The chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, Frank Field, wants to see the government bring forward measures to ensure information provided by the Government Actuary's Department to individuals is within the remit of an ombudsman.
Writing to pensions and financial inclusion minister Guy Opperman, Field gave the example of the AEA Technology Scheme, a private sector defined benefit scheme that has entered the Pension Protection Fund.
He said at the time of the privatisation of AEA Technology, written information from the GAD to employees "helped reassure many of them that it was safe to move across from the UK Atomic Energy Agency (UK AEA) public service pension scheme into the private-sector AEA Technology defined benefit scheme, on the grounds that the latter scheme was no less favourable".
As a result of the scheme later entering the PPF, Field said "many AEA Technology pensioners have suffered financial detriment and feel that the GAD information misled them as to the potential adverse ramifications of the transfer".
This "maladministration" can currently be looked into neither by the Pensions Ombudsman nor by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, he said, asking whether the government intends to bring forward measures that would give individuals the right to put complaints to an ombudsman.
