Scottish Widows Personal Pension Plan · CAS-69336-V7H5

CAS-69336-V7H5

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Miss A

Scheme Scottish Widows Personal Pension Plan (the Plan)

Respondent Scottish Widows (the Administrator)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties The sequence of events is not in dispute, so I have only set out the salient points. I acknowledge there were other exchanges of information between all the parties.

The Plan commenced on 1 August 2013. Miss A’s membership of the Plan started on 1 September 2019 and ended on 18 February 2021.

On 10 March 2021, Miss A telephoned the Administrator and said she was unable to access the Account. The Administrator informed Miss A that this was because of an I.T. issue which would be fixed. Miss A raised a complaint about this.

On 14 March 2021, Miss A informed the Administrator by email that she had been unable to access the Account since 5 March 2021 and that she was very frustrated. She said she had been informed four days beforehand that she would receive a telephone call about this from the complaints team; she said she had not received one. She requested a complete record of her case.

On 15 March 2021, the Administrator responded to Miss A by email. It upheld her complaint and offered her £50. It said:-

1 CAS-69336-V7H5 • Miss A had been unable to access the Account because of system maintenance activities.

• She should have access to the Account before the following week.

• The loss of her access to the Account had not caused the value of her benefits in the Plan to depreciate.

• The value of Miss A’s benefits in the Plan was lower than the value of the contributions she had made to it. However, their value was not guaranteed and could increase or decrease because the funds in the Plan are unit-linked.

The Administrator informed Miss A that she could switch to a different fund if she wanted to, and advised her to seek independent financial advice.

On 19 March 2021, Miss A emailed the Administrator. She said she had been unable to access the Account for over two weeks. She asked the Administrator to provide evidence that this had not affected the value of her benefits in the Plan.

On 23 March 2021, Miss A emailed the Administrator. She said that she was able to access the Account but the value of her benefits in the Plan had not increased, despite the fact that the fund she invested in had increased in value. She said this was because her account had been ‘stalled’ for three weeks. She claimed that this had caused her to experience financial loss.

On 25 March 2021, the Administrator sent Miss A another response to her complaint. It upheld her complaint and offered her an additional £40. It said:-

• It had an issue with the system maintenance and that was why Miss A could not access the Account within the time period the Administrator had told her she would be able to.

• She should now be able to access the Account.

• Her previous inability to access the Account had not caused the value of her benefits in the Plan to depreciate.

• The value of the funds in the Plan could not be guaranteed as they are unit-linked. Between 15 February 2021 and 24 March 2021, the value of the Plan had fluctuated between £14,623.59 and £14,531.89.

Summary of Miss A’s position

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Summary of the Administrator’s position Miss A’s inability to access the Account did not cause the fund value to depreciate. The fund value could not be guaranteed as it is unit-linked.

The Administrator is not obliged to offer Miss A access to the Account. The terms and conditions of the Plan do not provide for that.

Adjudicator’s Opinion

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Ombudsman’s decision

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I do not uphold Miss A’s complaint.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman 27 September 2023

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