Partially upheld: failure to locate historic policy and poor communication handling complaint against Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs C complained that Aviva failed to locate an investment policy taken out by her grandfather in her name in 1977 and could not provide evidence of what happened to it. She also complained about poor communication from Aviva, including delayed responses and erroneous disclosure of a call recording. Aviva searched its records but found no active policy, explaining that the policy was likely a Ten Plus Endowment Plan exercised at its 1987 maturity option, with records subsequently deleted in 2020 under retention policies. The Ombudsman found Aviva's search efforts reasonable and accepted its explanation, but upheld the complaint regarding communication failures. The Ombudsman determined that the £200 compensation already offered by Aviva was appropriate and declined to recommend further remedy.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The Ombudsman found that Aviva had taken reasonable and practical steps to search for the policy in 2025, including searching archives and records. In the absence of evidence showing the policy was still active after 1986, and given the policy's structure (Ten Plus Endowment with 1987 maturity option), the Ombudsman accepted Aviva's explanation that the policy was likely exercised at maturity and data subsequently deleted in 2020 in accordance with retention policies. The fact that Mrs C's sister's similar policy remained active and was encashed in 2025 did not prove Mrs C's policy still existed, as each policy must be considered on its own merit. However, the Ombudsman upheld the complaint regarding communication failures and found the £200 compensation already offered to be appropriate.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website