NHS Pension Award Process/Delay

Doreen21

Hi all I am very new to this so please bear with me.
I applied for my 1995 NHS pension at the beginning of September 2021 with a retirement date at the end of December 2021.  My Trust pension dept submitted all my paperwork to NHS pensions in the middle of November.  My colleague's dates for retirement, paperwork submission etc mirrored my own.  However, my colleague received her  award letter some 2 days after paperwork submission and has now received payment of her lump sum.  To date I have not received either my award letter nor have I received lump sum payment.
I have contacted NHS pensions on several occasions chasing up the award letter/payment date etc.  On one of my phone calls I spoke to a manager who told me that if I had not received my award letter by my retirement date this would be emailed to me and they would also go through the figures with me over the phone.  However, since then when I have phoned to query how my application is progressing I have been given replies which range from "working on calculations" to "will be ready in a week or so" and now most recently the "30 day statutory target for payment".
Does anyone have any experience/advice to offer me here?   I think my main concerns are: -

1. Would there be any particular reason why my colleague's application was dealt with so swiftly and payment made them the day following retirement while I have not received even my award letter yet?  My Trust pension department say all the correct information was submitted to NHS pensions in mid November.
2. Is the "30 day statutory target" enforceable or could the payment date be deferred?

Apologies for the length of the post and thanks in advance for any help/advice you can offer.

JoeCrystal

Here is the link to the webpage about it:

https://faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-04630/en-us

"The statutory target for an NHS Pension to be paid is within 30 days of your payable date, or within 30 days of the date, NHS Pensions receives all the relevant information we need to process your pension benefit application (this includes your lump sum). Any arrears will always be payable from your chosen retirement date."

So considering you are retired at the end of December, they got up to the end of January to pay you. You should get all your arrears due from your retirement date. We would not know what your colleague was successful, but it could be a case that her pension was a lot more straightforward.

Have you written a letter about this? Emails and phone calls can only go so far.

Doreen21

Hi JoeCrystal
Thank you so much for your prompt reply, which I really appreciate.  I did wonder whether my colleague's pension was more straightforward and also wondered whether the time difference in payments had anything to do with the amount to be paid out.  Do you happen to know?
Also, does the term "statutory target" mean they are obliged to make the payment by the end of January or could it be stretched out further?
Thanks again for your hep.

Flugelhorn

I think there can be problems with pensions being less that straightforward - DH's was deferred, officer payment only - so all up to date and vey clear calculations  - his was v quickly sorted.
Mine was also deferred but  mixed officer / practitioner - some practitioner bits still going through the system (can take 2 years),  4 employers at the time of deferring - took a bit more sorting - having said that it was still quicker than yours, I would be chasing them !

OldBeanz

Find out the complaints process and have your email ready to fire off on the day their 30 days runs out. Be sure and document the calls you've made and the undue stress through lack of communication and understanding why the claim was taking so long in comparison to your colleague.

Thrugelmir

Doreen21 said:

 My Trust pension department say all the correct information was submitted to NHS pensions in mid November.

Perhaps your colleagues was sent earlier.  The fact you applied at the same time is irrelevant to the final outcome. Many possible variables that you'll never know the answer too. Not uncommon for straightforward processing work to pass through quickly while more complex cases are pulled and passed to a smaller team for actioning. 

Kynthia

In a different but similar pension scheme I know people's calculations could easily take very different amounts of time. When part of your pension is final salary they need to check that all the years they have as you a member of the scheme were accurate. This meant getting records from archive and checking for when you joined the scheme and any breaks in service, maternity leave, days you went on strike, any time you weren't an active member paying contributions, etc which have to be deducted from your pension calculation. Plus any pension transfers, the purchase of any additional years/pension, etc all need to be checked. So this could be very different even for two people handing in their paperwork at the same time.

xylophone

My colleague's dates for retirement, paperwork submission etc mirrored my own.  However, my colleague received her  award letter some 2 days after paperwork submission and has now received payment of her lump sum.  To date I have not received either my award letter nor have I received lump sum payment.

It is possible that your calculation was more complex than your colleague's but equally possible that she just struck lucky in that her case was handled by a team without a backlog?

If you have received no satisfaction by the end of January, this may be of interest

https://faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-04455/en-us

Have you obtained a State Pension Forecast?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Purplelady65

If the paperwork was only submitted in mid November for a retirement date of end of December this isn’t very long for all the processing. I work for the NHS and at my workplace we advise submission at least 3 months in advance. One of my team retired at end of December and she submitted her application in September, nearly 4 months in advance. Due to ongoing work pressures, staffing shortages and Covid more staff are deciding to retire early so the demand on pension processing will have increased. Your colleague’s pension may have been a bit more straightforward than your own which maybe why it’s been processed quicker. 

Doreen21

Hi All Thanks to you all for your very helpful replies. I am pleased to say my pension award letter finally came through. No sign of lump sum payment yet though and nothing on paperwork to say when the lump sum will be paid. Can anyone advise please how long this should take? Thanks.