Dhl Group Retirement Plan Cas 93337 Y2P1 0 · CAS-93337-Y2P1

CAS-93337-Y2P1

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr Y

Scheme DHL Group Retirement Plan (the Plan)

Respondents DHL Pensions (the Administrator); and

DHL Trustees Limited (the Trustee)

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties

“The value of DC Funds shown is an estimate and is not guaranteed. The value will continue to decrease or increase depending upon investment

1 CAS-93337-Y2P1 performance; the final value of the DC funds could be lower or higher than that shown.

DC funds are based on unit prices on 21 June 2021, the unit linked prices vary daily. These prices may go down as well as up.

Should a transfer proceed, the amount payable will be the value at the time of disinvestment.

Please note that the transfer value is the same as the fund value.”

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Summary of the Trustee’s position:-

Caseworker’s Opinion

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Mr Y did not accept the Caseworker’s Opinion and the complaint was passed to me to consider. Mr Y submitted further comments in response to the Opinion. In summary he said:-

• The service provided by the Administrator fell short of his expectations.

• The Administrator received the completed transfer paperwork prior to 7 March 2022; however it requested an original signed copy of the paperwork. It also requested additional documents that could have been requested sooner.

I note the additional points made by Mr Y, but I agree with the Caseworker’s Opinion.

Ombudsman’s decision

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Pension administrators have set Service Level Agreements (SLA) within which certain tasks must be completed. These SLAs therefore form the basis for how an administrator approaches its work on a daily basis. In this case, the Administrator had an SLA of 40 working days within which to process Mr Y’s transfer.

Mr Y believed the transfer should have been paid within ten days based on previous transfers he had completed with other pension providers, but I find that the transfer was processed and paid within the established 40-day SLA, which I do not consider to be unreasonable. It is normal for a pension administrator to have their own SLAs when processing a transfer. I recognise that Mr Y was unsatisfied with the time it took to transfer the Plan. However, the transfer was completed within 40 workings days, which is the Administrator’s normal timescale.

The timescales set by the Trustee and the Administrator are targets and the intention is for the Administrator to aim to perform certain agreed actions within a given timeframe. Even if Mr Y was informed of a different timescale than the 40 working days, the timescales are not legally binding and missing them by a short amount of time does not automatically constitute maladministration. In Mr Y’s case, the transfer was completed within the given SLA.

The Pension Schemes Act 1993, requires that a pension provider completes a transfer within six months of a valid request by the member. In many cases, where it is a straightforward transfer, it should be completed within a shorter timeframe. I find that the time taken for Mr Y’s transfer was reasonable.

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I do not uphold Mr Y’s complaint and no further action is required by the Trustee or the Administrator.

Anthony Arter CBE

Deputy Pensions Ombudsman

24 June 2024

6 CAS-93337-Y2P1 Appendix Pension Schemes Act 1993

Section 99 (2) - (2ZA)

Trustees' duties after exercise of option

(1) Where —

(a) a member has exercised the option conferred by section 95; and

(b) the trustees or managers of the scheme have done what is needed to carry out what the member requires,

the trustees or managers shall be discharged from any obligation to provide benefits to which the cash equivalent related except, in such cases as are mentioned in section 96(2), to the extent that an obligation to provide such guaranteed minimum pensions . . . continues to subsist.

(2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, if the trustees or managers of a scheme receive an application under section 95 they must do what is needed to carry out what the member requires—

(a) in the case of an application that relates to benefits other than money purchase benefits, within 6 months beginning with the guarantee date shown in the relevant statement of entitlement, . . .

(b) in the case of an application that relates to money purchase benefits [other than collective money purchase benefits], within 6 months beginning with the date of the application, and

(c) in the case of an application which relates to money purchase benefits that are collective money purchase benefits, within 6 months beginning with the date of the application or such longer period beginning with that date as may be prescribed.

(2ZA) Subsection (2) does not apply if the trustees or managers have been unable to carry out what the member requires because a condition prescribed by regulations under section 95(6ZA) has not been satisfied.

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