Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (This guide is for the NHS, Teachers’, Firefighters’ and Police pension schemes)

Introduction

This guidance describes the SPPA’s formal procedures for settling disputes and explains why it has set them up. We hope that most problems can be dealt with informally, but we recognise that sometimes this is not possible.

Background

The Pensions Act 1995 (‘the 1995 Act’) requires all occupational pension schemes, including those that the SPPA administers, to have a formal Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP).

This guidance sets out the procedure for each of the NHS, Teachers’, Firefighters’ and Police Pension Schemes in Scotland. These arrangements comply with Section 50 of the 1995 Act and Regulation 2 of the Occupational Pension Schemes (Internal Dispute Resolution Procedures) (Consequential and Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2008.

The procedures give scheme members and other interested parties the opportunity to have disputes considered by someone who was not involved in the original decision.

The SPPA is fully committed to ensuring that you receive an efficient, fair and courteous service.

These arrangements do not apply if any related court or tribunal proceedings have started or if either the Pensions Ombudsman or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman have started an investigation into the specific dispute.

Who can use the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure?

Under the 1995 Act, IDRP is available to ‘people with an interest in the scheme’. This can include all the following people:

• Members of the scheme: Current members, members who have received their pension from the scheme, members who have preserved benefits in the scheme, and members with some service left in the scheme, but who have not taken a refund of their contributions or transferred their service to another scheme.
• Prospective members: People who are entitled to join or re-join the scheme, but have not done so.
• Widows, widowers, nominated partners, surviving civil partners, or dependants of deceased members.
• People who have ceased to be a member, beneficiary or prospective member, or;
• People who claim to be in one of the above categories above and the dispute relates to whether they are such a person.

Please, note, if you are no longer a member, beneficiary, prospective member, or if you claim to have formerly been such, we expect your application to be made within six months of the date you ceased to be or claimed to be a person with an interest in the scheme.

The Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure

Some pension issues can be resolved informally. Therefore, before considering the formal non-medical IDRP, you should write to the person who made the original decision.

Please give details of the issues concerned, including any facts that you think the decision maker may not have considered. The decision maker will look at what you have said and will do their best to provide further clarification. Hopefully, this will resolve your enquiry.

If this informal process does not resolve the issues, you can then move to the formal process.

The IDRP arrangements allow people to challenge decisions on the basis that:

(a) Other information which was available at the time of the original application, but not presented, has come to light; and/or

(b) If you are not satisfied with the way in which your case has been handled, or you do not feel that sufficient consideration has been given when applying the pension scheme’s regulations.

(c) If you believe the scheme regulations have not been applied correctly.

A formal IDRP is an appeal to the Scottish Ministers that will be determined on their behalf by the Head of Policy at the SPPA. The determination requires a full review of the original decision. Your appeal will be allocated to a dedicated caseworker who will support you through this process.

How to apply for a review and determination

Your application for a review must be in writing and must be signed (an electronic signature is acceptable). You should use the form at the back of this booklet, or alternatively download it from the website. You should apply to the Head of Policy as quickly as possible after you receive the decision, but your application should be made within six months of receiving the decision you wish to dispute.

What information does the Head of Policy require?

You should explain your dispute as fully as you can, enclosing copies of any documents you think may be helpful. You should set out why you disagree with the decision taken, and what action you are seeking from SPPA to put things right.

Please include your full name, address, date of birth, National Insurance number, your superannuation number (if you have one) and the name of your employer.

If you are acting on behalf of someone else, you will need to supply the same information and provide your name and an address for correspondence.

Important: Written evidence of your authority to act on behalf of someone else must also be provided.

Determination on behalf of the Scottish Ministers

A ‘determination’ provides a decision on behalf of the Scottish Ministers on whether the action taken in the case complies with the regulations governing the scheme. The SPPA’s Head of Policy has delegated responsibility from Scottish Ministers to make decisions in respect of the schemes administered by the SPPA.

This process is completely independent of each scheme’s own administration procedures. No-one previously involved in the case will contribute to the decision making, although they may be asked to provide the caseworker with any evidence required as part of the investigations.

The Determination

The 1995 Act requires that you must be given a determination within a “reasonable period” of your application. Disputes can be complex and require further information or enquiries. In the Pension Regulator’s Code of Practice, the Regulator specifies that a reasonable period is within four months of receipt of the appeal application. To reflect that, the Head of Policy aims to resolve all disputes within four months of receiving them. Your caseworker will keep in touch through the appeal process, and if it appears it will not be possible to meet that target, you will receive an explanation why, and given a revised decision date.

When the Head of Policy reaches a decision, you will be sent a letter to inform you of the outcome of your appeal. The letter will provide a full rationale for the decision and will refer to the specific scheme regulations or rules that have been considered in reaching the decision. The reply will also remind you that the Pensions Ombudsman or the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman can help with problems which have not been resolved under IDRP and will provide their contact details.

Ill health retirement - Police and Firefighters only

SPPA does not handle appeals in relation to ill-health retirement in the Police and Firefighters’ schemes. Police and Firefighters’ members should contact their employer for medical appeals, which are considered by an independent Board of Medical Referees appointed by the respective Service.

Ill health retirement - NHS and Teachers only

SPPA manages appeals in relation to ill-health retirement from members of the NHS (Scotland) and Scottish Teachers’ pension schemes.

Any decision to accept or reject an application for ill health retirement will take into consideration medical advice and evidence submitted by your employer in support of your application.

If your ill health application is refused, you can appeal the decision through IDRP. At this review, the Head of Policy will consult a medical adviser who has not previously been involved in the case and will consider all the relevant medical evidence. The SPPA will then write to you with the decision.

It is important to note that in most cases, a decision to refuse ill health retirement is unlikely to be overturned unless you can provide additional medical (or other) evidence in support of your original application which could and should have been presented with the original application. Without it, our medical advisers can only make a recommendation based on the evidence supplied at the time of the initial decision.

The dispute process is designed to test that decisions have been made properly and have taken account all the appropriate evidence.

Subsequent Action

If you are still dissatisfied after going through the formal process, you may wish to consider taking your dispute to the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) free of charge. The Pensions Ombudsman deals with complaints and disputes of fact or law which concern the administration and/or management of occupational and personal pension schemes. Contact with The Pensions Ombudsman about a complaint needs to be made within three years of when the event(s) you are complaining about happened – or, if later, within three years of when you first knew about it (or ought to have known about it). There is discretion for those time limits to be extended. The Pensions Ombudsman is unlikely to accept a complaint that has not tried to be resolved with us in the first instance. 

Please note it is not enough merely to disagree with a decision; you must have reason to believe that the decision was not properly made or implemented.

The Pensions Ombudsman can be contacted at:

Postal Address: 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, E14 4PU

Telephone: 0800 917 4487

Email: enquiries@pensions-ombudsman.org.uk

Website: www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk

You can also submit a complaint form online: Making a complaint | The Pensions Ombudsman (pensions-ombudsman.org.uk)

If your complaint is in relation to the administrative actions of SPPA, you also have the right to ask the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) to consider your complaint. The SPSO will not consider matters which relate to decisions or omissions relating to the provisions of the pension regulations.

Telephone: 0800 377 7330

Website: www.spso.org.uk

If you have general requests for information or guidance concerning your pension arrangements, please contact:

Money & Pensions Service

Borough Hall

Cauldwell Street

Bedford

MK42 9AP

Telephone: 01159 659570

Website: Money and Pensions Service (maps.org.uk)

Contact Us

If you have any questions about the information contained in this guidance, please contact the us at:

Scottish Public Pensions Agency

7 Tweedside Park

Tweedbank

Galashiels

TD1 3TE

Telephone: 01896 893000

Email: IDRPapplications@gov.scot

Application Form

Open our IDRP Form