There are various routes by which an employee can raise a grievance in relation to his or her pension entitlement. Under the Pensions Act 2004, occupational pension schemes and stakeholder pension schemes must have an internal procedure for resolving disputes between the trustees or managers and the scheme's members and prospective members.
If the employee is not satisfied with the way in which his or her complaint has been dealt with under the internal disputes procedure, he or she can contact TPAS, the Pensions Advisory Service, for help and advice ( Pensions links ).
The Pensions Ombudsman ( Pensions links ) is ultimately available to deal with complaints of maladministration in personal and occupational pension schemes, or disputes of law or fact in relation to pension entitlement. The Ombudsman will not usually take up an individual's case unless and until he or she has exhausted the scheme's internal dispute resolution procedure and TPAS has been unable to help resolve the problem.