DM just found some old NHS pension paperwork - help?!

[Mull]

Hi, is there anyone with knowledge of the 1995 NHS pension scheme that could help?

DM worked for the NHS from 2002-2005 and has found a piece of paper with a pension membership number and a preserved benefit certificate. They have probably tried to contact her since then but she has moved house and didn't keep her details up to date.

She is now 74 and I think she could have been claiming the pension since she was 60, maybe 65? The letter (dated 2007) says an annual pension of £358.95 and a lump sum of £1,076.85 so not large amounts but, as she is only on state pension and pension credit, every little helps.

I have started the registration to get her on the 'MyNHSPension' portal to see what information that has. Does anyone know if they will back-date any payment for those years? Is there anything else I should be doing while I wait to get her online and see what that says? Many thanks for any advice

I claim the 1995 pension, I am sure it is not backdated which is why so many people don't realise they are losing money if they dont take it when they are able to. You can ring them, with your mum there, might be quicker than the online registration.

These people are really good on NHS pensions. https://pengage.co.uk/ - they also have a facebook page which answers people’s questions and is really informative.

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Pscyc8YPm/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I have a 1995 pension (not claiming but preserved benefit) I agree with @Madformaltesers , that it isn't backdated if you don't claim from 60. If she does now claim, she may lose pension credit so worth being aware of it may not be a case of every little helps, but just different source of income.

It’s only true that you can’t backdate if you are a current employee. As a former employee OP’s mum should be able to. NHS pensions told me different things every time I phoned them!

NHS pensions are not that clued up, nor was my trust when I applied for the partial retirement. I did it all myself in the end, with help from some FB groups.
Partial retirement also impacted on my 2015 death in service benefits which was not made clear at the time either. It is a minefield.

I was in the same pension although I do claim mine. As she has unintentionally deferred payment I'm sure she'll get a larger monthly pension than had she taken it at aged 60. She'll also have the option to take a lump sum now or have a larger monthly pension.

This is from paperwork I have:

Claiming deferred pension benefits
A deferred pension is a pension which is not in payment and is not being added to through active Scheme
membership.
If you have deferred pension benefits in this Scheme, these will usually be paid at your normal pension age
provided you are not in NHS employment. To claim these benefits you will need to complete the deferred
benefits claim form (AW8P) available from our website at: www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-pensions

Thanks so much for all the advice, looks like it could be a bit of nightmare getting the right answers! I will look at pengage and maybe post on their FB page. I have sourced what I think is the right form as she has pension credit (AW8PC) and I can't decide whether we should just fill that in and see what comes back, or carry on trying to get a calculation before sending the form. Thanks all!

She will have to take the lump sum, she won’t have a choice (this is one of the things NHS pensions contradicted themselves on when I phoned them!)

Contact the Pensions Tracing Service and see what they say!

Definitely get an up-to-date calculation first. A colleague's wife has recently been through this exact same process.

The pension value will have continued to increase by CPI/RPI since the last letter valuation in 2007. You can have a go at working out the likely current value in the meantime as the annual increase rates for each year are published online. Some years it will have increased by nothing, some years by up to 10%.

Your mum will probably need to provide some ID etc and they will let you know what they need if you decide to claim.

And yes, it will be backdated to when she was 60 - she will get the backdated amount in a bigger lump sum. Does she have any other savings??

You are also right in that she might need to consider the implications re. Pension credit.

What level was she at / Job did she do at the time?? I'll see if I can find the link to the annual increases for deferred pensions.

https://share.google/Gr31ghIBZ1v5IZY3v

<a class="break-all" href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130402175215/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/tax_pensions_increases.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://share.google/tOH0SsLKrhGNfIvkk

^^ first link are the increases from 2014, 2nd link is for 2013. Not sure about before that. But you could have a little guess for the early years & then add the rest to give you a guide. Hope that's helpful.

If she hasn't already, she should nominate someone to receive a dependent's pension on death - otherwise it would form part of her estate.

@herbetta thanks so much for all this useful information, it’s very kind of you. I will have a trawl through after work 👍

Just a note - if she’s on pension credit, whatever she receives for this NHS pension will impact the amount of pension credit she receives, and she may well end up not receiving any.

My very rough / 'back of a fag packet' calculations are approx £600 a year pension (today) but this value would have been less when she 'retired' at 60, 14 years ago. She's maybe due a lump sum of circa 8k??

This really is rough calcs, but it might help you to try running those figs through the turn-to-us benefits calcs (anon) just to see.

That really is so kind of you, thank you so much. I will use that as a rough amount to work out what happens to her pension credit. Thanks again

Pengage are great - there are free webinars and they give a lot of general explanation on the Facebook page. Obviously you'd need to pay for tailored financial advice but it's probably not worth it for that amount.

The 1995 section has a compulsory minimum lump sum. It is possible to take a larger lump sum in exchange for a smaller annual pension. The lump sum is tax free. The annual pension is taxable at normal income tax rates. Back pay is paid as a taxable lump sum, so all the tax falls in 1 year and could be sizable after such a gap, but it's still better to claim it than not.

As she has retired, back pay will be due since her retirement date but not on any missed sums before she retired.

There's no need to contact the pension tracing service as suggested by a PP. You have the details you need (membership number) and there's nothing to trace - you know where it is.

Amendment - having checked the dates you gave, backpay would be from from when she turned 60 rather than from when she left the NHS.

Actually as per poster above, she might be better off taking the bigger lump sum (if that still keeps her under the benefits limit) and the smaller income, esp as she is already 74.

Hi, I just wanted to give an update - DM has had nearly £7k paid into her bank account! It was in two sums and we haven’t had the paperwork yet to understand what it all means. We will wait for that and inform pension credit (although I don’t think it impacts but they need to know) and I will check what is taxable / tax free as I think a small amount of tax will need to be paid.

She is very pleased as this gives her a buffer - living on state pension alone is a juggling act - that she had no idea about 2mths ago.

Thank you to the posters who took the time and effort to reply, it really helped me understand the process and what I needed to do. A happy outcome 😊

It’s times like this I love MN.

Great advice and if it helps your mum feel a little more financially relaxed in her later years then it’s an absolute win win.

And food good for you persevering and helping her.

I often wonder how many companies are sitting on unclaimed pension money gleefully rubbing their hands at the interest.