Poor Service from MyCSP

sleepymans

back_against_the_wall wrote: »

I am very grateful for the link by xylophone to the document
setting out the PCSPS family benefits repayment arrangements.
I have carefully gone through this complicated document and find
to my dismay that, had I retired slightly later, after 6 April 2006,
(I retired slightly before this for health reasons), then new rules apply.
Under these new rules it appears that my WPS refund would have been paid at the same time as my lump sum and both were tax free. But, because I retired just a few months earlier I come under the old rules
and, not only do I not get a refund of my WPS contributions until age 60, but then my refund is taxed in full at 40% unless I opt for an alternative where part of the refund is converted to an increase in my
monthly pension with a bit tax free in a paltry lump sum of much less than I was expecting. How unfair is this? That the refund I am entitled to should be taxed in full at 40%? Where do they get this from? The 40% rate band is for people on high incomes. I am a pensioner on a low income struggling to get by and I am not even liable at basic rate on my small pension. Why should I be charged at a ridiculously excessive tax rate on a refund I am entitled to?

This is extremely disappointing and I am sorry to say, doesn't surprise me.
Though I would think that although the tax may be deducted at source, so your refund may be net of the 40% tax, that you will be able to get a refund from HMRC of any overpayment of income tax for the year as a whole. Once you have something in writing from MyCSP confirming the figures then its worth speaking to your tax office.


If your tax office is the one in Llanishen Cardiff, I have always found them very helpful.


Best wishes
Sleepy

GibbsRule_No3

Needless to say I needed to phone again this week, as no money has appeared in my account. Onwards and upwards, will see what happens next week. "Good game, good game" as Brucie would say. You have to smile or you'd go bonkers with MyCSP. I really don't think complaining anywhere else will help, they are just useless and eventually money will get to my account, Won't it????:eek:

Bernythedolt

MyCSP have found a way around all these disgraceful late payments of claims -- they've now stopped sending out the claim forms altogether!

After 40 years service, I duly applied for my pension in Oct 2014, providing the obligatory three months notice. MyCSP promised me a claim pack which would include the claim form and other material. They added that this could take up to [an astonishing!] four weeks to arrive.

SEVEN weeks later and I'm still waiting for my claim form! I've sent numerous e-mails, made several phone calls, been promised a "one week escalation", and sent two recorded delivery letters to the CEO, Nicola Hurst (one to the Liverpool centre and one to the registered company address), all to no avail.

The recorded delivery letters were signed for, but elicited no reply. Fortunately, I copied one of these to my MP, who has at least replied and offered his assistance should I call upon it -- which I am about to.

My pension is due in early Feb 2015, and (after reading this and other threads) I have very little confidence that it will be paid on time -- if they won't even send me a claim form after 7 weeks, what chance the payment itself?

And am I not entitled to at least a few days in which to digest all the options and make my irrevocable lifetime choices? Suppose I want to take financial advice, or I want to allocate some pension and consequently need a medical? Where's the time left to do any of that? This is grossly unfair of the despicable MyCSP. I will be FORCED to make hasty or even instant choices, maybe not matching what I really wanted to do, just to try to get my pension paid in time and before I'm completely destitute.

To calculate and set up payment, no doubt they will state they need three months after receipt of my claim -- which they are not permitting me to make!

This whole situation is an absolute disgrace and the politicians who have presided over it should be ashamed. I have long projected my finances around receiving my lump sum and pension on time at age 60 -- an absolute entitlement -- and am now worried how I will meet my commitments when they don't materialise.

The Pensions Advisory Service can't help and nobody will tell me how I'm supposed to survive with no income post-February when I turn 60.

I worked diligently and loyally for the public service for 40 years, for very little reward, as fellow Civil Servants will attest. I've always managed to keep my head above water all that time, never expected to be well off, but I certainly didn't expect the bailiffs to be knocking on my door when I did eventually finish work.

Thoroughly hacked off. Retirement wasn't supposed to be like this.

Steve489

My letter to the CEO did do the trick - sorry your approach didn't work. Did you mark your letter Private for her personal attention?

You could invoke the formal IDR complaint process. You have to send the first stage IDR complaint to MyCSP who have to reply within 3 months. You can then escalate the complaint to Stage 2 with the Cabinet Office if you are not satisfied. You can then appeal to the Pension Ombudsman as a last resort. Hopefully, you may have received your pension by the end of this process:)

orangeanorak

It's little consolation but you are not alone https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5112822
I am waiting on lump sum since 24th October however my monthly pension did come through on time.
I hope you have success

Bernythedolt

Thank you both. Letter to CEO not marked Private, but the gravity of it (marked cc to my MP and threatening his imminent involvement, and the fact it had to be signed for) should have been enough for even a halfwit to pass it up the command chain. My mistake. All advice appreciated and I'll mark the next letter accordingly. (Actually her next letter should come in a House of Commons envelope).

But somebody opened it and (after prompting) I eventually received an e-mail stating they would answer the questions I raised by 2/12/14 - never happened.

Also told my request for a claim form (after waiting 5 weeks) would be escalated and dealt with inside 5 working days - also never happened. It's now 7 weeks.

Spoke to someone yesterday who at least recognised these frustrations. She spoke to her manager who promised the Executive Complaint Team will phone me today. We'll see.

If no call, tomorrow I'll take up my MP's offer to assist.

How does one invoke the stage 1 IDR process in parallel please? Should it go to Cabinet Office who are ostensibly responsible, or MyCSP as their agents? Do I just send them a freeform letter stating so? Or does MyCSP/Cabinet Office have to issue me a specific form for completion? You can see the difficulty with the latter - my complaint is that they already won't send me a pension claim form after 7 weeks...

With a litany of failed deadlines, broken promises and no positive movement in all that time, should I be approaching a solicitor for advice? If a private company (like your bank) withheld payment, you would start legal proceedings for recovery and compensation.

Should one have to rely on the goodwill of someone deigning to handle their complaint after a ridiculous 3 months here and 3 months there, or should one just start immediate legal proceedings for recovery? And proceedings against whom exactly?

An injustice is being committed against retiring public servants and somebody ought to be responsible and taken to task. The question is how and by whom.

Steve489

There is a guide on the Civil Service pensions web site on the IDR process. I think you need to send the Stage 1 IDR complaint to MyCSP, clearly marked as such stating your complaint - send it by signed for delivery. You could also copy your Stage 1 complaint to the Cabinet Office, although the onus is on MyCSP to handle the Stage 1 complaint. The Stage 2 complaint is sent to the Cabinet Office Scheme Manager.

Bernythedolt

Thank you Steve489. Reading further, the IDR process seems to be more concerned with resolving a dispute, by appealing to successively more powerful bodies to have an incorrect/unjust decision or action overturned.

My case concerns inaction, maladministration and ineptitude on the part of MyCSP, so I'm less clear whether IDR is the appropriate process. I suppose this could be construed as maladministration of the Scheme and hence a dispute in that sense, so I'll try this route after approaching my MP. Whether any of these bodies agree it's a dispute, though, remains to be seen.

Thanks again for your helpful advice here and on other threads.

PensionTech

IDRP has to be done if you want to complain to the Ombudsman. Other external parties you could involve are TPR and TPAS.

The other thing you might want to do - contact a newspaper. I can tell you it certainly put the scare on us when we were contacted by the Daily Mail asking why we were refusing to let a member take a trivial lump sum. In defence of my company - the member was not eligible to take a trivial lump sum and had been confused by the commentary in the Budget - we had done nothing wrong and explained the circumstances to the DM. We certainly sent that email promptly though.

Edit: We had also explained the circumstances to the member before being contacted by the DM, in case anyone's wondering!

Bernythedolt

Helpful advice, thanks. The Guardian has certainly been showing interest and published a few articles exposing MyCSP's incompetence. Might try them at some point.

TPAS were polite but ineffectual. They were at least fully aware of MyCSP's shortcomings and confirmed there were several retiring Civil Servants adversely affected. Fully aware of the problem, but no teeth to do anything about it.

I asked TPAS how I was supposed to survive without my pension in place and their "solution" was to direct me to the Financial Services Ombudsman, who were very polite, but said they had no interest in the matter and that I should consult TPAS! :doh: