On the go: The Pensions Ombudsman is expecting demand to increase by 10 per cent in light of Covid-19, but is already facing a “significant queue of work” caused by the pandemic, according to its 2021-24 corporate plan.
The document, published on Monday, revealed that despite the increasingly complex nature of pensions complaints, the Ombudsman closed 4,853 cases during 2020-21, an increase of 6 per cent compared with the previous year.
However, the task ahead involves coping with growing demand without a corresponding increase in resources.
New pension complaints are expected to soar by 10 per cent, reflecting a long-term trend exacerbated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Assessment closures are expected to increase by 13 per cent, early resolution closures by 21 per cent and adjudication closures by 31 per cent.
However, there remains “a significant queue of work awaiting allocation,” the corporate plan noted.
“A small backlog had started to develop after several years of increased demand which has not been matched by an increase in resource. This increased significantly in the first part of 2020/21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” it stated.
The drop was explained by volunteers being made unavailable by the pandemic, and by caseworkers being unable to access paper files.
“We had already anticipated a drop in output as staff familiarised themselves with the new casework management system and the reorganisation in our casework processes. Over the long term, both of these changes will improve how we work but have had a short-term impact on productivity,” the document continued.
“Processes have been put in place to deal with the unallocated cases, but this will remain a significant challenge that we need to address at the same time as responding to the continued increase in demand for our service we anticipate.”
In light of current conditions, the corporate plan said that an increase is expected in the number of complaints related to the government’s furlough scheme, especially to do with payment of contributions, salary sacrifice and death cover.
It also expects an increase in complaints about delays in providing information, processing requests and carrying out transfers due to remote working, redundancies and volumes of requests, as well as those about pension benefit claims concerning ill-health and redundancy.
Caroline Rookes, chair of the Pensions Ombudsman, said: “Although there is a great deal of uncertainty ahead, our data shows that the volume and complexity of cases is likely to increase.
“We also face financial pressures. We will need to do more with less and will continue to review and refine the ways in which we work to deliver the quality service our customers need with the resource available to us.”
