Not upheld: General financial advice complaint against Scottish Widows Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr G complained that Scottish Widows Limited failed to provide his wife with a spouse's pension based on the guaranteed annuity rate under his executive pension plan, that it mishandled his Subject Access Request, and that it incorrectly calculated his pension contributions. An Ombudsman had previously rejected the spouse's pension complaint in 2014. The Financial Ombudsman Service found the spouse's pension complaint was brought outside the six-month time limit and therefore outside its jurisdiction, and even if timely would be dismissed as previously considered with no material new evidence. The SAR handling complaint was not upheld as the £250 compensation already paid by SW was deemed fair and reasonable for the acknowledged service failures and delays.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that the complaint about the spouse's pension was brought more than six months after SW's final response letter of 7 December 2023, placing it outside the Financial Ombudsman Service's jurisdiction under DISP 2.8.2R. Even if brought in time, the complaint should be dismissed without consideration of merits under DISP 3.3.4A(5) because the subject matter had previously been considered by an Ombudsman in 2014 and no material new evidence likely to affect the outcome had become available. The documents Mr G obtained through the SAR were historic and would have been available in 2014. Regarding the SAR handling complaint, while SW accepted service failings and delays, the £250 compensation already offered was fair and reasonable for the distress and inconvenience caused, and there was no evidence of outstanding SAR information that should have been provided.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website