I have someone else's pension

MPD20

For some years, a pension company have been sending me pension statements and other correspondence, regarding a pension that is not mine. The pension holder has the same name as me, but their NI number and date of birth is different. It is a contracting out of SERPS pension and no contribution has been made for many years. I doubt the real owner even knows of its existence. I have tried to locate them but cannot. I have told the pension company, but they have done nothing and the statements keep on coming. Also, I do not trust them to do anything as they have no vested interest in finding the real owner.

I know the owner's name, dob and NI number. Is there an organization that can help me, or any advice that anyone can offer?

kuratowski

Try the Information Commissioner https://ico.org.uk/
Updated following posts below, the best approach seems to be making a written complaint to the pension provider.

eskbanker

This sort of thing is a clear breach of the Data Protection Act, which obliges companies to keep personal data up to date, so contact the pension company's data protection officer (there should be details published in a privacy policy or similar) and advise them of the details.  If that doesn't bear fruit but you still wish to pursue it then you could escalate to the Information Commissioner....

GrumpyDil

Have you tried contacting their Data Protection Officer and pointed out that this is a data breach, as opposed to contacting their general call centre number? 
In terms of tracing the real owner that is something the pension company should be able to do from their side, using various methods. 

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
Have you written to the pension company?

Marcon

You're not the one whose data is being breached so getting involved in a complaint for breach of data protection legislation is pointless.

Write 'not known here - return to sender' on the envelope and drop it in the nearest postbox.

TVAS

Why don't email the CEO explain this has been happening for some years and get them to mark that person as gone away on their records so no further correspondence is issued.
The provider will then do a DSS (DWP) who if they find said person will send them the letter the provider sent to them asking for that person to contact the provider with a current address.

TVAS

Make sure your NI and state pension details are correct with DWP.

Scrudgy

Exactly the same thing happened to me, the Barlow Handling Group kept on sending me someone else’s pension statements, which was worth about £35k. The person had the same first and last name as me but a different middle name and obviously different NI number. I tried for ages to stop this and get them to track down the real pension owner. Eventually the statements stopped and I hope they found the poor guy who’s pension was in no mans land. I do still however receive the odd generic pension scheme newsletter but nothing personalised to an individual so I hope just a standard mailing list to every past and present deferred member.

MPD20

Thank you, everyone.

I haven't written to Zurich (the pension provider). So far they have been sloppy, in picking the nearest address they could find when they lost touch with the pension owner, and then lazy by not dealing with the issue when I pointed it out to them on the phone. I really should formalise it by writing to them / their data protection officer / CEO - as well as the Information Commissioner.

My only worry is that it gets taken out of my hands, but I never know if the pension finds its true owner.

The DWP have reassured me that my records and the pension owner's records are both correct, but obviously can't supply details.

Marcon

MPD20 said:

Thank you, everyone.

I haven't written to Zurich (the pension provider). So far they have been sloppy, in picking the nearest address they could find when they lost touch with the pension owner, and then lazy by not dealing with the issue when I pointed it out to them on the phone. I really should formalise it by writing to them / their data protection officer / CEO - as well as the Information Commissioner.

My only worry is that it gets taken out of my hands, but I never know if the pension finds its true owner.

The DWP have reassured me that my records and the pension owner's records are both correct, but obviously can't supply details.

Why are you so anxious to interfere? This isn't your problem and the Information Commissioner will be quick to point that out if you waste your time contacting them: your data isn't being misused, nor is it your concern as to whether the pension and its owner are happily reunited in a future life.

This isn't 'in your hands' and trying to get involved won't solve anything. As suggested above, return any future post unopened, marked 'not known here'.