It’s been a few months since we introduced the final system changes to automate the AW171 process. You now no longer need to send us the AW171 form to trigger a review of the pension in payment and determine whether a revised pension is appropriate.
We appreciate there have been numerous queries whilst the process has been bedding in and we sent out a set of FAQs to answer the most common queries we had received to alleviate concerns.
Following your feedback, we have made some slight changes to the process, for example, if we have already had the pay from you, we will use it. We are also looking to refine the original tolerance level set so we can make sure any anomalies can be addressed within a smaller margin.
It’s still really important to make sure any arrears are recorded in the Scheme year they relate rather than the year they were paid. Doing this correctly ensures the pay is not overinflated for an incorrect year. Any changes that cannot be made electronically, such as changes to retirement dates or lump sum changes, should be emailed to nhsbsa.pensionsemployers@nhsbsa.nhs.uk
Some of you queried why a revised award had been processed where no changes had been made by you. These changes were because we carried out the uplift for 2015 members to increase their pensions in line with CPI. This change will be an annual event going forward.
We hope, now the process has been in place for a few months, you are confident about the changes. However, we are here should you have any concerns.
We are still working on the ESR/POL SD55E process and how best to make that work fully end-to-end without intervention or double handling. We will work with you to make sure we get this right over the coming months.
Finally, we have reached out to some employers for feedback on how this process is now working for you, and we will share the feedback soon.