Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme · CAS-42028-T9C8

CAS-42028-T9C8

Ombudsman’s Determination Applicant Mr K

Scheme Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme (PCSPS)

Respondent MyCSP

Outcome

Complaint summary

Background information, including submissions from the parties

MyCSP advised Mr K that CSA and HO (the Employers) were responsible for maintaining accurate service and payroll records and it was unable to produce a correct ABS without correct information from the Employers.

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5 January 1998 to 30 July 2006 Full time with CSA 31 July 2006 to 9 February 2007 Full time with HO And Part time with CSA (9 hours a week) 12 February 2007 to 17 May 2009 Full time for CSA 18 May 2009 to 6 June 2017 Full time for HO Mr K became a full-time employee of Her 7 June 2017 to present Majesty’s Revenue & Customs

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Mr K was in employment with CSA, in a full-time role, from 5 January 1998. This contract of employment with CSA continued until 17 May 2009 and so is deemed to be his first employment.

As he joined the PCSPS before 1 October 2002, he was eligible to join what is now known as the Classic Section of the PCSPS for this first period of employment.

On 31 July 2006, Mr K took up a full-time post with HO but also moved to a part-time working pattern with CSA working 9 hours per week.

Mr K’s HO role was full time and was classed as a second contract of employment. As Mr K started this contract of employment with HO after 30 3 CAS-42028-T9C8 September 2002 he was eligible for the Premium Section of the PCSPS for this second period of employment.

However, Mr K was incorrectly enrolled in the Classic Section when he joined HO on 31 July 2006 and he should have been enrolled in the Premium Section.

Mr K left HO and returned to a full-time working pattern with CSA from 12 February 2007, until he left on 17 May 2009.

Mr K was then re-employed by HO on 18 May 2009. As he was no longer employed by CSA, he only had one contract of employment at the time. This was continuous with the part time role he had with CSA and as such his scheme eligibility remained the same as the first CSA employment (Classic Section).

Mr K moved into the Alpha scheme from 1 April 2015.

Mr K then left the HO in June 2017 and joined HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) on 7 June 2017, the next day. Again, this was continuous with the employment he had with CSA then HO (from 2009) and as such his scheme eligibility remained the same as that first employment until he moved to the Alpha Scheme in 2015.

In summary:

• Although he had many changes of employer Mr K had been in continuous full-time service in one role or another since 5 January 1998 to date.

• Between 31 July 2006 and 9 February 2007 Mr K had a concurrent period of service (due to concurrent employment contracts).

• Mr K was eligible for the Classic Section in the first employment (until moving to the Alpha Scheme in April 2015). As the concurrent second employment began in 2006, he was eligible for the Premium Section for that service.

“Part time service qualifies in full but reckons based on hours worked. As his part time service with CSA was part of his first employment it forms part of his service in classic. This is the main reason why there is a difference between his qualifying and his reckonable service in classic. Mr [K] also has some unpaid days during this employment (though after the period in 06/07 in question) that qualify but do not count towards reckonable service. These are 4 CAS-42028-T9C8 provided to us by the employer… We do not hold the reason for these unpaid days as that is not relevant to a pension calculation.

Mr [K]’s full time service with Home Office from 31/07/2006- 09/02/2007 was his second employment (under a second contract of employment at that time) under which he was eligible for premium. Therefore, under premium, as his service was full-time (and he did not have any unpaid absences) his qualifying service and reckonable service are the same for that period.”

Adjudicator’s Opinion

The offer of £500 for distress and inconvenience was reasonable, taking into account that HO had also paid Mr K’s missing employee pension contribution of £200.

Mr K did not accept the Adjudicator’s Opinion. He said: -

• When he joined the HO it was his primary employment as it was full time and initially, he was placed in the Premium Scheme, but his pension contributions were then refunded, and he was then placed into the Classic Scheme.

• He had no intention of returning to the CSA at this time.

5 CAS-42028-T9C8 • His contract with HO was fixed term so he had retained his part time status with CSA because he was in the process of getting a mortgage and needed evidence of secure employment.

He had been disadvantaged by MyCSP because had he stayed at the CSA at the lower grade full-time, he would have had continuous full-time reckonable service under the Classic Section. Had he resigned from the CSA and then just been employed by the HO he would also have had continuous full-time reckonable service. By working 2 Civil Service jobs he lost out on the Classic reckonable service even though he was working longer hours.

The previous pension administrator prior to MyCSP was ‘Home Office Pay & Pensions Service’ and his dual membership was correctly administered, so he does not agree the interpretation of his reckonable service by MyCSP was correct.

The complaint was passed to me to consider, and I note Mr K’s comments which do not change the outcome.

Ombudsman’s decision

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I do not uphold the complaint.

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman 18 November 2021

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Appendix Extract from Stage Two IDRP –

“Scheme Eligibility – PCSPS – Section 1 (the 2002 Section)

…

(5) Condition C is that –

(a) the person’s employment begins on or after 1st October 2002 and before 30th July 2007 and the person is not someone who became an active member of the 1972 Section in respect of that employment and subsequently opted out of the 1972 Section….”

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