To:Fire Service pensioners paid
by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority
Enquiries toPensions ServicesMy referenceCT/PENS
Direct line01962 845588
DateMarch 2012
Dear Sir or Madam
2012 pensioners’ newsletter
This newsletter contains important information for pensioners paid by Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority, so please keep it.
- On page 2 you will find details of this year’s pension increase and information about pension advice slips.
- On pages 3–4 you will find information about the pension payment dates from May 2012 to April 2013, and other important reminders about your pension.
- On page 4 we also detail our standards of service. We welcome suggestions about how to improve the service we give you.
- On page 5 you will find information about our complaints and appeals procedures, and how we comply with the Data Protection Act.
If you want further information about your pension, please contact us on 01962 845588. If you use a textphone and want to contact us via Typetalk, ring 0800 959598 and ask for Hampshire County Council on 01962 845730.
I hope you find the newsletter helpful.
Yours faithfully
Nick Weaver Head of Pensions
Pension increase
Pensions paid by the Fire Service are increased every year in April in line with changes in the cost of living. The increases, which are approved by Parliament, take effect from 9 April 2012.
Your pension is paid in advance and the payment for April will be made up of 8days at the existing rate of pension and 22 days at the new rate.
The annual pension shown on your April advice slip is the pension for April 2012 multiplied by 12. Your actual new annual pension from 9 April will be shown on your advice slip for May.
If you are under 55, your pension will not be increased until your 55th birthday, unless your retirement was due to ill health or you are receiving a dependant’s pension.
The percentage increase depends on the date of retirement, resignation or death of the former firefighter.
The previous annual pension is increased by the percentage shown in the table set out below under the heading Guaranteed Minimum Pensions (GMPs).
Guaranteed Minimum Pensions
- If your advice slip shows ‘GMP: Pre 6/4/88’, the increase on this amount will be added to your State pension.
- If there is an amount next to ‘GMP: Post 5/4/88’, that amount includes an increase of 3%. Any difference between the full rise and 3% will be added to your State pension, which is paid by the State not by us.
- The Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority will increase the rest of your pension by the percentage shown in the table below.
First day of retirement / % / First day of retirement / %
Before 24/4/11 / 5.20 / 25/10/11 to 24/11/11 / 2.17
25/4/11 to 24/5/11 / 4.77 / 25/11/11 to 24/12/11 / 1.73
25/5/11 to 24/6/11 / 4.33 / 25/12/11 to 24/1/12 / 1.30
25/6/11 to 24/7/11 / 3.90 / 25/1/12 to 24/2/12 / 0.87
25/7/11 to 24/8/11 / 3.47 / 25/2/12 to 24/3/12 / 0.43
25/8/11 to 24/9/11 / 3.03 / After 24/3/12 / Nil
25/9/11 to 24/10/11 / 2.60
Issue of pension advice slips
We will issue a pension advice slip to everyone in April 2012 (and also in May) – please keep hold of this as some organisations (eg local authorities dealing with housing benefit claims) may need to see a copy to confirm your current pension entitlement.
At other times we will issue an advice slip only if the net amount of your pension varies by £1 or more when compared with the previous payment.
Payment dates
The date on your advice slip shows when your pension is due – the first of the month. However, if the first day of the month falls on a weekend or a bank holiday, your pension will actually be paid on the last working day of the previous month.
So, over the next 12 months, your pension will be paid on the following dates:
May 2012 / 1/5/2012 / September 2012 / 31/8/2012 / January 2013 / 31/12/2012June 2012 / 1/6/2012 / October 2012 / 1/10/2012 / February 2013 / 1/2/2013
July 2012 / 29/6/2012 / November 2012 / 1/11/2012 / March 2013 / 1/3/2013
August 2012 / 1/8/2012 / December 2012 / 30/11/2012 / April 2013 / 1/4/2013
Form P60/tax codes for the tax year 2012/13
We will issue a form P60 in May 2012 only if you paid income tax in the tax year 2011/12. If you did not do so and you need to complete a tax return, you can take the information from your payment advice slip for month 12.
Changes to tax codes for the tax year 2012/13 will first take effect from your pension payment in May, which is the first payment due after 6 April, when the new tax year starts.
If you have a question about your tax code, please contact:
HM Revenue & Customs
West Hampshire Area
TrinityBridge House
2 Dearmans Place
Salford
M3 5BStelephone: 0845 3000 627
Lifetime Allowance
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) introduced a lifetime allowance (LTA) with effect from 6 April 2006. If the value of your total benefits exceeds this allowance, you will have to pay tax on the excess. Most people’s benefits will not exceed these limits, but HMRC rules require us to assess whether your total benefits will exceed the LTA.
We show the current value of your Fire pension as a percentage of the LTA on your form P60.
Change of address, bank account or building society
Please notify us in writing of any changes to your address, bank account or building society. We may not be able to apply any new details we receive after the 16th of the month to the next payment, but we will apply them to the one after that. Please quote your 7-digitreference number on all correspondence, eg 1712345.
Re-employment
If you are re-employed in any capacity with any Fire & Rescue Authority (FRA) which is covered by the Fire Pension Scheme (FPS), New Fire Pension Scheme (NFPS) or, if you are re-employed as a fire civilian, the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), you must
- inform your new employer that you are receiving a FPS or NFPS pension and
- inform Pensions Services in writing of the salary, grade and hours youwork and of any subsequent change.
Such employment may affect the amount of pension payable.
An overpayment of pension could arise if you fail to notify Pensions Services of your re-employment. If this happens, the overpayment will be recovered from your future pension payments.
Pensions audit
To reduce the possibility of overpayments, we occasionally send certificates to pensioners to be signed, witnessed and returned to us. This ensures we are paying the right amount of pension to the right person. We will send you a certificate each year if you live permanently overseas.
We also check our data against the records held by the General Register Office.
External audit requires us to supply details of pension payments to the Audit Commission. They compare them with the records held by other public bodies as a way of preventing and detecting fraud.
Standards of service provided by Pensions Services
We aim:
- to answer the telephone within 10 seconds if you call us between 8.30am and 5pm on weekdays, excluding bank holidays, or up to 4.30pm on Fridays
- to answer all written communications within five working days (if we need to take longer, we will explain why)
- to deal with you fairly and courteously.
We are open 8.30am to 5pm on weekdays, except for bank holidays, or up to 4.30pm on Fridays. If you need to visit us to discuss your pension, please write or telephone to make an appointment. With a week’s notice, we can arrange for an induction loop or signer to be available, if that would help.
Our First Level Support Team is a single point of contact for all telephone enquiries on 01962 845588. It receives around 20,000 calls a year and has a target of answering 80% of them without having to transfer the caller. Currently it does so for over 95% of calls.
There’s a single email inbox, , which receives over 5,000 emails a year. The target is to send full replies in over 90% of cases within 48 hours. This is currently being exceeded.
Complaints and appeals procedures
How to make a complaint:
- If you have a problem with your Fire Service pension, please contact us on 01962 845588 in the first instance as most difficulties can be sorted out quickly.
- If you are still dissatisfied, please write to the Chief Fire Officer, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service, Leigh Road, Eastleigh, Hampshire SO50 9SJ, giving your full name, address, pension reference number and details of your complaint. He will investigate your complaint and give you a decision in writing.
- He will also notify you that if you are still dissatisfied he will arrange for your complaint to be considered by the Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority’s Grievance Panel.
The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS)
TPAS is available to help people with any problems or complaints they have failed to resolve with us. Its address is: 11 Belgrave Road, LondonSW1V 1RB.
Pensions Ombudsman
The Pensions Ombudsman can investigate your complaint, if you write to him within three years of the event, but will not normally do so until after TPAS has investigated it. The address is the same as for TPAS.
The Pensions Regulator
The Pensions Regulator may intervene in the running of the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme where the Fire and Rescue Authority or scheme administrators fail in their duties. The Pensions Regulator’s address is: Napier House, Trafalgar Place, Brighton, East Sussex BN1 4DW.
Pension Tracing Service
Information about the Firefighters’ Pension Scheme has been given to the Pension Tracing Service, TyneviewPark, Whitley Road, Newcastle-upon-TyneNE98 1BA.
Data Protection Act 1998
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, it is important that we hold correct personal data.
As one of our pensioners, you (or your representatives if a power of attorney or court of protection order has been granted) need to write and tell us of any changes in your personal circumstances so that our records are kept up to date.
Also we cannot disclose personal data over the phone unless we can be sure we are talking to the right person. If you need information about your pension over the phone, you will have to ask the Pensions Services Section for a personal identification number (PIN), which you can then quote when you phone us.
1