Case studies

Miss M contacted us after being refused ill health retirement. She was confused by the ill health retirement process under her pension scheme and did not fully understand the Scheme administrator’s correspondence.

Ms S is a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme. Ms S requested the early release of her deferred pension on grounds of ill health, yet the Scheme repeatedly failed to respond in a timely manner.

Mrs S was a member of the HSBC Bank (UK) Pension Scheme. She retired on the grounds of incapacity in 1999 and had been in receipt of a pension. The pension was subject to periodic review, and Mrs S was notified that her pension would be reduced.

Ms H was refused an ill health retirement pension and approached us for help.

Mr H complained that South Tyneside Council incorrectly awarded him Tier 2 ill health early retirement benefits. He said he was entitled to (more generous) Tier 1 IHER benefits.

Mr A was a retained firefighter and is now a deferred member of the New Firefighters’ Pension Scheme (England). He complained that the Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Authority was not treating his disturbance, work activity and training attendance payments as pensionable.

Mrs N had accrued pension benefits under the Transport Friendly Society Pension Scheme and later became a member of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme. After enquiring about her pension benefits, she was told these had been transferred to the PCSPS.

Mrs Y was a member of the HSC Pension Scheme. Mrs Y’s employer provided her with an estimate of her retirement benefits. A mistake was made in calculating Mrs Y’s final pensionable pay which resulted in overstated pension benefits.

Mrs E was a member of the NHS Pension Scheme. Between 1997-2009, Mrs E accrued membership within the 1995 section of the Scheme. Following a break in membership, Mrs E re-joined and was told that future membership would accrue within the 2008 section.

Mrs E’s employer auto-enrolled her into an account with National Employment Savings Trust (NEST). Sometime later, Mrs E checked her account and noticed that contributions had not been made.

Mr F sought help after being told by his pension scheme that he was not entitled to the pension that he had been paid since 2006.

Mr Y transferred out of the Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme in 1989, however the respondent continued to send benefit information to him between 1990-2010. Years later, the respondent realised an overpayment had occurred and began steps to recover this.