NHS Pensions has been receiving estimated Scheme Pays elections for the 2015/16 Pension Input Period for transition members of the 1995/2008 and 2015 Schemes where the member has only provided one estimated figure on the Scheme Pays Election (SPE2) form. Please remember the 1995/2008 and 2015 Schemes are separate Schemes for HMRC purposes.
This would mean if the member later required Scheme Pays from both Schemes and the election was received after HMRC’s time limit (31 July 2017 for the 2015/16 year, unless the member retired or reached age 75) then the revision for the Scheme Pays for the Scheme where there was no previous election would be rejected.
Example:
A member makes an estimated Scheme Pays Election for the 1995/2008 Scheme but not for the 2015 Scheme. In January 2018 the member sends a finalised Scheme Pays Election for 1995/2008 Scheme and a ‘new’ election for the 2015 Scheme.
Provided the1995/2008 Scheme Pays Election meets the usual financial criteria the revision would be accepted, however the request for the 2015 Scheme will be rejected because an election for Scheme Pays for the 2015 Scheme was not received within HMRC’s time limit.
Pension Officers are requested to bring this information to the attention of members who may be affected (normally high earning members based on the whole time equivalent pay) as soon as possible.