FOI reference - FOI-172
Date - 8 October 2023
Request
I would like any details of any complaints that you received from people in relation to the conduct of Pello Capital or Cornhill Capital and pension/investment transactions.
Response
Duty to confirm or deny whether we hold the information requested
We neither confirm nor deny that we hold information falling within the description specified in your request.
Section 44(1)(a) – restricted information under s82 PA04
The reason that we cannot confirm or deny that we hold the information is because disclosure of the sort of information requested is prohibited under an enactment, save in certain circumstances which do not apply here.
As we have been given strong powers to demand documents and other information from trustees, employers and others, those powers are also balanced by restrictions on how we disclose the information provided to us. The type of information you have requested would be ‘restricted information’. Restricted information is defined at section 82(4) of the Pensions Act 2004 (PA04) as:
‘…information obtained by the Regulator in the exercise of its functions which relates to the business or other affairs of any person’.
Under section 82(5) of the PA04 it is a criminal offence to disclose such information except as permitted under that Act.
Whilst the FoIA is based on the presumption of releasing information, section 44(1)(a) of the FoIA provides an absolute exemption to the requirement to disclose any information if its disclosure is prohibited by or under any enactment. In this case, section 82 of the PA04 prohibits disclosure and we are unable to disclose the requested information. This exemption is absolute and does not require a public interest assessment be undertaken.
This should not be taken as any indication of whether or not we hold the information you requested.