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Automated AW171s effective early 2021

As part of the Sub Award Project, we have looked at how we can simplify and improve the process for employers. We have recognised that we can easily identify when a change on a member record has occurred either through Pensions Online (POL) or via the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) Pensions Interface and as such if a pension is already in payment we can use this change to check if steps to revise the pension are appropriate.

Currently the trigger to consider a revised pension is an employer submitting a paper AW171 to NHS Pensions for processing. As we develop this change it will mean that employers will soon no longer need to complete a paper AW171. This will make the process far more efficient and ensure that in all instances a revised pension will be considered if the change makes a difference to the original pension in payment.

For 1995 Scheme members, we will use a system calculation to generate the pensionable pay to be used. To ensure accuracy there will be built in validation checks to compare the updated pay with previous pay used and ensure this is within acceptable tolerance levels.

If the validation checks fail, then we will contact the employer to clarify the information prior to processing a revised pension payment, ensuring only correct information is used for the member. 

In preparation for the change, can employers please ensure that all member records are updated via POL/ESR before sending the AW171 to NHS Pensions.

As part of the preparation for this change, we are arranging to share the process with a small subgroup of employers to assist with the rollout and enable us to listen to queries and amend our communications accordingly. We will provide a further update once this session has taken place and hopefully we will then be able to provide a go live date. We will let you know once you should no longer submit a paper form and advise on the rare circumstances where we may still need one.