The Office of the Pensions Ombudsman, established in April 2003, is a State agency which comes under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection. The total cost of the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman for each year of its operation to 2012 inclusive is set out in the following table.
Year
|
Amount -
€
|
2003 (part)
|
225,470
|
2004
|
509,951
|
2005
|
634,631
|
2006
|
793,810
|
2007
|
912,625
|
2008
|
1,052,578
|
2009
|
1,015,479
|
2010
|
986,771
|
2011
|
973,372
|
2012
|
1,038,529
|
Under the Government’s Public Service Reform Plan, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman was recently subject to a Critical Review with a proposal to merge the office with the Financial Services Ombudsman. The Report of the Critical Review Steering Group recommended that both offices be merged. This recommendation was accepted by Government in April 2013. The reform measures will be implemented within the next two years.