NHS pension Mental Health Officer Status

Penandpencil

Hi
Thanks for your detailed response.

To answer your questions: I joined the pension scheme in September 1994 and left in around February 1995 but remained in my NHS post. I was offered by NHS pensions to withdraw from the pension and take a refund. Due to financial issues (low pay and a mortgage) I had little choice. I was entitled to MHO status (this is not in doubt). I then started a new NHS post in September 1995 and re-joined the pension immediately. I intend to contact my union (Unite) to get advice, but like most on here I am not optimistic.

Silvertabby

To answer your questions: I joined the pension scheme in September 1994 and left in around February 1995 but remained in my NHS post. I was offered by NHS pensions to withdraw from the pension and take a refund. Due to financial issues (low pay and a mortgage) I had little choice. I was entitled to MHO status (this is not in doubt). I then started a new NHS post in September 1995 and re-joined the pension immediately. I intend to contact my union (Unite) to get advice, but like most on here I am not optimistic.

Are you saying that you left the pension scheme but not your job? If so, did you opt out of the pension scheme (you mention low pay and mortgage)? If that is the case, then you would have automatically been offered a refund of your contributions, as you had insufficient service for any pension rights. If you did opt out of the pension fund, then I can't see that you would have grounds for a complaint now.

Do you still have the original refund documents? I know that NHS rules aren't exactly the same as the LGPS, but if you had opted out of the LGPS with insufficient pensionable service you would have been given the choice of a refund or leaving your benefits 'frozen' in case you returned to the fold in the future.

Thrugelmir

Penandpencil wrote: »

I was offered by NHS pensions to withdraw from the pension and take a refund. Due to financial issues (low pay and a mortgage) I had little choice.

That sounds like a voluntary exit then. An offer doesn't constitute advice. Decision was yours alone.

AnotherJoe

Penandpencil wrote: »

Hi
Thanks for your detailed response.

To answer your questions: I joined the pension scheme in September 1994 and left in around February 1995 but remained in my NHS post. I was offered by NHS pensions to withdraw from the pension and take a refund. Due to financial issues (low pay and a mortgage) I had little choice. I was entitled to MHO status (this is not in doubt). I then started a new NHS post in September 1995 and re-joined the pension immediately. I intend to contact my union (Unite) to get advice, but like most on here I am not optimistic.

So you voluntarily made this choice, out of necessity !!!

Why then do you think you are due reinstatement? What are your grounds?

The fact its unfortunate timing is irrelevant, you yourself have said it was your choice forced upon you by your finances.

Manxman_in_exile

I'm sorry but I think you're probably mistaken if you think you remember NHS Pensions making you an "offer" to leave the scheme and take a refund 21 or 22 years ago.


I don't doubt that that may be how you remember it now, but I think it may probably be more likely that as a new joiner to the NHS you were somehow notified that membership of the scheme was optional and that you exercised the option to leave in accordance with form SD502. As I mentioned in my earlier post, all new joiners in the 90s would have received a pension pack (as I presume they still do) explaining that you could opt out of the scheme.


As I recall, if you had less than 2 years service you could have had a refund of contributions or had your benefits frozen. (As per Silvertabby's post#13)


I knew several people who opted out in the late 80s and 90s. Unfortunately all of them regretted having done so. Either they sought no advice or they received poor advice from people selling private pensions. (Or, like you, they thought they couldn't afford to contribute).


I think you're probably stuffed now, but get onto Unite and good luck!

Kynthia

The same happens now in the civil service pension scheme. I believe new joiners are automatically enrolled but information sent to them explains that membership is optional and if they opt out they will be refunded the contributions they've paid so far. Obviously members who aren't new joiners can opt out too but it isn't automatic they will get a refund as they may get a deferred pension. If you opt out of the scheme you can't have the benefits of membership.

Manxman_in_exile

Penandpencil - is it possible that you opted out of the scheme along with some of your colleagues and that then NHS Pensions wrote to you "offering" you a choice between (a) taking a refund of contributions or (b) having your accrued benefits "frozen" until retirement age? Is this what you remember as an "offer" of a refund? Unfortunately you'd already opted out by this stage.


If you've worked for 20 years under the mistaken belief you had MHO status it must have been a shock to be told you didn't. (Out of curiosity, did you learn after asking for a retirement forecast?)


BUT looking on the bright side...you are still a member of one of the very best pension schemes in the country. You only need to search for posts about the NHS pension scheme on this board and you will see that many posters on here consider that it still provides benefits that are unmatchable in the private sector and are only comparable to some of the other public sector schemes. (I presume you are in either the 1995 or 2008 scheme). When new posters come on here and ask whether they should opt out of the NHS scheme the prevailing view seems to be "DON'T!!!". The benefits are too valuable.


You may have thought that you'd be able to retire in a couple of years time but will now have to work for another 10, 15 or 20 years. Not what you were hoping for, but when you do retire you'll be far better off than most people your age and almost everybody younger than you. (Unless there's some unforeseeable pensions revolution).