The website membership enquiry process will be updated to include Retrospective and Part Time Access (PTA) as well as a few smaller changes with the existing standard membership. The volume of Retrospective and PTA membership enquiries is relatively low but the application process has been improved to provide up front guidance and dedicated application forms, to mirror the process for standard membership enquiries.
The main focus is to provide web guidance for employers, the Customer Contact Centre and NHS Pensions to be able to refer members to, in order to promote self-help and reduce unnecessary contact. Dedicated application forms are then provided for genuine enquiries which ensure all the relevant information is provided first time around and to the correct stakeholder, further reducing double-handling.
Much of the new content is provided for the member but a new ‘all-in-one’ employer membership guide has been provided in the Employer Hub and explains the end-to-end processes for both the member and employer. The key changes are:
Employer Hub documents
- Membership enquiry factsheet – New all-in-one guide covering all aspects of membership enquiry
- Membership enquiry questionnaire (SM27D) – Existing employer reply with a few minor changes
- Retrospective membership enquiry response (SM Retro2) – New employer reply form specific to answering retrospective membership requests
Member Hub documents
- Membership records factsheet – Existing factsheet renamed with a few minor changes
- Standard membership enquiry factsheet – New guidance to help members make an enquiry about missing or incorrect membership
- Retrospective membership enquiry factsheet – New guidance to help members make an enquiry if they think they have not been correctly enrolled into the pension scheme
- Part time access membership enquiry factsheet – New guidance specifically for some part time workers who had not been given access to the 1995 Section prior to 1 April 1991
- Membership statement request (SM27A) – Existing 1995/2008 Section membership statement request with a minor change
- Membership enquiry with employer (SM27B) – Existing Standard membership enquiry with the employer with a few minor changes
- Membership enquiry with NHS Pensions (SM27C) – Existing Standard membership enquiry with NHS Pensions with a few minor changes
- Retrospective membership application (SM Retro1) – New application form with the employer specifically for retrospective membership requests
- Part time access membership application (SM PTA1) – New application form with NHS Pensions specifically for Part time access requests
The guidance and application forms will be updated shortly after the release of this newsletter.
If you have any questions or improvement suggestions of your own, please contact: nhsbsa.stakeholderengagement@nhs.net