there has been an unreasonable delay in dealing with your request
Complaint route
Please submit your initial complaint in writing to:
- Post – to the relevant postal address, which can be found here: Contact us.
- Email – to LPPA.Complaints@localpensionspartnership.org.uk
If you remain dissatisfied following our response to your complaint, you can either:
- Raise an internal dispute following the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure
- Complete a Stage 1 IDRP*
- Escalate to a Stage 2 IDRP*
- Refer your complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman
- Request your complaint is escalated within LPPA
- Refer your complaint to the Money and Pensions Service
- Refer your complaint to The Pensions Ombudsman
*See below for details of the two stages of IDRP
If you are dissatisfied with a decision made regarding your pension, you have the right to ask for this decision to be reviewed under the formal dispute procedure known as Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure.
If your complaint is not about a decision made, but relates to the service which you have experienced from LPPA (for example unreasonable delays or information not given to you), please follow the ‘how do I complain’ process.
How to raise a dispute
Please complete the relevant form, or provide details of your dispute by sending us an email (marked FAO Complaints and Appeals Administration Lead) to LPPA.Complaints@localpensionspartnership.org.uk or a letter to the relevant postal address which can be found here.
Please provide the following:
- Sufficient information to enable LPPA to identify you
- Full details of your dispute and any supporting documentation
- An indication of how you would like your dispute resolved
- Please clearly mark your correspondence as a dispute
What will happen to my dispute?
Depending on the nature of your concern, the dispute may be forwarded to your employer (or former employer), or the fund administering authority to deal with.
No charge is made at any stage for investigating a dispute, but you will need to cover your own (and/or your representatives) expenses, including time, stationery and postage.
We will always:
- Treat all disputes fairly
- Be objective
- Acknowledge receipt of your dispute within two working days
- Respond to you within two months or update you on progress after two months
- Keep you informed of progress in resolving your dispute
- Resolve your dispute within four months or provide you with a detailed update at that point
- Provide a clear written outcome to your dispute
Your right of appeal
The Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure has two stages. If you are not satisfied with our first response you will have the right to appeal the decision. This means your complaint will be reviewed again by another independent person. After that stage you will have no further right of appeal to us.
Stage 1
Initial formal dispute
This will be dealt with by your employer, administering authority or ourselves at LPPA. It is best to use the form located further up this page, as it will help in making sure you include the right details.
You must raise your concern within six months of the date you were told of the decision, or when the decision should have been made but wasn’t.
The facts of the case will be examined along with the scheme rules and any other legislation which is relevant. The outcome will be given in writing and we aim to do this within two months of you raising the dispute. Or you will be given a full update at this stage on when to expect a decision.
Stage 2
Appeal against the initial formal dispute
This will be dealt with by your employer, administering authority or ourselves at LPPA. It is best to use the form located further up this page, as it will help in making sure you include the right details.
You must raise your concern within six months of receiving the decision at stage 1.
The facts of the case will be independently examined, along with the scheme rules, and any other legislation which is relevant.
The outcome will be given in writing and we aim to do this within two months of you raising an appeal. Or you will be given a full update at this stage on when to expect a decision.
Other sources that may help
- The Money and Pensions Service
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) replaces the three existing providers of government-sponsored financial guidance – the Money Advice Service, the Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. It provides free and impartial debt advice, money guidance and pension guidance to members of the public.
More information can be found on the Money and Pensions Service website: maps.org.uk/en
- The Pensions Regulator
This is the regulator of work-based pension schemes. The Pensions Regulator has powers to protect members of work-based pension schemes and a wide range of powers to help put matters right, where needed. In extreme cases, the regulator is able to fine trustees or employers and remove trustees from a scheme.
More information can be found on the The Pensions Regulator website: thepensionsregulator.gov.uk
- The Pension Tracing Service
This service holds details of all pension schemes. If you were in a scheme in the past and have lost touch with it, the tracing service may be able to help you track down your lost pension.
More information can be found on the Pension Tracing Service website: pension-tracing-service-uk.co.uk/pension-trace/
- The Pensions Ombudsman
The Pensions Ombudsman has a dispute resolution team, who will try to resolve complaints where members or beneficiaries cannot resolve the matter with the scheme administrators. If this still does not resolve the complaint, an application can be made within three years of the event (or within three years of when you first knew about it) to the Pensions Ombudsman’s legal team for an adjudication.
The Pensions Ombudsman can investigate and determine any complaint involving maladministration of the scheme, or matters of fact or law, and his/her decision is final, binding and enforceable in court. Matters where legal proceedings have already started cannot be investigated.
More information can be found on the The Pensions Ombudsman website: pensions-ombudsman.org.uk