NHS Pension and Redundancy

tanglewood1

does anyone have a view on how NHS ' partial retirement ' works in redundancy payment situation. I know any years used for the pension are taken off reckonable service but my NHS employer insists that this is taken off the 24 year cap and not one's total reckonable service. I have 33 years service and used 6 years for partial retirement - my employer says that mean reckonable service for the redundancy calculation is 18 years ( 24 less 6 ) and not 24 years ( 33 years less 6 years but then capped at 24 years ). I dont agree and makes quite a difference.   

Purplelady65

What does your employer’s redundancy policy say? 

tanglewood1

Its all set out in the NHS Agenda for Change Contract which sets out terms and conditions as follows:

Section 16 Redundancy

Definition of reckonable service

16.5 “Reckonable service” for the purposes of an NHS redundancy payment, which is calculated on the basis of the service up to the date of termination of the contract, means continuous full-time or part-time employment with the present or any previous NHS employer but with the following additions:

·       subject to paragraph 16.6 below, where there has been a break in service of 12 months or less, the period of employment prior to the break will count as reckonable service;

·       periods of employment as a trainee with a general medical practitioner, in accordance with the provisions of the Trainee Practitioner Scheme, will count as reckonable service; at employer discretion,

·       any period or periods of employment with employers outside the NHS, where these are judged to be relevant to NHS employment, can be included in reckonable service – see Section 12 of the handbook.

16.6 The following employment will not count as reckonable service:

·       employment that has been taken into account for the purposes of a previous redundancy, or loss of office payment by an NHS employer;

·       where the employee has previously been given NHS pension benefits, any employment that has been taken into account for the purposes of those pension benefits

 

Calculation of redundancy payment

16.8 The redundancy payment will take the form of a lump sum, dependent on the employee’s reckonable service at the date of termination of employment. The lump sum will be calculated on the basis of one month’s pay for each complete year of reckonable service, subject to a minimum of two years’ continuous service and a maximum of 24 years’ reckonable service being counted.

·       For those earning less than £23,000 per year (full time equivalent), the redundancy payment will be calculated using notional full-time annual earnings of £23,000, pro-rated for employees working less than full time.

·       For those earning over £80,000 per year (full time equivalent) the redundancy payment will be calculated using notional full-time annual earnings of £80,000, pro-rated for employees working less than full time. No redundancy payment will exceed £160,000 (pro-rata).

Hermanita

Hi tanglewood1
Have you had any progress in resolving this issue? It would appear that there is some confusion around the impact of Partial Retirement on redundancy calculations/Reckonable Service. The Agenda for Change Handbook (clause 16.6) has not been updated to reflect the significant difference between Partial Retirement (whereby the individual continues in service on their original contract and their T&Cs remain and they continue to pay into the pension) and Retire and Return where the individual has a break in service of more than a week and on return signs a new employment contract. The latter scenario I can understand why previous employment period isn't taken into account as reckonable service but with Partial Retirement surely this should be counted as continuous service and as T&Cs remain in place the redundancy calculation should be a months pay per year of service.
I'd be very interested to hear from anyone else who is facing this issue. 
Good Luck tanglewood1!

RuthFarre

Hi, I am in this position, and would like some guidance, I have taken partial retirement after 20 years service and have been told my 20 years service wont be included ?  

Hermanita

Hi RuthFarre
Am I correct in thinking that this significant change to your redundancy entitlement was not pointed out to you by the pensions dept. prior to your applying for Partial Retirement?
Most of the documents I have seen about Partial Retirement say that the individuals T&Cs remain the same except for reduction on pay/hours.
Are you in a trade union? Have they been able to give you any guidance?.