Ombudsman says pension complaints falling overall

Despite a rise in overall complaints, the Financial Ombudsman says that the number of complaints it handled on pensions and investments for the year to March fell from 19,834 to 15,938. Some 34% of pension claims were upheld and 51% of portfolio management and stockbroking complaints were upheld. IFAs accounted for only 0.5% of all complaints and the FOS upheld 42% of complaints against them.In its review for 2013/2014, the FOS says it answered 2.3 million enquiries from consumers and settled a record 518,778 disputes – more than double the number of last year. Payment protection insurance (PPI) made up 78% of all cases, with the number of PPI complaints rising 6% to 399,939.As reported yesterday on Sipps Professional, the number of Sipps complaints doubled compared to the previous year although they formed only a very small fraction of overall complaints. For Sipps, the FOS said there had been a 50% rise in complaints in the past year.In the 12 months to the end of March, the watchdog received 1,036 complaints about Sipps, a 49% rise on the 697 received the previous year. Most complaints were from savers who had been allowed to invest in unsuitable or unregulated schemes. The Ombudsman upheld 63% of Sipp complaints.Overall the Financial Ombudsman Service, the government-backed independent watchdog that aims to settle disputes between consumers and financial businesses, reported a record 2.3m disputes in the past 12 months in its annual review - equivalent to 40,000 a week.There was also a sharp rise in complaints about film partnerships.{desktop}{/desktop}{mobile}{/mobile}Other key statistics from the annual review:• In 58% of the cases the Ombudsman resolved it found in the consumer's favour.• Almost a quarter of the enquiries the FOS received were about general financial problems and concerns – and weren't product-specific.• 1 in 6 people across the UK said they'd had a problem with a financial product or service.• Around one in five initial enquiries turned into a formal dispute – a record 512,167 new complaints.• Four of the UK's largest banking groups accounted for 63% of all complaints we received.• Other than PPI, the Ombudsman resolved seven out of ten (71%) complaints within six months.• A fifth of people who brought a complaint to the ombudsman said they had a disability.Tony Boorman, chief ombudsman, said: "It's been an unprecedented twelve months for the Ombudsman by anyone's standards. Complaints continued at record levels – and we resolved over half a million cases during the year."But our work – and complaints handling in general – is about much more than closing cases and reporting big numbers. Each case we see tells a story about the lives and livelihoods of the individuals involved. In our experience, people are simply looking for honest, straightforward answers that show someone has listened and helped make sense of things."So whether it's dealing with a complex pension complaint or problems with a mobile banking app, the financial services sector continues to face the challenge of putting the customer at the centre of their business."

Ombudsman says pension complaints falling overall

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