Redress Solutions for Individuals

If your complaint has been upheld the advising firm will make you a redress offer. 

The advising firm may calculate the redress payment themselves or they may appoint another firm to do the calculation on their behalf.

If your complaint has been upheld by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), you may see reference in the FOS decision letter suggesting that the calculation will be carried out within 90 days. If your complaint has been upheld by the advising firm they should be able to give you an indication of the expected timescales. 

Whilst 90 days might be a reasonable guide, in certain circumstances it could take longer to calculate redress.  This is because it may take some time to obtain the information needed to carry out the calculation. This is particularly the case where it is necessary to contact your current (or former) pension provider. Providing information requested in a timely manner will help speed up the redress process.

You may be asked to provide information about your pension or your personal circumstances, for example, your marital status and your expected income tax band in retirement. This information will be used in the calculation of the redress due to you. 

You may be asked to complete a letter of authority, permitting the advising firm or their representatives to contact your occupational pension scheme or your personal pension plan provider.  You should take care to ensure that this is completed accurately and in full as the redress process will be delayed and any errors or omissions could result in the calculation being deemed unacceptable.

If you have any details about your benefits within the occupational scheme (for example, benefit statements provided whilst you were an active member of the scheme, leaver statement or scheme booklet you should share these details with the advising firm as it may help avoid potential delays associated with contacting your scheme provider.

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you have transferred out of your occupational pension scheme and have changed name or moved address since the transfer, you should also provide your name and address at the date of transfer on the letter of authority as these are likely to be the records held by the scheme.  </span></p>

We would suggest the following steps:

• Find out who has carried out the redress calculation (e.g. has it been calculated by your pension adviser or has it been outsourced, and if so, to whom). 
• If the calculation has been outsourced you may be able to use an internet search to establish whether they are experienced in calculating redress in accordance with the regulatory guidance (called FG17/9) and this may give you peace of mind. Remember that firms like OAC who calculate redress are independent of advising firms and are bound by professional requirements to act honestly.
• Request a copy of the calculation and check any assumptions made within the calculation.  
• If incorrect assumptions have been made ask for a recalculation. A good example of this would be if an assumption has been made about your marital status or spouse’s date of birth. For some Free Standing Additional Voluntary Contribution (FSAVC) loss assessments, the pensionable salaries used are important and you should make sure these appear reasonable. 
• For a transfer loss calculation, if you have any information about your benefits structure or of your scheme, you may be able to check the inputs to the calculation to ensure they look correct. For example, if the paperwork from the scheme shows that your pension would have increased at 5% pa, the redress calculation should show an assumed increase of 5% pa.
• If you are still concerned you can commission an independent calculation.  However, you should note that this will be at your own cost.  You should also be aware that the pension adviser is not obliged to accept your calculation if it differs from theirs although if errors or omissions are found to have occurred you can request that they be rectified.

This will depend on the complexity of the calculation but OAC’s typical fees for this sort of calculation might be of the order of £1,400 - £2.500 plus VAT.

As mentioned above, it is important to understand before you commission an independent redress calculation that your advising firm is not obliged to use your calculation rather than their own.