NHS Pension - notification and first payment?

Microbe65

I have deferred membership and my retirement date is 28th May. The claim form was submitted in January and an acknowledgement received.

However, as of today, I have still received no notification that the claim has been processed or the final calculation of lump sum and pension amount, despite my retirement date being in just 3 days time. Phoning NHS Pensions was pointless and all I was told is that "payment should be within 30 calendar days of the retirement date" and when queried I was told that I may not receive notification until the the day before payment is actually made.

I know that pensions are paid in arrears, hence the 30 days, but at this stage I had expected to have received a letter of confirmation. 

So are there any forumites who recently taken their NHS pension?

If and when did you receive written confirmation of the amount of the lump sum and pension?

How long after your retirement date did you receive your lump sum and pension?

Pat38493

My wife retired last year with an NHS pension and it was the same - there was no information provided in advance and in fact the notification of her payment amount arrived after the lump sum was already paid - it just arrived in her account.

It did arrive within their stated timeframe so I guess they met the deadline, but they seem to see advanced communication as a step too far.

Flugelhorn

I got notification beforehand (deferred pension) but that was few years back. Lump sum arrived on the appointed day and the first payment a month later.

they later paid me a 3K lump sum top up, I didn't notice it in my bank account until I got the letter telling me - probably 3-4 days later 

PS you won't get the lump sum until Tuesday - they pay monthly amounts early if it is a Bank Hol but seem to pay lump sums after the event

andybodoyd

Retired and returned 18 months ago. Same as others, lump sum arrived in my bank on my retirement date but with no notification. Had another top up after a couple of months. Think I got some paperwork from pensions about a month after retiring.

MalMonroe

I retired 13 years ago and have an NHS pension as well as another private pension and my State Pension.

The NHS pension is always the last to be updated, the last to send notification of raises in payment, the very last to do anything. So I really wouldn't worry.  You do get exactly what you are entitled to in the end, it just takes them a while (we are very busy wears a bit thin after 13 years, I can tell you.)

It's very frustrating all round but I can assure you that they do know what they are doing but if you are desperate for cash well, I don't know what to say. 

What you were told, "payment should be within 30 calendar days of the retirement date" and when queried I was told that I may not receive notification until the the day before payment is actually made". Is almost exactly what I was told. But I did get the pension and the lump sum and am now happily in receipt of my monthly payment. Just don't expect too much at all. They'll get there.  

Hope that helps somewhat. 

zagubov

I'm in a different public sector scheme (Teachers) and once you press the submit button there's just radio silence from then on.
There's no warning or correspondence pf any kind.
The money quietly pops into your account on the correct day with absolutely no fanfare.
I don't know why I found it unsettling but maybe I just expected a bit more chatter and reassurance.

RetiredTaz

I retired from the NHS in March. About a week before retirement date, I noticed the pension had been set up in the HMRC app. The day before retirement, I noticed the lump sum was pending in my banking app. I received the lump sum on retirement day and the first monthly payment 1 month later. It was a similar experience with my other DB pension - little communication. 

GrubbyGirl_2

I retired 3 years ago and like the others communication is very scant, you do however get your pension exactly as they said.  Lump sum on the day you retire and pension roughly 30 days later. 

One thing I did have a problem with though was getting the inflation uplift.  I retired in the January 2020 and I should have had a very small uplift in the April 2020 and the full uplift in April 2021.  I got no uplifts at all and every time I contacted them they told me I wouldn't get uplifts because I had exceeded the lifetime allowance, which is absolute hogwash.  I appreciate the 2021 uplift was only 0.5% but it was still mine to have.  I ended up making a formal complaint and I did not get is resolved until May 2022 when they apologised and said I should have been receiving the inflationary uplifts and they corrected it.

I had another dispute with them before I retired and ended up going to the pensions ombudsman who found in my favour and required them to pay me £3,000 in compensation.

NHSBSA is not the best

Pat38493

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

I retired 3 years ago and like the others communication is very scant, you do however get your pension exactly as they said.  Lump sum on the day you retire and pension roughly 30 days later. 

One thing I did have a problem with though was getting the inflation uplift.  I retired in the January 2020 and I should have had a very small uplift in the April 2020 and the full uplift in April 2021.  I got no uplifts at all and every time I contacted them they told me I wouldn't get uplifts because I had exceeded the lifetime allowance, which is absolute hogwash.  I appreciate the 2021 uplift was only 0.5% but it was still mine to have.  I ended up making a formal complaint and I did not get is resolved until May 2022 when they apologised and said I should have been receiving the inflationary uplifts and they corrected it.

I had another dispute with them before I retired and ended up going to the pensions ombudsman who found in my favour and required them to pay me £3,000 in compensation.

NHSBSA is not the best

Hmmm!  How would being over the LTA even if was true, cancel inflation uplifts - that would make no sense?

Flugelhorn

it is hogwash - I had similar problems with the uplift, they told me that they had already included it and there was no "second bite" to be had. 12 months later my pension increased and I had further lump sum given

Kim1965

Lack of correspondence is not unique to nhs pensions, its the norm.