The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) has ordered NHS England to update an NHS Pension Scheme member’s pension record after the complainant alleged it failed to pay pension contributions.

‘Mr N’ complained to the ombudsman over concerns that NHS England had failed to pay pension contributions to NHS Business Services Authority (BSA).

NHS England has been ordered to pay an award of £1,000 for the “serious distress and inconvenience” that Mr N has suffered, as well as detailing the contributions that have been paid to date towards his pension.

Furthermore, it was told to refund any pension contributions that Mr N may have overpaid.

However, TPO did find that there was not sufficient evidence that there were any further missing contributions.

In 2001, Mr N joined Birmingham Primary Care Support Services (BPCSS) then, in 2003, he took on an additional contract (the Ophthalmic Post).

In April 2013, NHS England succeeded BPCSS and took on responsibility for certain aspects of the administration of pension contributions in respect of General Practitioners (GPs).

Just over a year later, Mr N contacted NHS England concerning contributions deducted from fees he had received for ophthalmic services that had not been received by NHS BSA across a 14 year period.

Mr N said that contributions had been deducted from 2001 to March 2014 and had not been paid into the scheme.

NHS England stated that it has no records of the period in question and did not know what had happened to his contributions but would try and locate them.

The adjudicator initially said that, within 21 days of receiving the contributions for the 2013/14 scheme year, NHS BSA should update Mr N’s records and send a service statement setting out his contributions, while NHS England should pay Mr N £500 for distress and inconvenience.

However, Mr N did not accept the adjudicator opinion as the statement indicated that contributions had not been deducted from his pay during 2001 and 2002. He subsequently provided evidence to support that his pensionable salary and contributions had also been understated in respect of year end 31 March 2004.

The case was passed on to TPO, who agreed with the adjudicator’s finding except that a higher award should be given to Mr N, while ordering NHS England to refund any overpaid contributions.

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