Not upheld: Service failures generally complaint against Scottish Widows Administration Services Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr R complained that the Scottish Widows App was unable to display details of his Prudential pension plan despite being promoted as facilitating this through a partnership with MoneyHub. When Mr R attempted to add his Prudential plan details, he received error messages. Scottish Widows investigated and confirmed there was a connectivity issue between MoneyHub and Prudential. The ombudsman found that Prudential had decided not to continue supporting data sharing via MoneyHub, placing the issue outside Scottish Widows' control. The ombudsman noted that while the App was promoted as providing a consolidated view of pensions, such services are additional and not guaranteed, and Scottish Widows had communicated clearly and investigated appropriately. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that while Scottish Widows' App was promoted as allowing users to 'Build an overview of all your pensions in one place, even ones you have with other providers', apps and online access are additional services that pension providers are not required to provide. Secure data sharing between financial institutions is a developing area, and if other providers do not make plan information available, it is not possible for this to be shown in the Scottish Widows App. The evidence showed that Prudential had decided not to continue supporting data sharing via MoneyHub, which was outside Scottish Widows' control. Scottish Widows had communicated clearly with Mr R and checked for other potential issues, demonstrating good customer service.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website