Operating Model Review - A blog on expedited decision-making by Dominic Harris

In the latest in our series of blogs, the Pensions Ombudsman, Dominic Harris, updates on the progress we are making with our Operating Model Review. He shares more about our plans to speed up decision-making by rolling out the use of Expedited Determinations to bring complaints to a close at earlier stages of our ‘customer journey’.

Our operating model transformation is well underway and we’ve made great progress against our three priority workstreams over the summer. I’ve enjoyed getting out and about, speaking to stakeholders about the work we are doing to transform our services, and listening to the industry’s feedback and ideas. This has helped shape our thinking as we progress through the test and learn phase into implementation.

We’ve also made good progress over summer in terms of the number of cases we have resolved – which are ahead of our expectations. However, while this demonstrates the success of the ‘quick win’ initiatives we have already rolled out, it is tempered by the high volume of new incoming complaints, which is currently 24% higher than forecast. This highlights just how important the improvements to our Operating Model continue to be, both to deal with our existing complaints, but also stay ahead of increases in demand.  

Expedited decision-making

One of the core goals of our Operating Model Review is to speed up the resolution of complaints by making decisions quicker, without compromising on quality. We have therefore been piloting expedited decision-making at the assessment and resolution stages of our ‘customer journey’.

Our initial focus is on pension complaints that we have assessed as having a clear outcome. This could include, for example:

• where a pension provider supplied an incorrect benefit statement, but it is clear no loss was caused by the error
• where a scheme member is complaining that automatic fund switches in a lifestyling investment strategy cost them investment returns, but where it is clear that the default lifestyling arrangement was adequately communicated
• where a member wants a scheme to honour a cash equivalent transfer value when the member was responsible for not meeting the statutory time limits.

These cases may not require significant correspondence with the parties if all the information needed to make a decision is already supplied in the application.

In these types of situations, an initial decision will be issued to all parties setting out the caseworker’s view. If any party doesn’t agree, they can ask for the matter to be referred to an Ombudsman, who will issue a final and binding Determination if they agree with the caseworker’s view. In these cases, the Parties will be able to get a Determination without going through the adjudication process.

This expedited decision-making is designed to improve our customer service and provide complainants with an outcome to their complaint as soon as possible. It will reduce duplication in our process and provide shorter Determinations similar to summary judgments used by the courts. In many cases, it will reduce the amount of time these customers currently wait in our queues by as much as 18 months. Closing this cohort of cases more quickly will also allow us to focus our adjudication resource on the complex cases that require more in-depth investigation.    

We have successfully piloted this work over the summer, with very few of the caseworkers’ decisions being referred to me for Determination by either party.  

Implementation  

Following the successful pilot, we will be fully rolling out expedited decision-making later this month. We will also be exploring how to best utilise the approach to support our work delivering informal resolutions.  

As we will not normally publish Expedited Determinations, we are also exploring how we can make sure any industry-wide learnings can be shared, for example though case studies or broader insight products.  

We will continue to share updates on our Operating Model Review over the next few months, through our engagement activity, newsletters and blogs. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive the latest updates direct to your inbox.    

As I have said before, I am keen to hear the industry’s views on implementation, including whether our Operating Model Review could impact on your own internal processes and member communications. You can contact stakeholders@pensions-ombudsman.org.uk to get involved in the discussion.