The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has upheld a complaint against the trustee of the Transport Friendly Society Pension Scheme (TFS scheme), the Cabinet Office and MyCSP.

The ombudsman ruled that the trustee shall reinstate ‘Mrs N’ to the TFS scheme after she complained that pension benefits she accrued whilst a member of the scheme had gone missing.

The trustee has been ordered to reinstate Mrs N to the scheme with a deferred pension entitlement of £950.31 per annum, making allowance for any revaluation increase the deferred pension would have attracted.

Upon contacting the TFS scheme in 2015 to inquire about her pension benefits, Mrs N was told that these had been transferred to the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS) in 1989.

However, a retirement quote issued to her by the PCSPS on 14 April 2015 did not include details of any transferred benefits.

Furthermore, MyCSP, the administrators of the PCSPS, said it could find no evidence of the transfer having taken place.

The trustee of the TFS scheme provided two copy letters as evidence of the transfer, dated 15 September 1989. These were addressed to both the Department of Education and Science and Mrs N, and confirmed the transfer payment.

However, the trustee was unable to obtain any evidence of the cheque having been cashed due to “the passage of time”.

Despite continued searches by Mrs N, the trustees and MyCSP, no further evidence of a transfer was found, and Mrs N subsequently filed a complaint with MyCSP.

In its response on 14 March 2018, MyCSP concluded that there was no evidence the transfer had been completed, adding that HMRC had confirmed the liability for Mrs N’s benefits was not held with the PCSPS.

It did however, acknowledge the distress and inconvenience caused to Mrs N, offering an award of £500 in respect of this.

In its defence of the complaint, the trustee of the TFS scheme stated that there were no “un-accounted funds” that would imply Mrs N's own funds were never transferred out of the scheme.

Furthermore, it argued that this type of situation was not an “isolated incident” as far as the PCSPS is concerned, citing an article by the Mail on Sunday which argued a case very similar to that of Mrs N.

The trustee sent a Freedom of Information request to the PCSPS seeking information on how many similar cases it had dealt with in the last 10 years, requesting that the ombudsman delay its review of the case until a response was received.

However, the ombudsman, Anthony Arter, stated: “I have to consider the merits of this case in light of the evidence presented and not on what may or may not have happened in other cases."

He added: “Whilst I appreciate the additional efforts made by the trustee and its adviser to locate Mrs N’s benefits, the fact they have been unable to do so does not amount to compelling proof that they were transferred when weighed against the other evidence.”

The ombudsman cited the trustees inability to show “beyond a doubt” that the transfer was completed, as well as the confirmation from HMRC that there is no record of the liability for Mrs N’s pension resting with the PCSPS, as key factors in his decision.

The ombudsman agreed that MyCSP’s original offer of £500 for distress and convenience, was in line with what he would have awarded.

Share Story: