Pensions Ombudsman Service

Interim Chief Executive – 1 year fixed term contract

Employer: Pensions Ombudsman Service
Location: London, near Victoria
Salary: £100,000
Closing Date: 1 December 2014
The Pensions Ombudsman Service

The Pensions Ombudsman Service is an independent organisation set up by law to investigate complaints about pension administration. We also consider complaints about the actions and decisions of the Pension Protection Fund and about some decisions made by the Financial Assistance Scheme.

We look at the facts, without taking sides. Our Ombudsman, appointed by the Secretary of State, have legal powers to make decisions that are final, binding and enforceable in court. Our service is free.

We are a non-departmental public body funded by grant-in-aid by the Department for Work and Pensions. That grant-in-aid is substantially recovered from a general levy on pension schemes. Our operating budget for 2014/15 is £3.4 million

We deal with around 3,500 enquiries each year, which turn into around 1100 investigations. Our workload has been slowly increasing and it may continue to do so as more people become members of pension schemes through automatic enrolment.

The role

Over the next year there will be changes at the top, and we are looking for an interim Chief Executive to provide continuity and to develop the service through those changes. The interim Chief Executive will take up the work currently handled by our Casework Director, who leaves at the end of the year. But in addition, the Pensions Ombudsman will be standing down in late spring, as will the part-time Deputy Pensions Ombudsman. So the post holder will have oversight and responsibility for the service as a whole to manage the transition from the current Pensions Ombudsman to the next and beyond.

Our new interim Chief Executive will be a proven leader with a track record of leading an organisation through transition, able to build on organisational success, but also experienced at identifying and delivering changes for the better. You will need to be able to hit the ground running, quickly establishing credibility with staff, users of our service, government and industry; clearly able to develop and motivate people and teams to perform at optimal levels through change.

Proposed recruitment timetable

Closing Date / 6 pm on 1 December 2014
Panel interviews / Week commencing 15 December 2014

How to apply

Please visit our website at for the information pack and application form.

Closing Date 1 December 2014 at 6 pm

Disability

Under the guaranteed interview scheme disabled candidates who have the right qualifications for the role will be guaranteed an interview. If you wish to claim this right under the scheme please say so on the application form.

HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Everyone who works at the Pensions Ombudsman Service is expected to successfully complete the BPSS.

There are four elements of verification and we must be satisfied that evidence has been made available to enable verification of each element. These are

  • Confirmation of nationality and immigration status
  • Confirmation of identity
  • Verification of previous 3 year employment history
  • Disclosure of unspent criminal convictions.

We will carry out the first three checks internally but for the unspent criminal conviction check we use Disclosure Scotland (an agency) to provide a disclosure certificate.

BPSS ensures that:

  • new staff are entitled to undertake the employment in question and, where appropriate, meet nationality rules for government service;
  • we are guarded against the employment of anyone posing as a prospective employee for commercial or personal gain; and
  • sound basis is provided for any subsequent security checks.

The check will be carried out when a contract offer has been made. The offer will be subject to successful completion of the BPSS. The contract will not commence until BPSS has been completed successfully.

Applicants should be aware that supplying false information or failing to disclose relevant information could be grounds for refusal/dismissal and could amount to a criminal offence.

Data protection

Checks require processing of personal data about individuals. The provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 will apply at all times.

Information about criminal records (self-disclosures, or other vetting disclosures) will only be held by the Business Manager and/or Human Resources Manager. Disclosure information will only be used for the specific purpose for which it was requested. For successful candidates, the information will be kept securely and will not normally be kept with standard personnel records if such records can be accessed by other staff. Disclosed information will be kept for a further six months beyond the duration of employment. For unsuccessful candidates such information will be kept for six months in line with all other recruitment paperwork. Once the retention period has elapsed, disclosure information will be destroyed by secure means.

We may check information provided by you, or information about you provided by a third party. We will not disclose information about you to anyone outside the Pensions Ombudsman's Office unless the law permits us to.

Information provided by you in this application, and the supporting documentation, will be used by the panel to consider your suitability for the post applied for. If you are successful, this information will become part of your employment record. If you are unsuccessful, some data may be used for monitoring purposes and will be destroyed after 12 months.