Aptia woes

deejaybee

Hi all,

I am a deferred member of an occupational scheme  ( left job in 1996)

Payable at age 65  ( which was early Nov )  received the quotes for monthly payment and lump sum back in June this year. All looked ok, so sent all the forms back as requested,  and they confirmed receipt etc.
Thats another  job ticked off I thought. 

Fast forward to early Nov, didn't expect payment on birthday date, but by 12th Nov not heard anything, so called Aptia...was told that disinvestment started 3rd Nov and I would receive final figures and payment date within 10 working days.
Again nothing heard, rang today Dec 1st,  their explanation was that previous quote was undervalued ( good thing, but why only find this out now ? )  something to do with Post 88 GMP.

So new quote to come out to me, and will have to fill in forms again,  CS agreed with my comment that I will be lucky to see any money before Christmas...

So any advice on what to do ? I won't be making any vexatious claims, but I have been screwed over here so whats the right level of " compensation " ?

I asked CS to refer to "complaints " but that's another 10 working days at least for them to respond.

Bit of googling shows Aptia have form for being incompetent,  I read some advice to request details of the schemes INTERNAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE, and copy in trustees ( if i can find contact details) as this prompts them to resolve issues faster. I'm considering this, but probably need to finish the Aptia complaint process first.

Apologies for the long post, just trying to show the full picture. 

Thanks

Marcon

deejaybee said:

Again nothing heard, rang today Dec 1st,  their explanation was that previous quote was undervalued ( good thing, but why only find this out now ? )  something to do with Post 88 GMP.

GMP equalisation has been a massive, time and money consuming exercise. It has been going on for many months (years in the case of plenty of schemes), which is why Aptia has only now got the correct figures. They are far from alone.

deejaybee said:

So any advice on what to do ? I won't be making any vexatious claims, but I have been screwed over here so whats the right level of " compensation " ?

The delay is not unreasonable in the circumstances. I completely understand why a member might see it that way, but the timeframes you quote are, I'm afraid, anything but uncommon and the chances of getting any compensation are close to zero. The Pensions Ombudsman isn't likely to award anything and both Aptia and the trustees of the scheme will know that. 

hyubh

Marcon said:

deejaybee said:

Again nothing heard, rang today Dec 1st,  their explanation was that previous quote was undervalued ( good thing, but why only find this out now ? )  something to do with Post 88 GMP.

GMP equalisation has been a massive, time and money consuming exercise. It has been going on for many months (years in the case of plenty of schemes), which is why Aptia has only now got the correct figures. They are far from alone.

deejaybee said:

So any advice on what to do ? I won't be making any vexatious claims, but I have been screwed over here so whats the right level of " compensation " ?

The delay is not unreasonable in the circumstances. I completely understand why a member might see it that way, but the timeframes you quote are, I'm afraid, anything but uncommon and the chances of getting any compensation are close to zero. The Pensions Ombudsman isn't likely to award anything and both Aptia and the trustees of the scheme will know that.

I'm with the OP. Why should the administrator's GMPe timetable block bringing a pension into payment, when the retirement date had already been confirmed? Just do any required GMPe rectification retrospectively, along with any other pensioner or dependant already in payment.

Marcon

hyubh said:

Marcon said:

deejaybee said:

Again nothing heard, rang today Dec 1st,  their explanation was that previous quote was undervalued ( good thing, but why only find this out now ? )  something to do with Post 88 GMP.

GMP equalisation has been a massive, time and money consuming exercise. It has been going on for many months (years in the case of plenty of schemes), which is why Aptia has only now got the correct figures. They are far from alone.

deejaybee said:

So any advice on what to do ? I won't be making any vexatious claims, but I have been screwed over here so whats the right level of " compensation " ?

The delay is not unreasonable in the circumstances. I completely understand why a member might see it that way, but the timeframes you quote are, I'm afraid, anything but uncommon and the chances of getting any compensation are close to zero. The Pensions Ombudsman isn't likely to award anything and both Aptia and the trustees of the scheme will know that.

I'm with the OP. Why should the administrator's GMPe timetable block bringing a pension into payment, when the retirement date had already been confirmed? Just do any required GMPe rectification retrospectively, along with any other pensioner or dependant already in payment.

OP asked about the 'right level of compensation'. I based my answer on facts rather than emotion.

hyubh

Marcon said:

hyubh said:

Marcon said:

deejaybee said:

Again nothing heard, rang today Dec 1st,  their explanation was that previous quote was undervalued ( good thing, but why only find this out now ? )  something to do with Post 88 GMP.

GMP equalisation has been a massive, time and money consuming exercise. It has been going on for many months (years in the case of plenty of schemes), which is why Aptia has only now got the correct figures. They are far from alone.

deejaybee said:

So any advice on what to do ? I won't be making any vexatious claims, but I have been screwed over here so whats the right level of " compensation " ?

The delay is not unreasonable in the circumstances. I completely understand why a member might see it that way, but the timeframes you quote are, I'm afraid, anything but uncommon and the chances of getting any compensation are close to zero. The Pensions Ombudsman isn't likely to award anything and both Aptia and the trustees of the scheme will know that.

I'm with the OP. Why should the administrator's GMPe timetable block bringing a pension into payment, when the retirement date had already been confirmed? Just do any required GMPe rectification retrospectively, along with any other pensioner or dependant already in payment.

OP asked about the 'right level of compensation'. I based my answer on facts rather than emotion.

You said in response to the OP that 'GMP equalisation has been a massive, time and money consuming exercise'. This is true, but not relevant to what the OP is actually complaining about, viz: an agreed retirement date that has failed to be actioned. You then claimed 'the delay is not unreasonable in the circumstances'. I disagree - the timeframe of Aptia's GMPe work really has nothing to do with them putting this pension into payment at the agreed date. Why do you think it does...?

hyubh

deejaybee said:

Hi all,

I am a deferred member of an occupational scheme  ( left job in 1996)

Payable at age 65  ( which was early Nov )  received the quotes for monthly payment and lump sum back in June this year. All looked ok, so sent all the forms back as requested,  and they confirmed receipt etc.
Thats another  job ticked off I thought. 

Fast forward to early Nov, didn't expect payment on birthday date, but by 12th Nov not heard anything, so called Aptia...was told that disinvestment started 3rd Nov and I would receive final figures and payment date within 10 working days.
Again nothing heard, rang today Dec 1st,  their explanation was that previous quote was undervalued ( good thing, but why only find this out now ? )  something to do with Post 88 GMP.

So new quote to come out to me, and will have to fill in forms again,  CS agreed with my comment that I will be lucky to see any money before Christmas...

So any advice on what to do ? I won't be making any vexatious claims, but I have been screwed over here so whats the right level of " compensation " ?

I asked CS to refer to "complaints " but that's another 10 working days at least for them to respond.

Bit of googling shows Aptia have form for being incompetent,  I read some advice to request details of the schemes INTERNAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE, and copy in trustees ( if i can find contact details) as this prompts them to resolve issues faster. I'm considering this, but probably need to finish the Aptia complaint process first.

Raising an IDRP is the correct approach. That said, unless Aptia's previous communications led you to make financial commitments you cannot now fulfil, or can only fulfil with difficulty, don't expect significant compensation. Ultimately you are not the customer, the scheme trustee is.

xylophone

Which Scheme is it?

deejaybee

Many thanks for feedback everyone.

xylophone: scheme is now known as the DXC UK PENSION SCHEME since around Nov 2024.

I am in the CSC section of the above.

Bit of history,  I was originally in the LUCAS pension scheme, then they outsourced us IT people to CSC Ltd, so joined the CSC pension scheme, with same rights etc as the Lucas scheme.

deejaybee

Spoken to the Trustees office today, as luck would have it there is meeting of the Trustees today, one of the discussions will be regarding the performance or lack of, from Aptia. 
So my case will be added to the list, and they will endeavour to find a solution quickly, and try to avoid IDRP, which apparently can drag on for months.

Albermarle

deejaybee said:

Hi all,

I am a deferred member of an occupational scheme  ( left job in 1996)

Payable at age 65  ( which was early Nov )  received the quotes for monthly payment and lump sum back in June this year. All looked ok, so sent all the forms back as requested,  and they confirmed receipt etc.
Thats another  job ticked off I thought. 

Fast forward to early Nov, didn't expect payment on birthday date, but by 12th Nov not heard anything, so called Aptia...was told that disinvestment started 3rd Nov and I would receive final figures and payment date within 10 working days.
Again nothing heard, rang today Dec 1st,  their explanation was that previous quote was undervalued ( good thing, but why only find this out now ? )  something to do with Post 88 GMP.

So new quote to come out to me, and will have to fill in forms again,  CS agreed with my comment that I will be lucky to see any money before Christmas...

So any advice on what to do ? I won't be making any vexatious claims, but I have been screwed over here so whats the right level of " compensation " ?

I asked CS to refer to "complaints " but that's another 10 working days at least for them to respond.

Bit of googling shows Aptia have form for being incompetent,  I read some advice to request details of the schemes INTERNAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE, and copy in trustees ( if i can find contact details) as this prompts them to resolve issues faster. I'm considering this, but probably need to finish the Aptia complaint process first.

Apologies for the long post, just trying to show the full picture. 

Thanks

Does not really help, but I had a similar experience with this lot when they were Mercer, so some things never change.
I had to rope in the Trustees of the scheme , as I was not getting any responses at all.
Eventually pension was started 5 months after the original request, but no actual payments for 10 weeks, although was backdated in the end.
I got a written apology but no compensation.  

LHW99

I am a little surprised that (GMP issue aside) processing only began in November, when the papers were sent out / returned in June. If the GMP issue is causing these sorts of delays, perhaps they should have sent out documents further ahead of time, as presumably they know DoBs for their customers.