NPI Section 32 Buy Out Policy (PO-15070)

Ombudsman’s Determination

Outcome

Mr D’s complaint is upheld against Phoenix only and to put matters right, Phoenix shall carry out a loss calculation to ascertain whether the transfer value of £65,815.74 paid from the Policy to AVIVA would have been adequate to secure the GMP of £4,157.17 per annum at Mr D’s Normal Retirement Date (NRD) on 19 February 2013. If the transfer value was insufficient to cover the cost of this GMP then the shortfall amount should be used to secure an additional annuity with AVIVA from Mr D’s NRD, on the same basis as Mr D’s existing AVIVA annuity.

Complaint summary

Mr D has complained that mistakes made by either the Trustees or Phoenix during the transfer of his pension rights from the Midlands Import-Export Services Retirement Benefits Scheme (the Scheme) to the Policy in 1998 resulted in Phoenix incorrectly recording a lower Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) figure for the Policy. He says that this error led Phoenix to subsequently permit a transfer of his pension rights in the Policy to AVIVA. As a result, Mr D contends that he is now receiving benefits from AVIVA which are significantly lower than those which would have been available from the Scheme had he not transferred out.