Northumbria Police officer wins fraud warning payout

The Pensions Regulator recommended the 'scorpion' leaflet which warns pension scheme members about scams

Northumbria Police has been told to reinstate all the money lost by one of its officers because it failed to warn him about pension scams.

The Pensions Ombudsman found the force did not issue a fraud warning leaflet or conduct adequate checks.

The officer transferred all of his savings out of the police pension scheme in November 2013.

Northumbria Police said it respects the decision, which has cost it £135,400, including £1,000 for distress.

The officer, named only as 'Mr N' in the ombudsman's ruling, decided to move his savings from the Northumbria Police pension scheme to a new one.

But after discovering that all his money may have been lost or misappropriated, he put in a complaint about the way his transfer had been handled.

He argued that Northumbria Police had failed to provide him with sufficient warnings about pension scams or conducted adequate checks on where his money was going.

'Red flags'

In February 2013, The Pensions Regulator had recommended that members of pension schemes who were transferring their savings should be sent a leaflet warning them about scams.

Although Northumbria Police had included a link to the leaflet on its own internal website, it had not sent a copy of it directly to the officer before it processed his request.

The Pensions Ombudsman also found the force had not conducted appropriate checks before releasing the money and had ignored things which other schemes had identified as potential "red flags".

Northumbria Police had argued the officer would have gone ahead with the transfer anyway, because at the time he had complete trust in his financial adviser.

Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister who now works for the pension firm Royal London, told Radio 4's You & Yours "a ruling which says people in charge of pension schemes have a duty to go that extra mile for members is very encouraging".