(Version 3: August 2007)

The Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland and the Institute of Actuaries in England and Wales are the two professional bodies for UK actuaries and together are known as 'The Actuarial Profession'. Please contact us if you would like more information about our complaints procedures, or if you want to discuss a particular problem in confidence. Our staff are trained in dealing with complaints and will give you unbiased advice. Our contact details are at the end of this note.

About the Actuarial Profession in Britain

The Profession has a total of some 18,300 members, comprising approximately 8,700 Fellows, almost 8,700 students, and 900 associates and affiliate members. The members belong to either the Faculty of Actuaries or the Institute of Actuaries, but an independent Disciplinary Board oversees the disciplinary procedures of each body. The Board comprises three Fellows of each body, with three lay members (non-actuaries), and the Chairman is one of the lay members.

How to make a complaint

You can discuss a problem with us at any time but we cannot give you advice on whether it is appropriate for you to make a complaint or not. If you decide to make a complaint you should write to us giving as much of the following information as you can:

• the full name and address of the actuary or actuaries concerned;
• details of what, in your view, the actuary has done wrong. Please set out the facts as clearly as you can, in a logical order, and stick to what is relevant to your complaint;
• the dates when the events took place that you describe;
• copies of any relevant papers;
• names and addresses of anyone who could support your complaint from their own personal knowledge.
  

To help you there is a complaints form [pdf] which accompanies these notes but you do not have to use it. We will consider your complaint as long as it is in writing.

How we deal with your complaints

We are firstly required to consider whether the matter complained of is already the subject of investigation by the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) (1) as a 'public interest' case, or potentially falls within the AADB's Guidelines for referral to or call-in of cases as raising a matter affecting the 'public interest' in the United Kingdom. If so, we are unable to take the matter any further under our schemes, and you will be notified accordingly and the AADB will take over the complaint.

All other complaints against individual members of the Faculty or of the Institute of Actuaries are dealt with under the Profession's disciplinary schemes. For legal reasons there are two schemes: one for members of the Faculty of Actuaries and one for members of the Institute of Actuaries. They are virtually identical and the same people carry out the same roles under each scheme.

Unless there is a 'public interest' as described in paragraph 1 above, we will investigate every complaint that we receive, whether it is from a member of the public, or from another actuary, or from the police, provided that it is about a named actuary who is or has been a member of the Profession. Each complaint is considered very carefully.

The procedure is summarised in the attached chart. [pdf]

An Investigating Actuary, normally chosen from a branch of actuarial practice that is relevant to the complaint, and a Case Officer, who is one of the specially trained staff employed by the Profession, will be assigned to your complaint and we will tell you who they are. They will prepare a case report setting out the facts. The case report will contain the papers you sent us about your complaint and the response from the actuary complained about.

In some cases, the Investigating Actuary may decide to apply for an Interim Order for suspension of any Practising Certificate held by the actuary concerned, or of that actuary's membership of the Faculty and/or of the Institute, while the investigating team carries out its investigation. The decision on such an application will be taken by an Interim Orders Panel, comprising two actuaries and one lay person (non-actuary). An Interim Order, in advance of a Disciplinary Tribunal Panel hearing, can be made only if the Panel considers that it is warranted by the seriousness of the alleged misconduct. Prima facie evidence means evidence which shows that there is an arguable case of misconduct for the actuary to answer. You would not usually be invited to appear before the Interim Orders Panel, which meets in private. The actuary concerned has a right of appeal to the Appeals Tribunal against any Interim Order made against him or her.

If there is no Interim Order application (and these applications are expected to be rare) the case report goes to an Adjudication Panel. This Panel meets in private and, based solely on the case report, has to decide what action to take if the actuary concerned may have committed misconduct. If it thinks that the complaint raises serious issues, it will refer it to the Disciplinary Tribunal Panel.

In less serious cases it can invite the actuary concerned to accept one or more of the following sanctions:

• a reprimand;
• a fine up to a maximum limit set by the Disciplinary Board;
• a period of education, retraining or supervised practice, aimed to prevent recurrence of any mistakes that have come to light in the investigation of the complaint.

If the actuary accepts this sanction the matter ends there. If the actuary does not accept then the complaint is referred to a Disciplinary Tribunal Panel.

The Adjudication Panel may also decide to take no action against the actuary. If no action is taken on your complaint, and you are dissatisfied with the decision, you may apply for review by the Independent Examiner - a lay person. There is no charge for such a review, and the Independent Examiner may uphold the Panel's decision or send back the Case Report for reconsideration by an Adjudication Panel, but cannot overturn the decision of a Panel.

Complaints referred to a Disciplinary Tribunal Panel become part of a formal charge of misconduct, and are heard in public at a meeting which the actuary is invited to attend. If the Disciplinary Tribunal Panel finds the charge proved, it can impose one or more of the following penalties:

• a reprimand;
• a fine;
• remedial training or supervised practice, aimed to prevent recurrence of any mistakes that have come to light in the investigation of the complaint;
• suspension or withdrawal of any Practising Certificates held by the actuary concerned;
• suspension of the actuary from membership of the Faculty or of the Institute for up to five years (after which he or she automatically becomes a member again);
• expulsion of the actuary from membership of the Faculty or of the Institute for up to five years (after which he or she cannot become a member again unless the Membership Committee agrees);
• exclusion from membership, also for up to five years. (This has the same effect as expulsion but applies to actuaries whose membership has lapsed for any reason.)

No compensation available through this procedure

Please note that the Adjudication Panel and the Disciplinary Tribunal Panel cannot award compensation to you. Only the courts can do that.

Who else can help?

As stated above, the Disciplinary Investigation Team can only consider complaints against individual actuaries. However, there are a very small number of firms regulated by the Institute of Actuaries in relation to certain types of investment business under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

• Further information can be found in this guide
• or contact the DPB Manager, Robert McGregor on 0131 240 1328.

There are several other bodies that you may wish to consider contacting before making a complaint to the Institute of Actuaries or Faculty of Actuaries;

The Financial Ombudsman Service can help with complaints about most financial matters involving products and services provided in (or from) the UK. The areas they cover include banking, insurance, pensions, saving and investments, credit cards and store cards, loans and credit, hire purchasing, financial advice, stocks, shares, unit trusts and bonds.

Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0845 080 1800

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is the independent watchdog set up by government to regulate financial services in the UK and protect the rights of retail customers. The FSA also regulates the selling and marketing of personal and stakeholder pensions. The FSA provides general information about personal or stakeholder pensions, but it cannot give you advice specific to your circumstances. The FSA does not investigate individual consumer complaints, but it has a complaints process that firms must follow.

Website: www.fsa.gov.uk and www.moneymadeclear.fsa.gov.uk
Telephone: 0845 606 1234

The Pensions Advisory Service is an independent non-profit organisation that is grant- aided by the Department for Work and Pensions. The Pensions Advisory Service provides information, advice and guidance on the whole spectrum of pensions covering State, company, personal and stakeholder schemes. They also help any member of the public who has a problem, complaint or dispute with their occupational or private pension arrangement. In some cases they may correspond with a pension scheme on your behalf to help resolve matters. These could include discrepancies with benefit payments or disagreement with certain decisions made by the trustees. The Pensions Advisory Service can also provide advice on taking a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman (see below). The service provided by the Pensions Advisory Service is free and is provided by a nationwide network of volunteer advisers. They operate a telephone helpline.

Website: www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk
Telephone: 0845 601 2923

The Pensions Ombudsman deals with complaints about the running of pension schemes that have not been resolved by the scheme's own complaints procedure or by the Pensions Advisory Service. The Pensions Ombudsman has the power to make a final decision on a complaint. The Ombudsman will investigate the case and reach a decision that is legally binding on you and the pension scheme.

Website: www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk
Telephone: 0207 834 9144

The Pensions Regulator is the new regulatory body for work-based pension schemes in the UK. They replaced Opra in 2005. The Pensions Regulator regulates the administration of pension schemes, but not the selling of pensions. If you believe that your scheme may not be complying with pensions legislation, you can report the scheme to the Pensions Regulator. The Pensions Regulator suggest that if you have a query or problem with your pension scheme, you should always begin by trying to sort it out with the scheme itself and you should contact the scheme trustees as they are responsible for running the scheme. If this does not resolve the problem, the pension scheme will have a dispute resolution service you can use. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact the Pensions Advisory Service (see below).

Website: www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk
Telephone: 0870 606 3636

You may also wish to consider mediation. Some complaints may arise because of misunderstanding, or a lack of communication and before making a complaint to the Institute of Actuaries or the Faculty of Actuaries, or to any other body, consideration should be given as to whether the matter, or some elements of it, may be resolved through mediation. Mediation is a process whereby an experienced and neutral third party mediator assists parties in resolving disputes. Whilst it is not a service provided by the Actuarial Profession, there are a number of providers throughout the UK.

Respecting your privacy

We will need to handle personal details about you (like your name, address, and the nature of your complaint). We will wish to send a copy of your complaint to the actuary about whom you are complaining and if you are unable to agree to this we will probably not be able to take your complaint any further.

We will respect your privacy during the investigation and at the Adjudication stage, but please remember that hearings before the Disciplinary Tribunal Panels and Appeals Tribunal Panels are public, and so you may be identified at those hearings.

If you need more information

These notes summarise the procedure for response to complaints. If you need to know more, please contact us.

You can write to us as follows:

Michael Scott
Head of the Disciplinary Investigation Team
The Actuarial Profession
Maclaurin House
18 Dublin Street
Edinburgh, EH1 3PP

Or you can contact us by:

Telephone: +44 (0)131 240 1307
Fax: +44 (0)131 240 1314
E-mail: complaints@actuaries.org.uk

If you would like to read the professional disciplinary schemes in full, they are available below:

• Faculty Scheme [pdf]
• Institute Scheme [pdf]

(1)The Accountancy and Actuarial Disciplinary Board (AADB) of the Financial Reporting Council operates a disciplinary scheme for 'public interest' cases involving actuaries, in order to implement a recommendation of the Morris Review of the Actuarial Profession in 2005. The AADB has issued guidelines about what constitutes a 'public interest' matter. The Guidelines currently in force are found on the AADB's website.

(Version 3: August 2007)