Pensions Ombudsman's office publishes 2025-28 corporate strategy and 2025/26 corporate plan

The Pensions Ombudsman's office published its corporate strategy for 2025-28 and corporate plan for 2025/26. The three-year strategy sets out the roadmap for tackling rising service demand, while the corporate plan sets out specific measures for the year ahead. 

Both documents focus on two key strategic goals:  

• Providing an efficient, accessible and quality service.
• Being an authoritative voice for improvement in the pensions industry. 

According to the strategy, the first goal will build on the office's recent operating model review, which led to changes in several of the office's systems and processes with a view to improving efficiency and resolving complaints at an earlier stage. These included the use of expedited determinations and ensuring complainants have exhausted the respondent's formal complaints process before their complaint is accepted by the Ombudsman.   

In 2025/26, further changes to be implemented include a review of case handling processes with a particular focus on jurisdiction decisions. Over the coming three-year period as a whole, the office hopes to increase the number of closed complaints by 4 per cent a year.  

The second goal will see several initiatives intended to use the office's expertise to help improve pension administration and complaint handling. Among other things, the Ombudsman's guidance on topics such as distress and inconvenience awards will be "refreshed" and further data on complaint topics will be published.