If you wish to tell us what you think of our service, you can download our Complaints, suggestions and compliments form [PDF] .
If you are not satisfied with the decisions that we have made and which we
have told you about, please write to:
The Pensions Manager
Lothian Pension Fund
The City of Edinburgh Council
Waverley Court Level 3/3
4 East Market Street
Edinburgh EH8 8BG
Or you can email us at Lothian Pension Fund
Any complaint should be made within six months of you receiving written notification
of benefits. Lothian Pension Fund will reply within ten days, answering your
complaint and giving details of how you may take the matter further if required.
The next stage of this process involves an appeal to an independent 'appointed
person' under the Scheme's complaints process.
If a dispute has still not been resolved to your satisfaction, you can make
a further appeal to the Secretary of State. An appeal to the Secretary of
State should be made within six months of receiving the decision of the 'appointed
person'.
Your rights of appeal are covered in the previous paragraphs. However, regulations
introduced recently give further safeguards to all occupational scheme members
and pensioners. The following organisations may be able to help you with problems
you have been unable to resolve with Lothian Pension Fund.
OPAS helps members and beneficiaries of occupational pension schemes to resolve
any problems they may have encountered and which they have failed to resolve
with the administrators of their pension scheme. OPAS can be contacted at:
OPAS
11 Belgrave Road
London SW1V 1RB
Telephone: 0845 6012923
In cases of maladministration, if a complaint or dispute is not resolved
after the intervention of OPAS, you can apply to the Pensions Ombudsman for
a judgement. The address is the same as for OPAS (above).
The Pensions Ombudsman
Alternatively, you can write to: The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
4 Melville Street
Edinburgh
EH3 7NS
Tel: 0870 011 537
The Scottish Public Services
Ombudsman
Both the Pensions Ombudsman and the Public Services Ombudsman usually require a complainant to have gone through the organisation’s own internal complaints process first.