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Quality of Service
SPPA aims to provide a prompt, efficient and helpful service to all members of the NHS scheme
We are committed to providing a standard of service you have a right to expect both in your employment and after you have retired.
When you become an NHS employee:
You will automatically become a member of the scheme. But you can choose, if you wish, to make other arrangements.
As a scheme member:
- We will provide on request a statement of your accrued benefits in the scheme.
- You can ask us for the estimated value of your scheme benefits.
- You can ask us for other information about your pension rights.
- You can get in touch with us at any time. We will deal with your queries quickly, accurately and politely.
- If you write to us, we aim to send you a full and clear reply within three weeks of the date we get your letter.
- If we need to get more information before we can give you a full reply, we will let you know.
- We are currently working on providing an annual benefit statement for every member.
If you leave the scheme:
We will tell you about your choices.
If you are entitled to a refund of contributions or wish to consider transferring your scheme benefits, we will deal with your application quickly.
We aim to:
- pay a refund within 3 months of receiving the application;
- issue transfer value details within 8 weeks of getting the request. These details are then guaranteed for 3 months. If the transfer is to proceed, you must apply within the guarantee period, to avoid recalculation;
- complete the transfer within 16 working days of receiving a member’s instructions to transfer their rights.
When you retire:
We will let you know how much your pension and lump sum will be.
We aim to:
- work out your benefits accurately;
- get your lump sum into your nominated account on the day following the date of your retirement; and
- get your first pension payment into your account during the following month.
All other pension payments will be issued to reach you on the due date.
If you have a complaint, please tell us:
If we have made a mistake, we will apologise and put things right as quickly as possible.
If you are not satisfied, we have a disputes procedure which complies with pension legislation and Citizen’s Charter guidelines. This is a threestage process, the first of which asks you to write to the Scheme Manager who will try to resolve your complaint and let you have a response within 3 weeks.
If you are still not satisfied, you can get advice from the Pension Advisory Service (TPAS).
Finally you may take your case to the Pensions Ombudsman (PO) or The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The Ombudsman expects individuals complaining to him to have consulted TPAS first. They give free help and advice to people who have problems with occupational or personal pensions.
The address for both PO and TPAS is:
11 Belgrave Road, London SW1V 1RB
The telephone number of TPAS is 0845 601 2923 and the PO is 020 7834 9144.
The address for SPSO is:
4 Melville Street, Edinburgh EH3 7NS
The telephone number is: 0800 377 7330
IFA's
SPPA are aware that regular requests for detailed information about members from Independent Financial Advisors (IFA’s) have increased over the past months. The requests normally contain a series of questions relating to the member and the pension scheme. As a result these requests can result in creating an increased amount of work for SPPA to fulfil and that has a direct impact on our level of service to other members of the scheme.
Under the disclosure regulations we do not have to comply with individual requests for information where information has been supplied within the last 12 months. Therefore if the member has received a benefit statement etc we will not respond with further information.
Where additional information is required SPPA will only be able to process a request where payment of an administration fee has been received. The current charge is set at £200 plus VAT although this figure is subject to annual reviews.