Not upheld: service failure and information provision; historical pension review complaint complaint against Phoenix Life Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr O complained to Phoenix Life about his 1991 pension, which had been subject to a previous pension review finding unsuitable AFPS transfer advice. Mr O requested all historical information and statements dating back to inception, claiming his pension was worth less than 50% of what it should have been. Phoenix could only provide statements from 2013 onwards and initial sales documentation, citing system changes and business takeovers over 30 years. After initially failing to provide information, Phoenix upheld Mr O's service complaint and paid £400 compensation. The ombudsman found this compensation fair, noting that inability to locate very old documents is common and does not indicate wrongdoing, and that pension review calculations need only be done once using regulator-provided assumptions.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman acknowledged that while it is frustrating that Phoenix cannot provide documents from over 30 years ago, this is not uncommon due to system changes and business takeovers. The inability to provide historical information does not necessarily indicate wrongdoing. The ombudsman explained that pension review calculations were only required to be done once using regulator-provided assumptions, and the fact that investment returns and annuity rates did not match those assumptions does not justify redoing calculations or indicate management errors. The ombudsman found Phoenix's £400 compensation for service failures to be fair and reasonable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website