Teachers Pensions - beneficiary overpayments

donaldbritz

In late 1997 my wife, a teacher, passed away.  I was the beneficiary of a Teachers Pension policy which she held.

In 2017 I received a letter from Teachers Pensions requesting me to confirm my marital status.  I responded to Teachers Pensions (TP) stating that I had remarried in 2000.  TP then advised me that as I had remarried, under TP terms and conditions I was no longer eligible for policy payments as a beneficiary on my deceased wife’s policy, and TP demanded immediate repayment of all overpayments made over a period of 17 years (roughly £8,500).  

I was not aware of this condition.  TP argued that their annual Newsletter, posted to all members and beneficiaries, included mention of this condition. However, between 2000 and 2017 I worked away from home.  Work commitments and limited time at home over weekends meant that I barely had time to read newspapers, let alone a TP Newsletter in which I had no interest (just another piece of junk mail cluttering up my letter-box).  On the death of my wife I was in a terribly distraught state and could not have been reasonably expected to make myself aware of the intricacies of the TOP terms and conditions.  I feel strongly that TP should have made their terms and conditions (concerning remarriage of beneficiaries) more transparent and clear to beneficiaries; the first example of where this was adequately done was in their letter to me in 2017, 17 years after I had remarried. 

I had written to TP in 2006 to advise then of my change of address; my new wife also wrote to TP at the time to advise that we changed address, but TP deny any knowledge of my wife’s letter.  Furthermore, I was paying tax on these TP policy payments; TP had the means to check my Tax payments and thereby determine that I had remarried.  I have never tried to obscure the fact that I had remarried, I have paid tax on the beneficiary payments/overpayments and I have acted in good faith in all my dealings with TP.  I believe that TP failed to take adequate steps to make me aware of the ‘remarriage’ condition, waiting 17 years before raising the question of my marital status.  Had TP taken adequate steps to verify my marital status just as they might do with checking my address, or even checked my marital status with HMRC, then this matter would have been resolved far earlier and overpayments would have been avoided.

I took the matter up with the Pensions Ombudsman in early 2018.  Having now spoken with the Ombudsman’s Assessor, I have learned that 

• TP are not regulated and therefore have no regulatory ‘Know Your Customer’ obligations, 
• TP consider that their annual Newsletter to be an adequate means of making beneficiaries aware of. The remarriage conditions.

It also appears that there are other beneficiaries who have remarried and not been aware of TP's remarriage conditions.  The point here is that members of the scheme can be expected to be aware of the terms and conditions from the time of their taking out their policy, but not so the beneficiaries, emphasising the point that TP have not taken adequate steps to make beneficiaries aware of critical conditions such as the remarriage condition, and raising the question of why TP, with its close ties to other Government departments such as HMRC, do not avail themselves of HMRC resource to check the marital status of beneficiaries.

The  assessor is proposing the following measures be submitted to the Pensions Ombudsman for a ruling;

• TP pay me £500 for the distress and inconvenience associated with addressing and resolving this matter since 2017 (almost 3 years)
• I should repay to TP the overpayments made between my marriage in early 2000 and my letter to TP in 2017
• The repayments should be made not over 3 years (this is what TP usually insist on) but over the same period as that which the over payments were made, 17 years

My view is that TP failed to adequately administer the policy in my case (just as with many other similar cases to mine) and therefore, due to their maladministration, and also due to the fact that I am now a pensioner (since July 2018), I should not be held accountable for repayment of the overpayments by TP, and I should not have to suffer the very real financial burden that these repayments represent.  I have acted in good faith in all my dealings with TP yet it would seem that the financial burden of TP's maladministration of the policy will all fall on me, with little to no burden allocated to TP.  

What recourse do I have to challenge the TP demand for repayment of beneficiary overpayments?

molerat

So you are admitting that you ignored and binned the important information the TPS sent you every year deciding it was junk mail and not important enough to spend your valuable time on. I receive a newsletter each year from my PS pension provider and it has a very clear section in it about survivor pension on remarriage. Sorry I have little sympathy and feel the option outlined by the ombudsman is fair.

xylophone

I was the beneficiary of a Teachers Pension policy which she held.

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-4028624/Should-widowers-forfeit-partner-s-pension-remarry-Steve-Webb-replies.html

You mean that you were entitled to a widower's pension under the terms of your late wife's DB Pension Scheme?

It is rather surprising that you were in ignorance of the rules relating to re-marriage - I can well remember a family friend whose  teacher husband died around the same time as your late wife  and who decided not to remarry because she would lose her pension.  The rules seemed well known and indeed applied to many other pension schemes.

Have you seen this? https://www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk/pension-problems/making-a-complaint/common-concerns/mistakes-and-overpayments

As things stand, being allowed seventeen years to repay seems reasonable.

crv1963

OP you may find that the TP is not simply being awkward or heartless but are simply protecting members of the scheme- they probably have a legal duty to recover the over payments according to the scheme rules. They could argue that they could not protect you from not making yourself aware of the information that they sent you every year.

I don't think that ignorance is a defense in law, if paying £8000 over 3 years would cause you hardship then offer a reasonable longer time period but to my mind 17 years is too long, maybe £2000 pa over 4 years would be a better offer?