The UK Government Actuarys Department (GAD) has published detailed guidance for police and fire pension scheme administrators to calculate redress for errors.
The GAD said it had prepared tables of factors for the remedy and shared them with relevant government departments in May. But as these were not enough to help administrators deal with specific cases, it published detailed guidance for calculating redress in a range of different circumstances.
The publication of the guidance follows the decision by the Pensions Ombudsman Service on a test case of a complaint brought by William Milne, a retired firefighter in May. The ombudsman said the complaint should be upheld because GAD failed to review the commutation factors from 1998 to 2006 applicable to the calculation of the lump sum Milne was entitled to receive.
The guidance includes information about when redress should be provided in the form of an additional lump sum and when in the form of an increase to the pension being paid, as well as how to handle cases where the pensioner has died.
Guidance for the firefighters' pension scheme is available on the Department for Communities and Local Government website, and guidance for police pension schemes can be found via the Home Office website.
GAD said it could not provide advice to individual members and those concerned with the process of calculation should direct their queries to the relevant pension schemes.