Ombudsman clears Standard Life after client LTA breach

Complainant hit with tax bill

clock • 1 min read

Standard Life has been cleared of misleading a client about the value of his pension pot by the Pensions Ombudsman, who said the retiree should have taken advice to avoid breaching the lifetime allowance instead of relying on figures from the provider.

The complainant, Mr E, had a number of pension pots, including a defined contribution (DC) plan with the insurer, as well as two separate self-invested personal pensions (SIPP). Mr E claimed Standard Life had told him his guaranteed minimum pension (GMP) was included in the value of his pension pot. This led him to believe he had not reached the lifetime allowance, so he made additional contributions into his SIPPs. However, Mr E had reached the cap and was hit by a large tax bill when putting one of his SIPPs into drawdown. Yet, an adjudicator for the Pensions Ombudsman rejected M...

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