Prudential Personal Pension Plan · CAS-30658-M2S8

CAS-30658-M2S8

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr R

Scheme Prudential Personal Pension Plan (the Plan)

Respondent The Prudential Assurance Company Ltd (Prudential)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties

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Adjudicator’s Opinion

Prudential did not accept the Adjudicator’s Opinion and the complaint was passed to me to consider. Prudential provided further documentation which did not change the outcome. It said:-

• Mr R wants Prudential to waive its requirements and arrange an income drawdown policy, on a non-advised basis for no cost.

• During the meeting with the FA, Mr R was informed that he would need to provide information relating to his financial circumstances in order to be provided with the correct advice and the case could not progress without this. He did not object to this at the time.

• Mr R has been provided with all the necessary information including a full options pack including details on how to access his pension benefits.

It was agreed that Mr R was provided with a full information pack in December 2018 which the Adjudicator did not have sight of previously. However, the Opinion remained that the correspondence and communication that ensued after this point was unclear, particularly email exchanges. 3 CAS-30658-M2S8 Mr R accepted the Adjudicator’s Opinion. He provided the following further comments:-

• The FA did not provide advice on how to access income drawdown. The FA just wanted to know what other investments Mr R had and what his view was towards investment risk.

• Mr R agreed to a further meeting with the FA on the grounds that it was to discuss his pension.

I agree with the Adjudicator’s Opinion and I will therefore only respond to the points made by Mr R and Prudential for completeness.

Ombudsman’s decision

I uphold Mr R’s complaint in part and make the Direction below.

Directions

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 9 March 2020

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