NHS pension CETV request for Form E - how long???

[StellaOlivetti]

I’m hopeful some wise person can help me here. I appear to be trapped in a Kafkaesque nightmare of nonsensical bureaucracy.

I have filed an application for divorce. My STBEXH and I are in complete agreement that everything, including pensions, will be split 50:50. It’s been a very long marriage. I’m currently getting a modest NHS pension, which is obviously in payment, and this needs to go onto Form E as part of my assets. For this, I need the CETV (or do I mean CEBV); anyway, the numerical value of the fund. I have applied using the relevant form, and paid the (enormous) fee.

Everything else is complete on Form E and ready to go.

I have been told by NHS BSA that although usually it takes three calendar months to supply the fund value for the purposes of divorce (why????) it is currently taking much, much longer. The nice young man on the end of the phone wouldn’t commit to an exact timeframe, but it could be a year.

It feels like my easy little question is in the same queue as all the requests for calculations of retirement benefits, for people who are wanting to retire. Have I submitted it to the wrong place? It simply cannot take this long. For comparison, getting the equivalent figure from my Virgin private pension took around five seconds, and I am not exaggerating.

I really hope someone can advise. I feel like either I, or the NHS pension system, has gone insane.

Thank you so much to anyone who has read to the end!

Crapita manage NHS pensions. It could take years

Oh god, I can’t stay married for years.

Yes, unfortunately not the least bit surprised. Terrible customer service and almost impossible to actually talk to a real person.

I applied for CETV a couple of years ago. It took about 2 weeks. I’m in Scotland. Not sure if that makes any difference.
I remember at the time also being able to phone them and speak to a person. I’ve tried since then to arrange access to my pension but always go in a queue then get cut off ! 🙄
I think it’s taken over by robots.

Mine took 5 months for a process I thought should be pretty straightforward.

You could pay for an expedited process which will cost you (not entirely sure, in hundreds) - that will takes 4 weeks.

Is your ex asking for the CeTv statements? Please proceed as normal and let the judge decide. I am freshly out of this financial remedy hellhole (and i was representing myself) so happy for you to ask me any questions.

Hi, @Mls1984btc , I asked if I could pay more for an expedited process, and was told no. Because the pension is in payment, you have to pay anyway, and you can’t pay more to speed it up. It isn’t exactly my ex who’s asking, it’s just that everything has to go on the form E. His pensions and my private one are all listed, it’s just the NHS one that appears to be going to take for ever.

can we put down an approximate fund value? Is that allowed?

Yes, you mean a CETV (cash equivalent transfer value). It's what's used to "create" a pot of money for you. It would be near impossible to approximate a realistic fund value as each defined benefit pension scheme values their benefits differently.

As you and your ex seem to be amicable and cooperative about the divorce, can you agree something between yourselves? As you are drawing on the pension currently, hopefully you can reach a sensible agreement on what value to attach to the pension.

Hi @StellaOlivetti that is really weird as that's actually the first question my pension team asked. In addition, they are also asking for the court date to estimate whether the CEtV can be provided in 20 weeks.

Are you still at the Form E exchange stage, awaiting 1st Financial Direction Appointment?

@OneMoreLime oh, yes, we’re totally amicable. And he is a maths whizz. Are we allowed to do that? He says it would be pretty easy to arrive at an accurate figure for the fund value, since my we know what my pension is every month.

Hi @Mls1984btc yes that is weird. Whenever I get through to a person though, they always mention that things are unusually busy at the moment so maybe they don’t offer that anymore?

Yes, we’re still at the filling in Form E stage. Everything complete on it except this damn (titchy) NHS pension 😡

OP just put NA on form awaiting official CETV statement. Exchange the docs and see what the judge indicates at the FDA.

It will be even better if you could get pension out of overall consideration if both parties have decided between themselves. Have you got a solicitor?

Have you got the FDA date?

@Mls1984btc I do have a solicitor as I’m the one that filed the application and thought it would be useful, but she’s very much in the background, there if I want her. And effectively she’s acting for both of us as we have agreed a 50:50 spilt, so there’s no contention between us.

Can I ask her to remove my NHS pension from consideration? It seems a real counsel of despair to do that, simply because the admin is so useless. Would it be better to estimate?

Not got FDA date.

if you could decided between the two of you to keep that out of consideration, and the Jugde agreed, that should be sufficient.

Sounds to me this is not an acrimonious split- why are you initiating the court proceeding if you could sort out the consent order with your ex?

I don’t really fully understand the process yet … I thought a court date was necessary for everyone? To “rubber stamp” the financial agreement.Am I wrong?

If you could agree the financial settlement between the two of you, get your lawyer to draft up Form 11 with all documents then send to court for the Judge to 'rubber stamp'. Your solicitor should be able to perform this for you. Form E is for financial remedy for parties who cannot agree on terms proposed.

Mine took about 15 weeks and I'm in England. I did have to keep harassing them though. Do they not have an option for you to pay a fee to get it quicker? I'm sure i saw that somewhere.

@Mls1984btc thank you that is so incredibly useful.

I came on to say, if it's amicable then you don't need to do form E you need a D81

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-d81-statement-of-information-for-a-consent-order-in-relation-to-a-financial-remedy

I think a solicitor needs to sign off on it before it goes to the courts but you definitely don't need a Form E

Apologies I had mistyped. It is indeed d81 instead of 11. Please also refer to this website,

https://iamlip.com/

I find it immensely helpful.

When I received my nhs pension the paperwork included the ‘imagined’ cetv value.

Ours took 9 months, OP. And then an extra 4 for the pension report itself (which you ought to have done after the CETV). We used Mathieson Consulting for the report.

It was an achingly slow process.

Oh you're amicable? Settle out of court, OP!
Your solicitor can draft a letter to court adjourning the FDA.

Just wait for the CETV and if your ex is the math whizz you can trust, then honestly, hash out the numbers, agree on a settlement, get the solicitor to draw up a draft order for you both to sign, then a judge will rubber stamp it OR reject it if there are any flagged discrepancies. Seriously, save yourselves the money, the headache. It gets soooo drawn out, divorce does. Court is for acrimonious proceedings like mine, where the parties cannot agree on a settlement.

That’s good advice @SerenityNowInsanityLater , thank you! It’s just that waiting for the CETV is going to take an incredibly long time.