About Us

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About The Pension Ombuds office

The Government Employees Pension Ombud (the GEPO), is a voluntary complaints handling mechanism established by the Board of Trustees of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). It exists to provide members, pensioners and beneficiaries of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) with a fair, expedient and effective dispute resolution process without the burden of having to pay for legal representation. The GEPO provides an informal yet accessible alternative to other remedies, such as court proceedings.

Peter Adams

co-founder of company

Establishment of the Office of the Government Employees Pension Ombudsman

The Government Employees Pension Fund recognises the importance of having a consistent, accessible and impartial process for dealing efficiently and effectively with complaints. The fund recognises that the formal and informal complaints process must be fair and professional. The Office of the Government Employees Pension Ombudsman has been established to fulfil this purpose.

Purpose of the Ombudsman

The purpose of the Office of the Government Employees Pension Ombudsman is to establish a mechanism for members of the Government Employees Pension Fund and their beneficiaries to lodge complaints against the fund and for GEPO to provide investigate, consider, determine and resolve the complaints. The jurisdiction of the Ombudsman is to:

Receive complaints about alleged acts or omissions.
Exercise discretion to accept or decline to act on a complaint.
Act on the ombudsman’s own initiative to address issues within the ombudsman’s prescribed jurisdiction.
Operate by fair and timely procedures to aid in the just resolution of a complaint.
Gather relevant information.
function by such means as:
Investigating and issuing determinations
Making recommendations for the resolution of a complaint or a systemic
Identifying complaint patterns and trends.
Educating.
Advocating on behalf of affected individuals or groups when specifically authorized by the board.
Initiate litigation to enforce or protect the authority of the office, as otherwise provided by these standards, or as required by law.

The Ombudsman Service

The Ombudsman shall require that all complaints be in writing either on paper or electronic form, shall elicit such further information or expert advice as is regarded as necessary and shall seek to resolve every such complaint by determination.
The determination aforesaid may be to:
decline to consider the complaint
uphold the complaint, either wholly or in part;
dismiss the complaint;
make a ruling of a procedural or evidentiary nature;
award compensation
Order a subscribing member to take, or refrain from taking, any such action in regard to the disposal of a specific complaint as the Ombudsman may deem necessary.
Issue a declaratory order.
The Ombudsman may decline to consider or may dismiss a complaint, if it appears to him, on the information furnished by the complainant, that:
the complaint has no reasonable prospect of success; or
the complaint is being pursued in a dishonest, frivolous, vexatious or abusive manner; or
the complaint can more appropriately be dealt with by a court of law; or
the complaint is predominantly about investment performance or the legitimate exercise by the GEPF or GPAA of its commercial judgment; or
The complainant has not suffered, and is not likely to suffer, material inconvenience or distress or financial loss.
If a complainant fails or refuses to furnish information requested by the Ombudsman within the period fixed for that purpose, the Ombudsman shall be free to make a determination on the information as may then be available to him:
A determination made by the Ombudsman shall be binding on the subscribing member concerned.
All exchanges between the Ombudsman and a complainant in relation to a complaint and all the documentation generated in regard thereto, shall by agreement be regarded as privileged and shall as such be immune from disclosure in evidence, save by an order of court or the consent of the parties concerned
Include reporting lines under About us and include below information:

Reporting lines
GEPO is independent from line management of GEPF and GPAA and reports directly to the Board.
Thank you

Purpose of the Ombudsman

The purpose of the Office of the Government Employees Pension Ombudsman is to establish a mechanism for members of the Government Employees Pension Fund and their beneficiaries to lodge complaints against the fund and for GEPO to provide investigate, consider, determine and resolve the complaints.
The jurisdiction of the Ombudsman is to:

Receive complaints about alleged acts or omissions.
Exercise discretion to accept or decline to act on a complaint.
Act on the ombudsman’s own initiative to address issues within the ombudsman’s prescribed jurisdiction.
Operate by fair and timely procedures to aid in the just resolution of a complaint.
Gather relevant information.
function by such means as:
Investigating and issuing determinations
Making recommendations for the resolution of a complaint or a systemic
Identifying complaint patterns and trends.
Educating.
Advocating on behalf of affected individuals or groups when specifically authorized by the board.
Initiate litigation to enforce or protect the authority of the office, as otherwise provided by these standards, or as required by law.

Powers of the GEP Ombud Office

GEPO shall in the exercise of its powers and duties be to –
receive and deal with complaints arising from the pension services provided by the Fund to members, pensioners or their former spouses or their beneficiaries;
direct queries which come in the form of complaints to the Fund’s Administrator for resolution by it
consider disputes arising between members, and pensioners of the Fund, or their former spouses or their beneficiaries, the employer and the Fund;
facilitate the settlement or resolution of disputes by agreement, or determinations or by such other means as is required subject to these Terms of Reference;
determine, at the Ombud’s sole discretion, whether or not a complaint falls within his or her jurisdiction within these Terms of Reference;
explore any reasonable prospect of resolving a complaint by a settlement acceptable to both parties;
in general take any steps necessary which will help in achieving the Ombud’s mission

Obligations of the GEPF and the Employer

The GEPF and Employer shall –
abide by the rules of procedure to be set out in the Procedure Handbook;
abide by the provisions of the GEP Law and the Fund Rules;
abide by the standard complaints procedures compiled by GEPO;
ensure member communication is sent out to all members advising them of the complaints procedures and those relating to the GEPO
expeditiously comply with the requests for information from the GEPO in terms of the Terms of Reference and the Procedure Handbook;
display notices on their premises and in all their branches stating that the Fund participates in the GEPO and that copies of the Procedure Handbook are available on request and on the Fund’s website;
The GEPF and Employer shall not –
prevent a member who would otherwise be eligible to use the services of GEPO from doing so through the use of an arbitration clause in a contract;
resort to litigation in the courts while a complainant is being dealt with by the GEPO;
provide the GEPO with any misleading information;
provide any member, pensioner or beneficiary of the Fund with any misleading information regarding the operation of the GEPO