15th June 2015

Coulda, woulda, shoulda? At last an Ombudsman refuses to apply rules retrospectively

A breath of fresh summer air blew through the world of ‘Ombudsmanning’ when the Pension ombudsman Tony King recently made a ruling in relation to a pension ‘liberation’ claim where a transfer was requested one month before the Pensions Regulator issued guidance to providers about such cases.

When making his decision he said, “I cannot apply current levels of knowledge and understanding of pension liberation/scams or present standards of practice to a past situation.”

This decision should set a precedent and if followed by the FOS would remove the need for any longstop campaigns to continue. 

This is the very bedrock of reasoned decision making where previous regulation and FOS considerations have fallen well short.

The FOS practice of applying a kind of ‘coulda, woulda, shoulda’ to decision making, often failing to give reasoned consideration to previous ombudsman’s rules in the adjudication process, will have seen many good businesses closed, liabilities parked with the FSCS and the resulting need to increase and apply one off unexpected unbudgeted levies placing unfair burdens on the firms left.

The decision from Mr King is simply one of fairness and common sense.

But is anyone listening at the FOS, over to you Ms Wayman?

Panacea Comment