Complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service about defined benefit (DB) transfers and self-invested personal pensions (SIPP) steadily increased between the second and third quarters of last year, official figures show.
Data for Q2 (July to September 2019) showed 157 DB linked complaints were made. Some 34% were upheld. In Q3 (October to November) this rose to 213 with 29% being upheld.
In Q2 597 SIPP related complaints were started. That increased to 653 in the third quarter. The uphold rates were 56% and 49% respectively.
Annuity gripes were also up quarter on quarter from 108 to 191. Income drawdown complaints stood at 46 in Q2 and 56 in Q3.
Overall, between 1 October and 31 December, 2019 FOS received 195,851 new enquiries and 83,754 new complaints – with 9,160 complaints passed to an ombudsman for final decision. On average, 34% of the complaints were upheld.