I have been trying for 19 YEARS to correct a one year error on my NHS pension record – answers Steve Webb

I joined the NHS pension scheme in March 1987 as a nursing student. I stayed on the pension scheme for every subsequent job I had in the NHS.

The only time I was outside the scheme was a brief period of one or two years as a GP nurse practitioner, when GP practices were not part of the scheme.

I had subsequent jobs in senior positions, all in the NHS, until December 2016, when I left the UK to live in Ireland and my NHS pension contributions ceased.

In 2005, I discovered an error with my pension, when I discovered that an NHS job I did for a year (2001-2002) was, in the words of NHS Pensions, “not closed” by the human resources or payroll department in the trust that I worked in.

They called it an administrative error and asked the finance department to rectify it. Despite their requests and mine, this was never done. This has caused me to lose a year’s worth of contributions.

In recent years I have tried numerous times to rectify this problem. I have contacted NHS Pensions and resurrected the request, sent documentation, copies of emails and letters from NHS Pensions acknowledging the problem, but they always have a reason why it can’t be fixed.

They say it’s too old and that the records were not electronic (although my payslips were always printed, not handwritten).

I don’t have pay stubs going back to 2001. I seem to only have pay stubs going back to 2006. I doubt most people have pay stubs from 23 years ago.

NHS Pensions told me to make a subject access application to HMRC, which I did in September 2023, provided all the information they requested and eventually received a response saying they could not provide the information requested.

After this, the NHS Pensions person I spoke to told me that the only thing left to do was to make a complaint to NHS Pensions. I did this on November 1, 2023 and still haven’t heard back.

I am now 56 years old in a few weeks. I am eligible and want to access my NHS pension so I can leave my current position in a stressful position in the Irish healthcare system for a part-time role outside the healthcare sector as my mental health is suffering.

I’ve been planning this for the last 18 months, but I can’t move forward while it’s pending. I am currently on long-term sick leave, unable to work and this situation really does not help.

Do you have any advice on how I could solve this problem? It would seem that without a 23 year old payroll I have no foothold despite having what I believe to be a wealth of other evidence that has been presented and explained so many times.

SCROLL DOWN TO FIND OUT HOW TO ASK STEVE HIS PENSION QUESTION

Steve Webb responds: It is quite shocking that he faced such a battle to correct his NHS employment records so he could receive the correct pension.

Unfortunately, their experiences are far from unique.

Issues related to gaps in employment histories mainly affect salary-related or “defined benefit” pensions, where the amount you receive is based on your length of service and how much you earned.

As you may have discovered, if you simply miss one period of employment, your pension will be too low.

What is clear from your experiences is that none of this is your fault. In fact, I’m very impressed that you first caught the bug in 2005 and also the extensive documentation you’ve kept.

Normally, this would be enough to resolve the problem.

In your case, the problem appears to be that the NHS pension scheme does not have accurate employment records due to a failure of one of the NHS trusts you worked for.

The pension plan has to rely on employers for information about its members and, as you have discovered, trying to fix things years after the event can be especially difficult.

This is especially true in an organization like the NHS, where trusts can be merged, renamed or abolished and where historical records can be difficult to obtain.

The good news is that HM Revenue and Customs has information that can help resolve issues in a case like this.

If you need to simply prove that you worked for an organization between certain dates, you can apply online to HMRC.

When we talk about recent employment (within the last five years), this should be shown through your online tax account.

But for older work histories, you can apply through this form: Get proof of work history.

Although the form refers to things like proving work history for the purposes of claiming compensation, HMRC have told me that it is okay to use this form to confirm pension details.

For anyone who needs more detailed information from HMRC, such as how much you earned each year and what pension scheme you were part of, you can submit a ‘Subject Access Request’.

When you tried this yourself, there was a problem validating your address (perhaps because you now live outside the UK), but generally people can use this form: Make a subject access application to HMRC.

As well as employment history, this will provide you with official confirmation of your income each year (which can be useful in pension disputes) and whether you were a member of a ‘contracted’ pension scheme.

After contacting HMRC on your behalf, they were able to confirm the start and end dates of your employment for the period in question and the name of your employer, and you were able to pass this on to the NHS Pension. Scheme.

I was pleased to hear that you received a letter from NHS Pensions confirming that the period 2001-02 has been added to your pension history.

Their experiences are a reminder for everyone to check that their pension plan has accurate information about their work history.

Problems like this are particularly likely in large pension plans like those for public sector workers, with millions of workers spanning thousands of employers.

They are also more likely to arise in cases where you work for several employers (for example, different schools or different hospitals), but all within the same pension scheme.

As always, trying to resolve these things while the organizations involved still have records is probably the easiest option, but as your experiences show, sometimes you have to persevere to fix things.

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