Local Government Pension Scheme (Scotland) (Strathclyde Pension Fund) (PO-29311)

Ombudsman’s Determination

Outcome

The complaint shall be partly upheld against the Council because:-

· It has been treating Mrs Y’s Compensation Payments as non-pensionable where there is sufficient information indicating that the Compensation Payments made to Mrs Y fall within the definition of “pay”, and are consequently pensionable, under Regulation 12(1) of the 1998 Regulations.

· As a result, in the absence of evidence from the Council that the Compensation Payments were not intended to be pensionable under the 1998 Regulations, Mrs Y is in receipt of incorrect pension benefits, and has been since she retired in 2009.

· The operation of Section 6 of The Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 means the obligation to make the correct pension payments between 2009 and the date five years before Mrs Y brought her complaint to my Office, on 20 March 2019, is extinguished. However, a new loss will occur each time a pension payment is made so the obligation to make the correct pension payments from 20 March 2014 onwards is not affected by the Act.

· The Council omitted information about pensions in the Equal Pay Information Pack and failed to follow guidance from the Strathclyde Pension Fund Office in a Bulletin No. 13 “Equal Pay Settlement Guidelines” (the EP Guidelines

Complaint summary

Mrs Y has complained that the Council did not treat the payments she received under an equal pay settlement (Compensation Payments) as pensionable under the Scheme.