ReAssure has apologised for providing incorrect information to a customer relating to a tax rebate which left him with a cash flow issue.
The customer, who wished to be referred to only as Mr M, told FT Adviser the issue began in April 2024, when he made a one-off taxable pension withdrawal of £50,000.
After being contacted by FT Adviser, ReAssure said it would write to apologise to Mr M and pay an "appropriate amount" of compensation to make up for the "trouble and upset" caused by the error.
In July he discovered the withdrawal was set up for monthly tax rebate through payroll by ReAssure rather than a one-off reclaim of overpaid tax.
This was discovered after HMRC refused Mr M a rebate of around £12,000.
Mr M contacted ReAssure where he was told the tax code used was correct and all matters to be raised with HMRC.
According to the customer, the call centre representative was unable to find any record of a monthly rebate set up and so he asked for the matter to be escalated.
Following this conversation, Mr M was contacted by another call centre representative who confirmed the pension withdrawal had been set up for monthly tax rebate.
Mr M claims he was told by another person at the call centre they were not aware that lump-sum withdrawals could be set up for monthly rebate and confirmed it should not have been set up that way, promising a resolution by the end of the week.
However, a week later Mr M still had not heard from ReAssure and when he rang the call centre he was not given a timescale of when the issue would be resolved.
ReAssure apologises for incorrect information
On July 24, Mr M lodged a complaint and he continued to chase ReAssure on a daily basis but still had not received a response about his issue.
Then on August 5, Mr M was contacted by ReAssure and was given a HMRC transaction ID and was told to speak with HMRC in regard to the issue quoting the ID number.
Mr M, said: “The issue for me is receiving the rebate that I was banking on in July.
"As it stands, I may well not receive it till November or perhaps even after the close of this tax year. At no point has ReAssure discussed the financial impact ReAssue's error will have on me or how it can be mitigated - it's a cash flow issue for me.”
On August 12, Mr M was contacted by the complaints team who told the customer they were now looking into the matter.
A spokesperson for ReAssure, said: “Our investigation into [Mr M’s] complaint shows that we have administered his policy correctly and fully in line with HMRC rules.
“However, our findings also show that we should have been clearer in explaining how we were going to refund his tax and how the PAYE tax system works for the type of policy he holds.
