Complaints

How to complain

• Send us an email at complaints@bandce.co.uk. Please include your full name, date of birth or National Insurance number and customer number (you can find this within the ‘your reference’ section at the top of any letters we’ve sent to you).
• Call us on: 0300 2000 555 (calls charged at local rates) lines open 8.30am–7pm Monday to Friday and 9am–1pm Saturday.
• Write to: Complaints Team Manager, B&CE, Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 9QP. Please include your full name, date of birth or National Insurance number and customer number (you can find this within the ‘your reference’ section at the top of any letters we’ve sent to you).

No matter how you contact us, we aim to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible – we’ll write and let you know how we’re investigating your concerns, and how long we think this will take.

Our promise

We’ll respond to your complaint within five working days (of the date we received it) – although we may not always have a resolution by then.

• Our complaints team have the knowledge and skills needed to investigate and resolve your complaint.
• They’ll make sure that the person investigating wasn’t directly involved in the cause of your complaint.
• They have the authority to settle your complaint (or have access to someone who has the necessary authority).

We’ll write to you within eight weeks of receiving your complaint with either:

• a final response or
• if we still need more time, we’ll contact you and explain the reason for the delay, letting you know when you’ll receive a final response.

Our final response to you:

• if we were at fault we may offer a form of compensation or
• if we reject your complaint we’ll give you a full explanation.

If you’re unhappy with our final response and your complaint’s about The People’s Pension Scheme, Lump Sum Retirement Benefit, Additional Voluntary Contributions, Death Benefits, Accident Benefit scheme, Employee Life Cover or Holiday Pay Scheme:

You can use our internal dispute resolution procedure to escalate your complaint. We’ll send you more details about this.

If you’re unhappy with our final response (or if we’ve been unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks) and your complaint’s regarding EasyBuild, RapidCash, TUTMAN B&CE Contracted-out pension scheme, Term Assurance, Personal Accident or Employee Accident Cover from B&CE:

You may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge, but you must do so within six months of our final response to your complaint.

If you don’t refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman won’t have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in very limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.

The Financial Ombudsman Service

Or you could also refer your concerns to one of the companies below. They may need you to go through our internal procedures first, but you can find more information on their websites.

The Pensions Advisory Service

An independent organisation that provides information and guidance to members of the public.

The Pensions Regulator

The UK regulator for work-based pension schemes. The authority has wide ranging powers and, amongst other things, is able to intervene in the running of pension schemes where trustees, employers or professional advisers fail in their duties.

The Pensions Ombudsman

An independent organisation set up by law to investigate complaints about pension administration. The Pensions Ombudsman will look at the facts without taking sides. They have the legal power to make decisions that are final, binding and enforceable.

How to complain

• Send us an email at complaints@bandce.co.uk. Please include the employer or company name and account number (you can find this at the top of any letters we’ve sent to you).
• Call us on: 01293 586666 (calls charged at local rates) between 8.30am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday.
• Write to: Complaints Team Manager, B&CE, Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 9QP. Please include the employer or company name, account number (you can find this at the top of any letters we’ve sent you) and contact details.

No matter how you contact us, we aim to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible – we’ll write and let you know how we’re investigating your concerns, and how long we think this will take.

Our promise

We’ll respond to your complaint within five working days (of the date we received it) – although we may not always have a resolution by then.

• Our complaints team have the knowledge and skills needed to investigate and resolve your complaint.
• They’ll make sure that the person investigating wasn’t directly involved in the cause of your complaint.
• They have the authority to settle your complaint (or have access to someone who has the necessary authority).

We’ll write to you within eight weeks of receiving your complaint with a final response or:

• If we still need more time, we’ll contact you and explain the reason for the delay, letting you know when you’ll receive a final response.
• If you haven’t received a final response after eight weeks, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This will depend on our financial product or service and if you are a micro employer (with less than 10 employees), a charity with an income of less than £1m or a Trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £1m. We ’ll send you details if you need them.

Our final response to you:

• if we were at fault we may offer a form of compensation or
• if we reject your complaint we’ll give you a full explanation.

If you’re unhappy with our final response (or if we’ve been unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks) to your complaint regarding EasyBuild, RapidCash, Tutman Contracted-out pension scheme, Term Assurance, Personal Accident or Employee Accident Cover from B&CE:

You may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge, but you must do this within six months of our final response to your complaint.

If you don’t refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint, unless in very limited circumstances, for example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was because of exceptional circumstances.

The Financial Ombudsman Service

If you’re unhappy with our final response (or if we’ve been unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks) and your complaint is regarding The People’s Pension, Lump Sum Retirement Benefit, Additional Voluntary Contributions, Death Benefits, Accident Benefit scheme, Employee Life Cover or Holiday Pay Scheme, you can refer your concerns to one of the below.

They may require that you to go through our internal procedures first, but you can find more information on their websites:

The Pensions Regulator

The UK regulator for work-based pension schemes. They have wide ranging powers and are able to intervene in the running of pension schemes where Trustees, employers or professional advisers fail in their duties.

The Pensions Ombudsman

An independent organisation set up by law to investigate complaints about pension administration. The Pensions Ombudsman will look at the facts without taking sides. They have the legal power to make decisions that are final, binding and enforceable.

How to complain

• Send us an email at complaints@bandce.co.uk. Please include the employer or company name and account number (if applicable).
• Call us on: 01293 586666 (calls charged at local rates) between 8.30am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday.
• Write to: Complaints Team Manager, B&CE, Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 9QP. Please include the employer or company name, account number and contact details.

No matter how you contact us, we aim to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible – we’ll write and let you know how we’re investigating your concerns, and how long we think this will take.

Our promise

We’ll respond to your complaint within five working days (of the date we received it) – although we may not always have a resolution by then.

• Our complaints team have the knowledge and skills needed to investigate and resolve your complaint.
• They’ll make sure that the person investigating wasn’t directly involved in the cause of your complaint.
• They have the authority to settle your complaint (or have access to someone who has the necessary authority).

We’ll write to you within eight weeks of receiving your complaint with a final response or:

• If we still need more time, we’ll contact you and explain the reason for the delay, letting you know when you’ll receive a final response.
• If you haven’t received a final response after eight weeks, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. This will depend on our financial product or service and if you are a micro employer (with less than 10 employees), a charity with an income of less than £1m or a Trustee of a trust which has a net asset value of less than £1m. We ’ll send you details if you need them.

Our final response to you:

• if we were at fault we may offer a form of compensation or
• if we reject your complaint we’ll give you a full explanation.

If you’re unhappy with our final response (or if we’ve been unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks) to your complaint regarding EasyBuild, RapidCash, Tutman Contracted-out pension scheme, Term Assurance, Personal Accident or Employee Accident Cover from B&CE:

You may have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge, but you must do this within six months of our final response to your complaint.

If you don’t refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint, unless in very limited circumstances, for example, if the Ombudsman believes that the delay was because of exceptional circumstances.

If you’re unhappy with our final response (or if we’ve been unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks) and your complaint is regarding The People’s Pension, Lump Sum Retirement Benefit, Additional Voluntary Contributions, Death Benefits, Accident Benefit scheme, Employee Life Cover or Holiday Pay Scheme, you can refer your concerns to one of the below.

They may require that you to go through our internal procedures first, but you can find more information on their websites:

The Pensions Regulator

The UK regulator for work-based pension schemes. The authority has wide ranging powers and, amongst other things, is able to intervene in the running of pension schemes where trustees, employers or professional advisers fail in their duties.

 

We are committed to providing a high quality, accessible and responsive service to our members, stakeholders and the general public. One of the ways in which we can continue to improve our service to you and to others is by listening and responding to your comments and complaints.

We abide by the requirements of the Trust Deed and the Charity Commission.

We hope you will be fully satisfied with the products, services and advice we provide, but if you have a complaint about our service we want to hear from you. We will take your complaint seriously and will address it and respond to it as quickly as possible.

How to complain

There are two ways to get in touch:

• Send us an email or write to: Charitable Trust Manager, Building and Civil Engineering Charitable Trust, Manor Royal, Crawley, West Sussex RH10 9QP.
• Or you can call us on: 0300 2000 600 between 9am–5pm Monday to Friday.

To help us investigate your complaint, please provide as much of the following information as possible when you contact us:

• Your full name, postal address, telephone number (including dialing code), and email address if you have one.
• A clear description of the complaint and what you would like us to do to sort things out. Please advise whether it is an original complaint, or a follow-up to a reply you were not satisfied with.

We aim to resolve your complaint immediately – if we can’t – we’ll write to you, and let you know how we’re investigating your concerns and how long we think this will take.

Our promise

We will acknowledge your complaint within five working days.

We hope to respond in full within this time, but if this is not possible we will explain why and give you a date by which you can expect a full reply.

We’ll write to you within eight weeks of receiving your complaint with either:

• a final response or
• if we still need more time, we’ll contact you and explain the reason for the delay, letting you know when you’ll receive a final reply
• if you haven’t received a final reply after eight weeks, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Charity Commission.

We’ll send you a final response:

• if we were at fault we may offer compensation or another form of redress
• if we reject your complaint we’ll give you a full explanation.

If you’re unhappy with our final response (or if we’ve been unable to resolve your complaint within eight weeks) and your complaint’s regarding the Charitable Trust, you may obtain further information from:

The Charity Commission

Visit the government website who can provide further information on complaining about a charity.

Website: https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-charity

Our complaints data

We aim to provide a high-quality level of service to all our customers.  If you’re unhappy with our service, we will listen and deal with your concerns fairly and promptly.

Detailed below are the number of complaints we received and completed from October 2017 to March 2018.

Firm Name: B & C E Financial Services Limited Other firms included in this report (if any): Not applicable Period covered in this report: 1 April 2018 to 30 September 2018 Brands/trading names covered: The People’s Pension
Decumulation and pensions
Number of complaints opened by volume of business	Provision (at reporting end period)	0.16 per 1,000 policies in force
	Intermediation (within the reporting period)	Not applicable
Number of complaints opened		847
Number of complaints closed		837
Percentage closed within 3 days		27%
Percentage closed after 3 days but within 8 weeks		71%
Percentage upheld		50%
Main cause of complaints opened		Other

Please note that we are unable to provide data for complaints about:

• banking and credit cards 
• home finance
• insurance and pure protection
• investments
• or credit related

as they do not apply to the products and services provided by B & C E Financial Services Limited.

Need further information?

If you have any questions or feedback about this data, you can send us an email at complaints@bandce.co.uk.

Or call us on: 0300 2000 555 (calls charged at local rates) lines open 8.30am–7pm Monday to Friday and 9am–1pm Saturday.