UNITED KINGDOM
As many as 1,200 former UK Public Servants are being asked to make repayments on their pensions after their scheme was found to have overpaid them.
Some individual demands run into thousands of pounds.
The Cabinet Office has confirmed the pensioners will be expected to pay back the extra cash.
It said the revisions were separate from an error that came to light last year, when the MyCSP administrator found a Guaranteed Minimum Pension miscalculation had led to overpayments worth £22 million (A$40.3 million).
In that instance, MyCSP said thousands of people would have their pensions cut, but it would not seek to reclaim cash they had already received.
In an example of this latest case, Patricia Wilson, who retired from the Department for Work and Pensions in 2011, received a letter from MyCSP with a demand for more than £3,000 (A$5,500).
“I was told to pay the money back by cheque or bank transfer, and my annual pension would be reduced,” Ms Wilson said.
She said in the eight years since she retired there had been no suggestion she was receiving the wrong amount.
The Cabinet Office said MyCSP had reviewed the pensions entitlements of 300,000 people, of which 12,000 had been changed.
It said “over 90 per cent” of those affected would see an increase in their pension as a result, leaving up to 1,200 who would see their pension cut as well as having to make repayments.
“We recognise the inconvenience this will cause some former employees, but we are legally obliged to ensure pensioners are paid their agreed entitlement,” the Cabinet Office said.
MyCSP is a part-private, part-employee owned firm spun out of Government to administer pensions for around 1.5 million current and former PS employees and is overseen by the Cabinet Office.
London, 7 June 2019
