The Pension Fund’s preference is to resolve concerns quickly as soon as they are known about. In the first instance we would always encourage members, or their representatives, to contact the pension administrators directly to resolve any issue with the way that your pension scheme membership is dealt with, or the service received.
Compliments
If our staff or services have been helpful, please let us know.
Complaints
If you would like to make a complaint about your pension membership, benefits or administration please use the following two stage procedure:
Stage 1
The first stage of the complaints' procedure is to email the team at Pensions.CPD.Team@hants.gov.uk. They will review your complaint and log this under West Sussex County Council’s formal complaints procedure.
We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and respond within a maximum of 20 working days, although we aim to respond within 10 working days wherever possible.
Stage 2
If you are unhappy with the response to Stage 1, you can ask that your complaint is reviewed by the Scheme Manager. The Chief Executive will send a final response on behalf of the County Council.
As with Stage 1 we will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and respond within a maximum of 20 working days, although we aim to respond within 10 working days wherever possible.
If you are still unhappy after this, you can ask the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) to investigate how your complaint has been dealt with.
Internal disputes
Making an informal enquiry, or formal complaint, does not affect your statutory right to have your dispute heard under the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP).
If you disagree with a decision made by your employer or the West Sussex Pension Fund in relation to your benefits from the Local Government Pensions Scheme (LGPS), then there is a two stage complaints process in place known as the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP). However, if your complaint is related to a decision made about your pension by your employer, then you must follow your employer's complaints procedure instead.
More details concerning each process can be found in documents below.