Fewer requests for pension mediator

Fewer requests for pension mediator

The pension ombudsman received 1,541 complaints in 2014, which is 255 fewer than last year and 426 fewer than in 2011. Of those 1,541, 1,152 were deemed admissible and 54% were justified, revealed the pension mediation department at the presentation of its annual report in presence of Daniel Bacquelaire, minister for Pensions, and Willy Borsus, minister for Small and Medium Enterprise, on Tuesday.  “This report shows we have done better than we hoped,” commented the mediator, Jean-Marie Hannesse. He explains the reduced number of requests by the corrections made to overall legislation. “The various departments involved are much more flexible, and listen to what politicians are saying. No-one complains about overlapping of different policies anymore, and the flexibility introduced for holiday funds will benefit thousands of pensioners,” approved Mr. Hannesse.

The mediation department continues however to ask for more synergy between various pension managers. We need yet more transparency, both between the different systems, and towards pensioners themselves,” recommends the mediator, who noticed that particularly complicated requests needing extra research, especially legal research, are actually on the up in the last few years.

The most common reasons for complaining concerned belated payments in the public sector, evaluation of pensions, and early retirement in the new legislation.  In 81% of cases, mediation led to a positive outcome for the plaintiff.

(Source: Belga)


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