The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has said that it is doing “everything it can” to try and address concerns over customer waiting times and tackle increasing demand, admitting that the current level of funding received is not ideal.

Speaking at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Pensions Conference, TPO technical pensions specialist, Tina Norris, said that 2023 was a "success story" for TPO, as the ombudsman was able to close more complaints than it received.

"In recent years we have seen that both the number of complaints and the number of closures has been increasing consistently," she noted, as recently evidenced in TPO's Annual Reports and Accounts.

However, Norris acknowledged that "we do have longer customer waiting times and we will need to [close more complaints than we receive] for several more years before we're actually able to get those customer waiting times down."

Pressed on this further, Norris admitted that the level of funding is not where TPO would "ideally like" to help address these waiting times.

“Demand is going up and we are dependent on the government financing, and we’re not receiving the funding we would ideally like to be able to meet our queues," she stated.

"Having said that, this is also the position for a lot of public sector organisations and we do appreciate that, and so we are looking at trying to implement changes in the way we work to see whether we can deal with some cases more quickly."

In particular, Norris noted that TPO introduced a new team of people in 2023 specifically to deal with particular cases that do not require much experience, to help speed up the process for simpler complaints.

However, she admitted that this can also present problems, as whilst some simple complaints are able to be handled very quickly, more complex complaints are still facing longer waiting times, posing a risk that some individuals could think that others have been prioritised ahead of their own.

Fellow panellist, TPO head of early resolution, Tony Attabato, pointed out that the ombudsman is also in the middle of an internal operating review, which includes efforts to look at how it can address complaints faster, including through early resolution efforts.

The pair also highlighted the importance of industry volunteers given the financial constraints facing TPO, as Norris explained that "because we can’t recruit more people. it makes it easier to get through more complaints."

Transfer complaints have been a key driver for the uptick in demand, as Norris pointed out that these complaints have been "creeping up" over the last few years, with a particular increase seen in the proportion of complainants helped by claims management companies.

Further increases could be on the horizon, as Norris revealed that the ombudsman has been "starting" to see an increase in the number of complaints it is getting following the 2021 transfer regulations.

"At the moment, the types of complaints we're getting are more about individuals who want to transfer and are finding that there is a delay because of having to, for example, go to money helper, or indeed, because there is a red flag, so the transfer has been stopped," Norris stated.

"In due course, it's quite possible, of course, that we will find that the complaints shift so we start having transfer complaints about insufficient due diligence."

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