Question on DB Pension Transfer from LGPS to NHS

swindiff

My wife worked for the NHS (part time) from 2004-2016, she then left due to moving home and got a job with an LGPS pension which she did for around 20 months, at which point she left and re-joined the NHS (full time) in 2018.  Because she did not complete 2 years service in her LGPS role she transferred the pension to the NHS. According to her paperwork the transfer was made into the 2015 scheme. 

Due to the McCloud judgement all of her pre 2022 pension with the NHS can be reverted to the 1995 scheme.  Her intention is to retire at 60 so this would be beneficial as there will be no actuarial reduction and there is also a lump sum.

I was wondering if this is also the case for her LGPS transfer, if that can also be reverted to the 1995 scheme then it would avoid the actuarial reduction for that part of her pension also.

swindiff

Bumping in the hope someone may know the answer to this?

hugheskevi

Under 2015 Remedy your wife will have a choice of legacy or new scheme. She already knows what she will get under new scheme, as that is the position she was in for the LGPS transfer-in. This will be one of the options at retirement.

Your wife has now been rolled back from the 2015 scheme back into the 1995 scheme for her 2015-22 service as part of the Remedy. Hence once everything is recalculated (transfers are amongst the most difficult as recalculations from another scheme are required), she will have left the 1995 scheme in 2016, joined the LGPS, then rejoined the 1995 scheme and transferred the LGPS service into the 1995 scheme.

Note throughout that the legacy or new scheme choice will be consistent with both schemes, ie, different choices cannot be made for each scheme - the option will be either legacy treatment throughout or new scheme treatment throughout.

swindiff

Hi hugheskevi

Thanks for your reply, that sounds promising.  My wife has had a nightmare with NHS pensions.  Since they changed their online pension system she was not able to access it for at least a year.  Now she finally has access, there is literally no data in her online pension account.  Every entry says "no information available".  NHS pension are so slow in getting back to her, and she is no closer to being able to access her pension information online.  For this reason she asked to be sent an illustration, and the transfer is not even included in  that, so another email asking why, no response.

I guess it will all get sorted out eventually, thankfully we have 6 years before it becomes urgent.  She has a colleague who has taken her 1995 pension which they have got wrong and she is having similar issues trying to get it resolved.

We have the letter confirming the transfer in June 2019.  The transfer value was £7988.58 which in the 2015 NHS pension scheme equated to 1 year 249 days pensionable membership, with a club earned pension credit of £704.91 (I assume this is alternative terminology for annual pension?).

If my wife was to retire at 60, this would be reduced by around 30%, therefore worth around £493/year.

From what you say this value is totally irrelevant when it comes to what it could be worth in the 1995 scheme?  I was assuming, it would seem wrongly that at 60 she could get the £704.91 unreduced.  But from what you say this will be a totally new calculation, which will presumably give an annual pension and a lump sum, as the 1995 scheme had a lump sum as a default.

Thanks for your help.

hyubh

swindiff said:

The transfer value was £7988.58 which in the 2015 NHS pension scheme equated to 1 year 249 days pensionable membership, with a club earned pension credit of £704.91 (I assume this is alternative terminology for annual pension?).

At the point the transfer was done, it was an 'inner Club' transfer of CARE benefits (Club = Public Sector Transfer Club). So the £704.91 is additional amount to go with her regular NHS CARE pension, only (per Club terms) with in-service revaluation matching the old scheme's rate.

From what you say this value is totally irrelevant when it comes to what it could be worth in the 1995 scheme?  I was assuming, it would seem wrongly that at 60 she could get the £704.91 unreduced.

As the £704.91 was/is a CARE pension credit, it has a normal pension age (NPA) of the CARE scheme, i.e. SPA. However, if your wife comes to elect for final salary accrual for the remedy period, then the transfer in (more exactly, the transferred in benefit, not the CETV) will be recalculated as a final salary benefit. (Technically it should be recalculated as such now, with the choice on retirement being whether to go back to CARE or not.) So, rather than the £7988.58 purchasing additional pension in NHS 2015, it would purchase additional reckonable service in NHS 1995.

But from what you say this will be a totally new calculation, which will presumably give an annual pension and a lump sum, as the 1995 scheme had a lump sum as a default.

Yes, and based on her final pensionable salary in the NHS.

swindiff

Many thanks to you both. That is good news I think. As at a retirement age of 60 I think it would be more beneficial to have the LGPS transfer "buy" 1995 service rather than 2015.
Trying to actually get any information out of NHS pensions is like pulling hens teeth ☹️