Requesting an internal review
If the Scheme Manager makes a decision that affects you, he will send you his decision in writing. The written decision is known as "reviewable determination".
If you think our decision is wrong or you just don’t understand the reviewable determination, you can ask us to explain it either verbally or in writing. If you are not satisfied with the explanation, you can ask us to look at it again. We call this a review.
For certain decisions, you may also be able to appeal to the Pensions Protection Fund Ombudsman (PPFO) that can change the decision if they agree it is wrong. See the Requesting an appeal section.
There are a number of matters that the Scheme Manager has to consider to determine whether or not an individual is eligible for payments from the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS). These are:
- Scheme Notification
- Scheme Eligibility (Qualifying Pension Schemes)
- Member Eligibility
- Member Assessment (the amount of FAS payable)
- ill health eligibility and the amount of final ill health annual payments
- Terminal illness - eligibility to early payment
Who can request a review?
For Scheme Notification and Scheme Eligibility decisions, where a scheme has not completed winding up, a review can be requested by:
- the trustees or managers of that scheme, or their representative (where the Scheme Manager has been notified in writing); or
- anyone who could receive payments from the FAS who is affected by that decision;
- the representative (appointed by the Scheme Manager)of anyone who could receive payments from the FAS.
For Scheme Notification and Scheme Eligibility decisions, where the scheme has been wound up, a review can be requested by:
- anyone who could receive payments from the FAS and is affected by that decision; or
- the representative of anyone who could receive payments from the FAS.
For Member Eligibility, Member Assessment ill health eligibility, ill health final payments or Early Payment due to terminal illness decisions, a review can be requested by:
- anyone who will, or could, receive payments from the FAS and is affected by that decision;
- the representative (appointed by the Scheme Manager) of anyone who could receive payments from the FAS.
Anyone who can ask for a review can write to the Scheme Manager to ask for a person to be appointed to act as their representative for the purposes of the review. The Scheme Manager may also choose to appoint a representative in some circumstances.
How to request a review or an explanation
If you want to discuss a decision, or ask us to explain it, please contact us at the FAS Operational Unit (FAS OU).
To request a review you should contact us as soon as possible after receiving the written (reviewable) determination from the Scheme Manager. If the review is in respect of a decision regarding Scheme Notification or Scheme Eligibility the request must be made within two months of the date shown at the top of the written (reviewable) determination.
If the review is in respect of a decision which relates to Member Eligibility, Member Assessment or Early Payment due to the request must be made within one month of the date shown at the top of the written (reviewable) determination.
If an application for a review is made outside these time limits you must explain why the application was not made within the time limit.
In exceptional circumstances, we may review a decision which relates to Scheme Notification or Scheme Eligibility outside the normal time limits. We will only do this if the Scheme Manager thinks it is reasonable, and no later than 12 months from the date of our written (reviewable) determination.
If you want to apply for a review, you should write to us at the FAS OU. You must include the following information in your letter:
- the name and address of the person making the application;
- the date on the written (reviewable) determination setting out the decision you want us to review;
- why you feel the decision is wrong;
- if you are acting as a representative of a person, you must provide your name and address and tell us if we should use your address if we need to contact someone about the application;
- if the application is for a review of a determination which relates to Scheme Notification or Scheme Eligibility and is made outside the normal time limit, the reasons why it couldn’t be made any earlier.
Decisions relating to Scheme Notification or Scheme Eligibility will be published on this website (see the Notified and Qualifying Pension Schemes section). Normally the trustees or managers ask us to review decisions relating to Scheme Notification or Scheme Eligibility. If the trustees or managers are not happy with a decision, they will ask us to review it. If you are a scheme member and you feel that a decision relating to Scheme Notification is wrong, you may want to contact the trustees or managers of the scheme to discuss your concerns and to check whether or not the trustees or managers will ask us to review of the decision.. More information on this can be obtained by contacting the FAS OU.
For an occupational pension scheme, if the Scheme Manager receives two or more requests to review a decision about Scheme Eligibility or Scheme Notification, and the requests are made for the same reasons and supported by mainly the same evidence, he may give a single review decision for those applications.
Please note, you can check to see if we have received a request for a review on your pension scheme by visiting the Notified and Qualifying Pension Scheme pages. If we have received a request it will be highlighted by the addition of the letter "R" at the end of the scheme name.
Interested Person - Written Representations
An "Interested person" is a potential beneficiary or beneficiary of a pension scheme or their representative, and where a pension scheme has not completed winding up the trustee or manager of that scheme. If you think you meet this definition and you have some information that you think the Financial Assistance scheme manager should consider in connection with an ongoing review please send your written representations to the scheme manager.