While these developments were unfolding, an equally important but less well known event occurred: a major challenge via the courts to the Pensions Ombudsman’s interpretation of his statutory jurisdiction. This challenge was launched under a provision in the Pension Schemes Act 1993 whereby the parties to a dispute which has been the subject of a determination or direction by the Ombudsman may be appealed against, on a point of law, to the High Court.3 The eventual ruling in Century Life 4 vindicates the Ombudsman’s expansive perception of his own jurisdiction and brings under his supervision a sizeable bloc of the insurance industry which was clearly anxious to be insulated from Ombudsman scrutiny in performing its pension scheme administration activities. To appreciate fully the context and importance of Century Life, however, it is necessary at the outset to provide a thumb-nail sketch of the key features of the Pensions Ombudsman scheme, including its unusual institutionalized link with the legal system.

The current legal framework for the operation of the Pensions Ombudsman scheme is principally contained in the Pension Schemes Act 1993. The Act establishes the office of Ombudsman5 and identifies his basic function as being to investigate and determine complaints made to him in writing by or on behalf of a complainant “who alleges that he has sustained injustice in consequence of maladministration in connection with any act or