NHS Ill Health Pension process

swheatley

Hi there

I hope someone may be able to assist!

I have applied for NHS pension; ill health ( preserved benefits). I had confirmation of my application on the 9 th August after my GP had completed their bit and sent it in to NHS pensions assessor (ATOS!).

They then wrote to my specialist on 14th August for more info about my condition, which is perfectly normal for them. I then rang NHS pensions three weeks ago to ascertain where they were in terms of assessing my eligibility, to find that they had nor received a report from specialist yet, but would chase them. They still have not received this 6 weeks later. I have prompted specialist twice.

I was also told that payment of pension would be at the point I was " accepted" as being eligible and not from the date of my application. This concerns me for two reasons;

1. That I cannot find this stated anywhere in their info, online or in the scant pack they sent me. I cannot see this in the regulations either. When I originally phoned to request an application I was told to send it in ASAP as the date application received by them would be when payment was backdated to if successful.
2. That NHS pensions have no standards to meet in respect of turnaround of applications and therefore it is within their best interests to take as long as they can ( perverse incentive). They do not appear to actively chase for information from specialists.

I make the point as it has already talent 3 months from the point at which I asked for application pack, and a further 7 weeks waiting for specialist to respond.

When I asked if they put a time limit on the specialist responding, they advised that they did not. They also said that GP report was not really taken into consideration as they are not specialists ( begs the question of why they are asked to waste their valuable time completing the forms and why they don't just ask you to get the specialist to complete straight away: even though they don't know you as we'll as GP). The pensions adviser appeared to imply that GPs were overly sympathetic to their patients and that the specialist report was more factual and objective. I found this rather alarming as GPs are bound by hypocratic oath and my GP would never support a claim for something I wasn't eligible for; they would tell me directly if they felt they could not support me.

Anyway, back to the point; has anyone got experience of NHS pension process and any idea of when I should complain due to length of time it is taking. I know once a decision has been made it can take up to 12 weeks to start receiving payment. The process, on top of being ill is really stressful.

Thanks