Higher compensation awards for repeated instances of maladministration -

In a recent High Court appeal from a Pension Ombudsman determination, the judge awarded the claimant £2,750 for distress and inconvenience. The Pension Ombudsman (TPO) had only made the minimum level award of £500. In this case the member was misinformed numerous times over six years about her entitlement to retire with an unreduced pension from age 55. The judge noted that this amounted to repeated instances of maladministration over an extended period of time, which could have been easily corrected; this merited an award exceeding the normal compensation cap (£1,600).