ABSTRACT
Judicial review of decisions of Commissioners is an available form of redress, although the breadth of discretion conferred on Commissioners often renders their decisions beyond challenge. In Law Debenture Trust Group plc v Pensions Ombudsman (1999), the Chancery Division allowed an appeal against a finding of maladministration by the Pensions Ombudsman. The complainant had applied to trustees of his pension scheme for early retirement following an injury. The trustees concluded that he was not incapacitated, having carried out video surveillance. The court ruled that the only basis available to the Ombudsman for overturning the decision of the trustees was on the ground of perversity, and that such a finding would have to be expressed in clear terms in the Ombudsman’s decision, which had not been done. Further, a finding of perversity could only be made after consideration of the Wednesbury criteria with respect to unreasonableness. The Ombudsman was wrong to find that surveillance per se amounted to maladministration.
