Escalation Process

Our stakeholder engagement team's work involves a managed escalation and recovery process of unpaid NHS Pension contributions.

Unpaid payments include employee and employer contributions as well as any related AVC / ERRBO payments that have not been paid over by employers to us on a monthly basis.

The non-payment of contributions constitutes a breach of Scheme Regulations. There's a legal obligation for contributions to be received by us on time.

The process of recovering unpaid contributions was introduced when the team was formed and since these activities commenced, the team has recovered over £4.24 million.

Using an agreed, bespoke escalation process which includes writing to active NHS Pension members, the team has dealt with over 200 cases and has written to over 1200 members of the Scheme. Through member contact, the team has been able to deliver first class levels of customer service through reviewing member records and providing members with assurance and support as required.

In a recent case, over 100 active members of the Scheme were contacted to advise of the issues with their employer, members then addressed the issues directly with their employer and in conjunction with recovery actions the team undertook, the immediate recovery of £110,000 was made possible.

Through recovery activities, a significant number of incorrect or non-updated pension records have been identified, addressed with employers and corrected, which has added extra value to the overall escalation process.

Our stakeholder engagement team is committed to making sure public funds are appropriated correctly and will continue to approach employers who do not maintain regular or accurate contribution payments.

Further updates on this important area of work will be provided in future newsletters.