LGPS Overdue

SteveG787

My wife has a Local Government pension which was due to start last Friday. She didn't receive the expected payment and phoned today to find out what was the delay.

She was told she had to apply for the payments to be made on forms that would be sent by them shortly. She had already filled in an option form last year to give our bank details and declare that she wanted the payment made on the normal start date (it could have been taken on her birthday at a reduced rate).

When she asked why the forms hadn't been sent earlier she was told that the process didn't start until the due date (17th feb) and that forms would be sent soon. She was told not to worry as payments would be backdated, but that no interest was payable if there were any delays.

When querying all this she was told that was the pension scheme procedure and was in the scheme rules (which she doesn't have unfortunately).

Does anybody know if this is right / normal as it seems to me that it would be impossible to receive payment on the due date under these rules and that all the time payment of the lump sum is delayed it is an interest free loan to the pension scheme.

If there were forms to fill in they are mentioned nowhere in the documentation she received last year and surely they shpould be posted well before the due date, not afterwards.

xylophone

When querying all this she was told that was the pension scheme procedure and was in the scheme rules (which she doesn't have unfortunately).

Is there not a web site for her local authority - example

http://www.twpf.info/article/11841/Members-section

SteveG787

Yes there is a website.

All the downloadable scheme rules on there refer to the current scheme not the scheme she was in in the early 90's. There is no obvious guidance on how to claim or forms to use to claim.

Also she has filled in a form last year ticking "Option 2 - I wish to receive payment of my deferred benefit at an unreduced rate from 17th February".

There is no mention on that form or the confirmation letter that any further forms were required to be filled in. They have all the bank details and her declared option already.

Even if there is a stated requirement somewhere in the depths of the website, there should have been a letter to that effect as not everyone can be assumed to have access to the website.

System

Hi

I can only say that a good LGPS admin system would run an extract report,

TITLE 'Centenarian Pensioners.'
!
REQUEST REQ-DATE01 PROMPT 'DEL if Born Post'
!
SELECT SCHEME EQUALS '001'
STATUSKEYF FROM '5' TO '6'
!
PROCESS START CALCIF DOB > REQ-DATE01
ABANDON
CALCEND
PROCESS END
!
PRINT
LOCNKEYF
DOB
LOC-DESC
! Sequence can be set up here
SEQUENCE
LOCNKEYF
DOB

(To find 100 year olds to send a bouquet to)

The above would be easily modified to find status 4 (DB's) born 59 years and 9 months ago to be written out to ready for their 60th, and of course status 1's would have their employer starting the process.

There are benchmarks for performance and I guess your authority are well down the batting order. My Lump Sum was in my bank EXACTLY on the day promised and my pension was/is on time each and every month.

I would suggest complaining, but I expect that would be pointless.

Typical payment time in a good authority 1 - 10 days for lump sum, and there is a cutoff date with payroll of somewhere roundabout the 18th, so after that the next month would be 6 weeks money.

Name and Shame?

SteveG787

Sorry don't want to name and shame til the moneys in the bank, you never know who's reading this and a letter of complaint is already in draught.

The main issue for us is she received the letter before her birthday, filled in the form which said (extracted highlights) -

"Member's Choice of Deferred Retirement Benefits"
...
"I wish to take the following Option"
...
"Option 2 - I wish to receive payment of my deferred benefit at an unreduced rate from 17th February"
..
"I declare that I wish to receive the benfits as indicated"

Up until today she did not know and as far as I can see had no way of knowing that a further form was necessary.

xylophone

I expect that she could get a copy from LGA - see

http://www.lgpsregs.org/index.php/guides/employees-guides

For earlier versions ..... please contact the LGA pensions team.

However, it seems clear that when your wife was approaching retirement age, she was contacted by the Administrator and completed whatever documentation was required of her at that time.

Was there any acknowledgement by the Pension Administrator of the receipt of completed documentation?

I typed "LGPS - approaching retirement" into Google and the first on the page was the Environment agency pension (LGPS) link to Capita.

Did your wife receive such information and was the process similar?

Silvertabby

Different LGPSs have different systems - but the one I worked for (until I retired last year) would have put a marker on your wife's record to send out the options forms again a month before the due date (just in case she had changed her mind about her options). That way, as long as she returned the forms etc on time, the lump sum would have been paid on the BACs weekly pay-run on or after her due date.

SteveG787

xylophone -

Thanks for the link, similar to my wifes scheme all relate to the current scheme, I had a quick skim and there's nothing much about claiming and what forms to fill in when.

She received a letter starting "Your deferred benefits are due to come into payment on 17th February 2017" and explaining about the option to take the payments early, from her birthday, or at the normal pension age. Included were the option form, a couple of single sheet factsheets on querying the amount and avoiding scams, and a bank details form.

There was a confirmation letter (in Nov 2016) thanking her for the return of the Choice of Retirement Benefits form and saying that the small GMP component would commence on her birthday (which is compulsory and which she has been receiving since December) and that the remainder of the benefits would be deferred until 17th February 2017.

Silvertabby -

Both the covering letter and the options form she returned state in bold print "Please note that this decision is final and cannot be changed" so we were not expecting to be given the choice again and nowhere is that mentioned, indeed that suggests that a further choice would not be allowed.

We have already been through this process for my wife's Teachers Pension and a work pension for me and these were similar in that we had options forms which we filled in and returned, got confirmation, then payments were received on the due dates. This seemed the same until the telephone conversation this morning. It now appears we have to fill in another from despite everything the previous one said being to the contrary and that the process of sending out the form has not yet been carried out despite it being after the due date. I have been right through their website and there is no obvious form on there that applies (nor a copy of the form we have already returned).

SteveG787

xylophone -

One thing I did find following your link was that the government LGPS regulations state that interest is payable if the lump sum is more than one month late, at the rate of 1% above base rate.

This is contrary to what the pension helpdesk told us.

Do you, or anybody, know if this is automatic or whether this needs to be claimed also.

I suppose they will have a different idea about whether it is overdue but we have returned every form we have been asked to, on time, filled in correctly and months ago. I cannot see what else we could have done to expedite this.

xylophone

https://mpfmembers.org.uk/content/paying-your-lgps-benefits

Interest on Late Payment of Lump Sum

If payment of a lump sum is delayed for any reason for more than 1 month from the date of retirement, interest will be calculated as compensation.


Does your wife have any colleagues who are recent LGPS pensioners with whom she can compare notes?

SteveG787

No, I'm afraid not, it's over 20 years since she left and it was a small unit and the few she is still in contact with are yet to retire.