Government moves to contact pensioners affected by overpayments
Tuesday, 16 December 2008Following the written Joint Ministerial Statement laid in the Westminster Parliament today detailing an overpayment of some public sector pensions, the pension scheme administrators are writing to all affected pensioners in Northern Ireland.
The UK Government has said that it will not be seeking recovery of the accumulated overpayments and has decided to put the correct pension payments in place from April 2009.
This means that some pensioners may have their payments reduced and others may see increases in their payments from April 2009 which are less than the annual inflation uprating.
A government spokesperson said:
“This UK-wide error affects approximately 2,200 pensioners in Northern Ireland mainly in civil service, teachers, health, and local government pension schemes. Collectively, this represents around 2.35% of the total number of pensioners in those schemes. All scheme administrators will be writing to all affected pensioners.”
The causes of the overpayments have been rigorously investigated by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the Department for Work and Pensions. Investigations have revealed that errors have occurred in a variety of ways.
The spokesperson continued:
“Helplines to respond to affected pensioners questions and concerns have been set up and advice and guidance has been placed on scheme websites. These pension overpayments are regrettable; however it is good news that no pensioner will have to pay back monies received in error.”
Contact details are as follows:
Civil Service penioners
Civil Service Pensions Waterside House 75 Duke Street Waterside Londonderry BT47 6FP Tel: 028 7132 1254 / 028 7131 9279 Website: www.civilservicepensions-ni.gov.ukLocal Government
NILGOSC Templeton House 411 Holywood Road Belfast BT4 2LP Tel: 028 9076 4194 Website: www.nilgosc.org.ukTeachers
NI Teacher's Pension Scheme Waterside House75 Du ke Street Waterside Londonderry BT47 6FP Tel: 028 7131 9145 / 028 7131 9157 email: teacherspensions@deni.gov.ukHealth
Health and Social Care Superannuation Branch Waterside House 75 Duke Street Waterside Londonderry BT47 6FP Tel: 028 7131 9138 / 028 7132 1275 Website: www.dhsspsni.gov.uk/superannNotes to Editors
- Media enquiries only to DFP Communications Office on 028 9052 7374 or 028 9052 7375. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 076 9971 5440 and your call will be returned.
- The problem dates back to 1978 when public service occupational pension schemes contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pensions Scheme (SERPS). As a condition of contracting-out the occupational pension scheme had to provide members with a guarantee of a minimum amount of occupational pension (the Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP). This GMP applied to everyone who was a member of a contracted out occupational pension scheme between 1978 and 1997 and who would otherwise have been entitled to SERPS.
- Public service pensions are uprated in April each year in line with the Retail Price Index. The occupational pension scheme pays for all the uprating before state pension is claimed, but thereafter part of the uprating is paid with the state pension, depending on the GMP entitlement.
- To enable the correct pension increases to be applied, pension scheme administrators need accurate GMP information derived from the individual’s National Insurance contribution record. Investigations have revealed that although in the vast majority of cases this information is correctly recorded, in some cases it is not. In those cases schemes have paid the annual increase on the full pension each year instead of on an amount adjusted to reflect the GMP entitlement. Although the size of these overpayments starts out quite small, the error can compound significantly over time.
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