Ongoing problems with obtaining up to date and correct pension information
· Posted on: January 17th 2024 · read
Every GP wants to ensure they can obtain up to date and correct pension information in a timely manner in a format they are expecting. However, due to an increasing number of PCSE processing issues of the Type 1 annual pension certificates, and submitted pension certificates being rejected, this is causing more GPs to be unable to access correct pension information.
A GP’s pension record with PCSE needs to be up to date for their pension benefits to show accurately on their Total Rewards Statement. However, where there are delays in processing pension certificates by PCSE, this inevitably delays the information becoming available on the Total Reward Statement.
How can I find out if all my Type 1 pension certificates have been processed by PCSE?
After logging into PCSE Online follow the options for ‘GP Pensions and Payments’ > ‘Pensions’ > ‘Annual Certificate – Type 1’ > ‘Listing screen’.
This should display all the Type 1 pension certificates that have been processed by PCSE, with the declaration status appearing as ‘Approved’. If for any reason a financial year does not appear, where you are expecting it to (you were a GP partner in that year), you can contact your usual specialist healthcare accountant who can investigate why a particular financial year is not appearing.
Sometimes pension certificates have been submitted to PCSE with no issues and they just have not processed them, or pension certificates submitted have been rejected by PCSE.
Common reasons why PCSE reject Type 1 certificates submitted to them, even though the certificates are correct
- Contributions included in the paid figures on the certificate does not agree to the figures held by PCSE. This could be due to an adjustment which has been collected via the monthly contract statement, which has not been applied by PCSE correctly to a GP’s record as being collected.
- Where a BACS payment has been made for the applicable shortfall due, PCSE have not applied this correctly to a GP’s record as being paid.
- Monthly contributions collected from the contract statement are appearing on a GP’s Employee contribution screen as ‘Monthly salary’ rather than them being allocated to their ‘Profit Share & Other Income’ and therefore PCSE’s records will not match to the certificate
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What do I do if PCSE reject my Type 1 certificate when I know it is correct?
There are two things that can be done.
If you have received an email from PCSE displaying a CAS reference number, within the time frame supplied by them, you can respond to the existing enquiry by going to the PCSE Contact Us form, which can be accessed here https://pcse.england.nhs.uk/co... > GP Pensions > Existing GP Pensions enquiry. You can then enter the CAS reference number and reply to the rejection email.
If you do not have a CAS reference number, but you know PCSE have not processed your certificate, as it is not appearing as expected on your listing screen, following the link above you can raise a new enquiry instead. Here you can submit a signed copy of your Type 1 certificate which has not yet been processed by PCSE.
On the enquiry forms, there is a box where the issue can be explained to PCSE, so they can act accordingly to process the certificate. The main issue is usually outlining to PCSE what figures are included in the ‘contributions already paid’ boxes, so they can update and match their records appropriately.
What can I do to ensure correct payments on account are collected for my pension contributions?
With assistance from your healthcare accountant, ensuring an Estimate of pensionable pay is submitted to PCSE by 1 March each year. This directs PCSE as to the monthly contributions which should be collected, which are in line with your expected pensionable pay.
Practice managers can review the monthly contract statement each month, to ensure contributions are being deducted for the GPs they are expecting. Identifying and rectifying an issue early on where incorrect contributions are being collected from the practice, will prevent it becoming a larger problem in the future. This will also help with the practice’s cash flow if deductions are only being taken for the correct GPs. Corrections taken in the future can affect cash flow significantly if they are all adjusted for at once.
What can I do to help the process?
Review your listing screen to see if you are missing any financial years.
Ensuring Type 1 certificates are submitted to PCSE by 28 February each year, will increase the likelihood of them being processed in a timely manner by PCSE.
GPs can access their ‘Employee Contribution Screens’ on PCSE online, where for a selected financial year, you can view monthly contributions which have been allocated to your record. Here you can identify if any months are missing where you are expecting a contribution to appear.
To ensure the correct deductions are being taken on the monthly contract statement, practices should ensure that when a GP (partner or salaried) joins or leaves the practice, a joiner or leaver form should be submitted on PCSE online. This will start or stop contributions. PCSE have produced this guide which shows step by step the actions which are needed https://pcse.england.nhs.uk/pr....
As part of the year end accounts process, your specialist healthcare accountant will review the overall superannuation position of each individual partner and will identify if any of the issues as mentioned above are present.
