NHS Pensions in England and Scotland

Ian6411

xylophone wrote: »

Does the above help?

Has your wife put her queries in writing and received a response in writing with a full answers /explanations?

I drafted an email on my wife's behalf which she sent. This was after getting nowhere with phone calls. They took an age to respond and when they did, it simply provided a copy of the pensionable service provided to them by payroll and a statement that as this was what they had been advised, this is what they had applied and so they considered the matter closed.


I drafted another email for my wife to send to payroll and no response was received after several reminders. My wife called them and was told that they don't respond to employees on pensionable service and she needed to take it up with pensions. She called pensions and was told that they don't query information sent to them by payroll. She came home in tears and refused to make any further contact over the matter.


In terms of the links you have kindly provided, they seem to indicate that my wife's additional hours would have been pensionable as they only took her up to 3.5 days a week from her usual 2.5 days. However, payroll have only asked pensions to add on the equivalent of 2.5 days per week for the 3 years she was working 3.5 days. It's a couple of years since this fiasco and so I will try to get her to re-open everything.

Ian6411

jem16 wrote: »

Ah looks like you have to retire before accessing the pensions. With the 2008 section having a NRD of 65 she would have to wait until then.

That's a pity that they're not allowing the 2008 part to be obtained at 65 without retiring. They had talked about doing so. This was particularly relevant for those on the earlier schemes with NRD of 60.

I have followed through some scheme rules on the English NHS website and this indicates you can retire for 24 hours and so claim the 2008 scheme benefits, returning to work 24 hours later and continue to contribute into the 2015 scheme. I assume the Scottish scheme is the same and so it looks like it should be possible.

Flugelhorn

Ian6411 I have had problems with payroll allocating the wrong number of days / hours to my pension (looked like I was doing 17.5 hour days instead of 7) . It had the effect of dropping my whole time equivalent salary and hence my pension (I'm in the 95 scheme).

I got someone in payroll to correct the number of hours and that adjusted the salary. The problem recurred the next year and the pensions agency made the adjustment based on the previous hours

Ian6411

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Ian6411 I have had problems with payroll allocating the wrong number of days / hours to my pension (looked like I was doing 17.5 hour days instead of 7) . It had the effect of dropping my whole time equivalent salary and hence my pension (I'm in the 95 scheme).

I got someone in payroll to correct the number of hours and that adjusted the salary. The problem recurred the next year and the pensions agency made the adjustment based on the previous hours

I think the solution probably sits with my wife's payroll department and so I'll be drafting out another email for her to send. Hopefully it'll be addressed properly by them this time. On a slightly different note, at the same time this was all happening 2 years ago, I spotted that the English scheme had got my wife's salary completely wrong and so had cut her benefits by over half. They were quick to admit their mistake and corrected it no problem but my wife would never have noticed this. I just wonder how many other people are being badly treated.

xylophone

If you are still having difficulty you might approach TPAS for assistance.

https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/pension-problems/making-a-complaint

Flugelhorn

I think you do have to keep a very close eye on the pension records and salaries etc. My record was lacking a year at one point

NHSBSA had me leaving a job in Jan 2001 and not starting new job until Jan 2002 - they contacted the employers who had of course merged / changed name etc and there were no records. Fortunately I found a couple of payslips and the P60 for 01/02 which showed the earnings for the year and they added this on to my record.

crv1963

Hi Ian6411


It might be worth your wife finding out the name of one of her Trusts Pension Officers and you drafting an e-mail to him/her directly with the details you are discussing and the problems she has had. They may be able to look into it all and sort it out for her. It may also be a good idea for her to admit her lack of understanding and ask if they will deal in the matter with yourself if they can.


I have found the Pensions Officers at the Trusts I have worked for helpful and although not always an immediate response they do reply when they have the relevant information. I haven't asked them if they are allowed to deal in my affairs with my wife though so can't guarantee that they will respond to you on behalf of your wife data protection may not allow this!


Good Luck