Remediable Pension Savings Statement

The SPPA will continue to issue Remediable Service Pension Savings Statements (RPSS) for active or deferred members (as at 1 October 2023) eligible for the 2015 Remedy who either;

  • Breach the AA limit in a single scheme;
  • Request an On Demand RPSS; or
  • Require an updated statement to replace a previously received PSS for any tax year in the remedy period.

The RPSS will include pension input amounts up to 2025/2026 (self-employed GPs will be up to 2024/2025).

You will receive an email advising when your RPSS is available to view on our new online member portal, called Engage.  If we do not hold an email address for you, a letter will be issued by post explaining the registration process.  You can find out more about Engage here.

We have experienced delays with preparing and issuing RPSS for members affected by additional complexities including:

  • Transferred in service in the Remedy period;
  • Additional Pension purchased in the Remedy period;
  • Choice Optants (members who moved from the 1995 scheme to the 2008 scheme); and
  • Missing or inconsistent data provided from employers.

In addition to the requirements for active and deferred members, this year the SPPA is also required to issue a RPSS in respect of :

  • pensioner members up to the date of retirement; and
  • deceased members up to the tax year before the year of death.

Due to the volume and complexity of cases, particularly across multiple member statuses and historic data, delivery will be undertaken in a phased approach.

Phased Delivery Approach

To ensure compliance with statutory deadlines and to provide the greatest impact for members, the SPPA will prioritise work as follows:

1) Active and Deferred Members (as at 1 October 2023)

Priority will be given to clearing all outstanding RPSS for active and deferred members requiring a new or replacement statement. Clearing this backlog remains the primary focus and we will aim to do this by 6 October 2026.

2) Active and Deferred Members as at 1 October 2023 who have since retired

Once the active and deferred backlog is substantially progressed, attention will move to members who were in scope at 1 October 2023 but have since retired.  We will aim to provide these by 6 October 2026 but it is anticipated this work will continue beyond this date.

3) Pensioner and Deceased Members (pre 1 October 2023)

Given the scale of the backlog and the additional complexity involved for this cohort, planning and development is expected to begin after the 6 October 2026 deadline, with RPSS issuance not anticipated before January 2027.

The SPPA’s immediate priority remains the clearance of the active and deferred backlog where legislative requirements have been missed, however, we will continue to progress work across all cohorts where possible including further calculation functionality requirements.

Tax Support Service

Tax Support Webinars

Firefighters Webinar

We are pleased to offer a tax support webinar for members of the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme. The webinar will take place at 10 am on Thursday 23 July 2026.

The webinar will provide guidance and support but is not designed to assist with individual queries. It will focus on:

  • An overview of the UK Pensions Tax regime including what is the Annual Allowance is and how it is tested
  • Why the Remedy was implemented, who is affected and how it impacts your pensions benefits
  • Information providing insight into how the Remedy affects previous Annual Allowance tax charges including a case study
  • Your Remedy Pensions Savings Statement
  • Features of the HMRC digital service
  • Settling your revised tax position
  • Actions to consider
  • Question and answer session 

Book a place

You can view recordings of the seminars delivered to date:

Police webinar recording:

NHS webinar recording 

The SPPA’s Role 

The SPPA and HMRC are bound by statutory confidentiality and data protection obligations which restrict the sharing of identifiable member information.  Formal Public Service Pension Scheme Regulations set out defined process controls which allow information to be exchanged between organisations for specific purposes, including Accounting for Tax (AFT), Event Reporting and the Secure Data Exchange Service (SDES) in relation to the 2015 Remedy.

Outside of these approved and secure mechanisms, neither organisation is permitted to share or discuss member-specific details. Consequently, members may be required to engage separately with both HMRC and the SPPA in relation to their individual circumstances.

Annual Allowance

Once a Pension Savings Statement (PSS) or Remediable Pension Savings Statement (RPSS) has been issued, the SPPA’s role in the Annual Allowance process is complete unless further action is initiated by the member.

Following receipt of their statement, it is the member’s responsibility to:

  • engage with HMRC to calculate and settle any Annual Allowance tax liability; and
  • determine whether they wish to utilise Scheme Pays.

As the SPPA has no visibility of whether a member has engaged with HMRC or intends to utilise Scheme Pays, it cannot anticipate or align with HMRC processing or turnaround times.

The SPPA will only take further action where a revised or corrected statement is required following receipt of updated information.

Scheme Pays

Where a member chooses to utilise Scheme Pays following receipt of their PSS or RPSS, the SPPA will resume involvement upon receipt of:

  • a valid Scheme Pays Election submitted by the member; or

  • notification from HMRC via the Scheme Data Exchange Service (SDES).

Upon receipt, the SPPA will process the request, settle the relevant tax charge with HMRC, and apply the corresponding adjustment to the member’s pension benefits.

The SPPA aims to process Scheme Pays Elections within one month of receipt of all required information.

Where processing is dependent on notification from HMRC via the Secure Data Exchange Service (SDES), timescales will be subject to the timely receipt of complete and accurate data. Any delays in receiving information from HMRC may impact processing times and are outside of the SPPA’s control.

Querying your RPSS 

If there is reason to believe that a statement may be incorrect, please proceed with the necessary actions outlined on the statement to avoid missing any HMRC deadlines. Where necessary, amended statements can be issued and any previously submitted information can be corrected within the relevant legislative timescales.

If an amended statement incurs a new or additional tax charge for 2023/2024 onwards, any mandatory deadline is extended to three months from the date on the statement. 

The SPPA relies on accurate and up-to-date information provided by employers.  If it is believed that any of the data used in the statement is missing or incorrect (for example, missing pensionable earnings), the member will need to contact the relevant employer(s) and request that revised information is submitted via the SPPA’s Employer Data Management (EDM) system.

Members should only contact the SPPA to query their statement once the relevant employer has confirmed that updated information has been submitted to the SPPA.  Enquiries should be sent to SPPA-AAEnquiries@gov.scot so that the statement can be reviewed. 

The HMRC Digital Service

HMRC has introduced a Digital Service that enables members impacted by the 2015 Remedy to calculate any new or amended tax charges relating to the changes to their pensions tax position. 

When you receive a RPSS, you must use the HMRC Digital Service to correct your pensions tax position. You can access this service from the following link: Calculate your public service pension adjustment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

Before you use the HMRC Digital Service in full you should use the first part of the service to work out whether your tax position is affected. This should only take a few minutes to complete and may help avoid the need to use the HMRC Digital Service unnecessarily. 

We are sorry that SPPA administrators have no access to this service and cannot assist members to use this process so enquiries relating to this service must be directed to HMRC. 

Calculate any AA changes

Making a submission using the HMRC Digital Service means you will not be required to correct your self-assessment tax return for the years 2015/2016 to 2022/2023. 

Instead, you should input the information required by the HMRC Digital Service including the recalculated pension input amounts (PIA) from your RPSS. In 2015/2016, the period over which AA was measured changed to align with the tax year rather than the scheme year, so the data for this year has been split accordingly. 

If you have other personal or private pensions in addition to your SPPA pension, you will need to include this information as well. Pension input amounts for additional pension arrangements must be supplied to you by the pension provider if you do not already have it. 

1. Determine if your tax position has changed 

Once you have completed your submission, HMRC will review the information you have provided against: 

  • Your original self-assessment tax returns for the remedy years;
  • The Accounting for Tax (AFT) submissions the SPPA submitted to HMRC if we paid any of your tax charge;
  • Any direct tax charges you already paid for the remedy years 

Once the review is complete, HMRC will let you know what you need to do next. Remember, you do not need to amend a previously submitted HMRC self-assessment tax return for any of the remedy years. 

2. Tax years 2015/2016 to 2018/2019 (Out of scope years) 

The tax years from 2015/2016 to 2018/2019 are out of scope for HMRC tax corrections and cannot be settled directly with HMRC, If there is a decrease in your AA tax charges for any of these years, HMRC will notify the SPPA to allow for any necessary refund or adjustments in benefits.   Any increase in your AA tax charges for these years will be waived and will not need to be paid to HMRC. 

3. Tax years 2019/2020 to 2022/2023 (In scope years) 

The tax years from 2019/2020 to 2022/2023 are in scope for HMRC tax corrections so HMRC can action amendments to your tax position for these years. HMRC will refund overpaid AA tax charges and collect any new or additional AA tax charges that have been incurred in any of these years. 

Decrease in tax charge 

Where an AA tax charge in an in-scope year has decreased, HMRC will refund whoever originally paid the tax charge:

  •  Where the original AA tax charge was paid directly to HMRC through self-assessment, you will receive the refund directly to the bank details provided with your submission.
  • Where the SPPA paid the AA tax charge via your pension scheme on your behalf (this is known as Scheme Pays), then HMRC will refund the scheme who will reduce the pension debit you received to offset the tax charge that was paid on your behalf. 

Increase in tax charge 

Where a new or additional AA tax charge is due, you will need to tell HMRC how you intend to pay the AA tax charge. You can choose to: 

  • Pay HMRC directly, or
  • Use Scheme Pays to request that the pension Scheme Pays the AA tax charge on your behalf 

Scheme Pays Elections for the 2015 Remedy

For members who are eligible for the 2015 Remedy and have a change to their pension input amounts as a result of the ‘rollback’ to the legacy scheme, the deadline to apply for mandatory Scheme Pays for the tax years 2019/2020, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 as well as tax year 2022/2023 has been extended to 6 July 2027. 

The SPPA will pay tax charges requested through Scheme Pays on a mandatory basis even if the pension input amount for the tax year does not exceed the AA limit or the tax charge is less than £2,000.00 provided the deadline is met. The pension scheme will be jointly and severally liable for the payment of the tax charge(s).

Scheme Pays Elections made after the deadline will be treated as voluntary Scheme Pays. This means you will be solely liable for the AA tax charge and interest may be applied by HMRC for late payment. 

You can find out more information on mandatory and voluntary Scheme Pays here.

Scheme Pays requests can be made through the HMRC Digital Service. If a member indicates that they wish to use Scheme Pays for a new or additional tax charge, HMRC will notify the SPPA, removing the need for a member to submit a Scheme Pays Election.

Agent Forms submitted on a member’s behalf

If a member representative submits an ‘Agent Form’ to HMRC on a member’s behalf, Scheme Pays cannot be approved under this submission as the representative does not have permission to approve Scheme Pays Elections on a member’s behalf. Members wishing to use Scheme Pays must submit a Scheme Pays Election form to the SPPA as HMRC will not be able to notify the SPPA of these. 

Scheme Pays Elections for 2015 Remedy after Retirement 

You can now submit a Scheme Pays Election after you have retired, if your election is received before the relevant Scheme Pays deadline for the tax year in question. We encourage you to correct your tax position and apply for Scheme Pays as early as possible after you retire to minimise any pension overpayments that may result from your Scheme Pays debit being applied. The SPPA will implement the appropriate Scheme Pays debits upon confirmation of your finalised tax position from HMRC.

Complete any HMRC self-assessment tax return from 2023/2024

For the tax year 2023/2024 and any future tax years you must follow the standard HMRC reporting process. 

If you have a tax charge to pay, you are responsible for declaring this to HMRC by completing a self-assessment tax return. The Pension Scheme Tax Reference (PSTR) should be quoted on your self-assessment tax return and is available on your statement. Details about how to do this can be found on the HMRC website at https://www.gov.uk/topic/personal-tax/self-assessment

Changes to the Finance Act 2004, have now been introduced to allow for any negative growth in your Legacy scheme from 2023/2024 to be offset against any positive growth in your CARE scheme. 

You should use the HMRC calculator online at https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/paac to work out if you have an AA tax charge to pay for this tax year. 

You can read detailed guidance on how to complete the HMRC calculator using the information provided in your PSS on our website here: www.pensions.gov.scot/pensions-taxation/annual-allowance

Once you have used the calculator you will know the ‘amount on which tax is due’. The AA tax charge you will need to pay is dependent on your marginal tax rate. To calculate this, you should work out the rate of tax that would be charged if your excess pension savings were added to your taxable income. Further guidance about how to do this, and examples of the marginal tax rate can be found on the HMRC website: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/calculate-your-public-service-pension-adjustment 

If you have not received a RPSS and think you might incur an Annual Allowance tax charge for 2024/2025 

If you have not received a PSS or RPSS and think you might incur an Annual Allowance tax charge in the tax year 2024/2025, you will still be required to submit a self-assessment regardless of whether you have received a statement or not.

Latest HMRC guidance: Estimating Annual Allowance Charge

Updated guidance from HMRC.

Additional guidance has been provided from HMRC on how to estimate a Self-Assessment return, scroll to the end of the newsletter to read the guidance: Newsletter 166 — January 2025 - GOV.UK

Further information can also be found in our Scheme Pays section.

Further Reading

Annual Allowance FAQ's

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