NHS Pensions - New employee questionnaire

New employee questionnaire-20240425-(V16) 1

As part of the recruitment process, all new employees, staff transferring in from another NHS

employer and existing NHS employees must complete this questionnaire as fully as possible.

The NHS Pension Scheme legislation requires employers to contractually enrol all new eligible

employees into the NHS Pension Scheme on commencement of their employment. The Pensions

Act 2008 requires those employees who cannot join the NHS Pension Scheme to be automatically

enrolled into an alternative pension scheme. In order to ensure that you are correctly enrolled your

employer needs to establish your current NHS pension status.

Please note that the information provided will only be used for local and central pensions/payroll

administration purposes to determine your eligibility criteria to join the NHS Pension Scheme.

Please use the completion notes whilst completing the form.

Employer name

Your full name

Previous surname(s)

Membership SD Number

(if known)

National Insurance number

Date of birth

Email address

What is your new job role / title

Date new role will start

Have you ever been in the NHS Pension Scheme or worked in

a role which you were entitled to be a member? (agency work

is not applicable)?

Yes

Go to Q2

Go to Q10

Are you still in this employment?

Yes

Go to below

Go to Q3

Will this continue at the same time as your new role?

Yes

Go to Q4

Go to Q3

What date did you leave, or are you

due to leave, your last employment

with the NHS?

/ / Go to Q4

New employee questionnaire-20240425-(V16) 2

Please indicate the contract type of

any other employment(s)

Full time

Go to Q5

Part time

Go to Q5

Bank

Go to Q5

Self employed

Go to Q5

Important: If you change your hours or leave your other employment(s) it is your responsibility to

advise the Payroll team as this may affect your eligibility to a pension scheme.

Please provide the name and contact details of your other employer(s) along with how many

hours you are (or were) contracted to work. If necessary please continue on a separate

sheet.

Name Contact details

Contracted

hours

Go to Q6

When you were previously a member of the NHS Pension

Scheme did you claim any NHS retirement pension benefits

(other than on redundancy or interest of efficiency grounds)?

Yes

See below

Go to Q7

Please indicate which NHS retirement benefit you are in receipt of:

Ill health Retirement (Early or Age) Partial Retirement

Please indicate which Section or Scheme you were a member of:

1995 Section 2008 Section 2015 Scheme Not Known

Go to Q7

Have you previously been made redundant from an NHS

employment?

Yes

See below

Go to Q8

Date of redundancy / /

Did you take an NHS Pension?

Yes

See below

Go to Q8

Which NHS Pension Scheme did

you take your benefits from?

1995

Section

2008

Section

2015

Scheme

Not

known

Name of NHS employer made redundant from

Go to Q8

New employee questionnaire-20240425-(V16) 3

Do, or did you, have any NHS Money Purchase Additional

Voluntary Contribution (NHS MPAVC) arrangements in place

through the NHS Pension Scheme with Utmost (previously

Equitable Life), Prudential or Standard Life?

Yes

See below

Go to Q9

Please contact your NHS MPAVC provider if you wish to continue to pay your additional

contributions. You will need to advise them of your new employer so they can provide details

for payroll deductions to continue. (Go to Q9)

Do you have an Added Years contract, Additional Pension

purchase or Early Retirement Reduction Buy Out (ERRBO) in

place?

Yes

See below

Go to Q10

If your answer is ‘yes’ please provide us with a copy of your contract. (Go to Q10)

Q10

In your new post will you be applying for Mental Health Officer

status (MHO)?

Yes

See below

Go to Q11

If you had previous MHO status please provide the

date the role ended

/ /

If you have never held MHO status your new post will not qualify for this status. (Go to Q11)

Q11

In your new post will you be applying for Special Class status

(SCS)?

Yes

See below

Go to Q12

If you had previous SCS please provide the date the

role ended

/ /

If you have never held SCS your new post will not qualify for this status. (Go to Q12)

Q12 Have you ever taken a refund of NHS Pension benefits?

Yes

See below

Go to Q13

Please provide dates of previous NHS Pension

Scheme membership which was refunded (space for

additional dates below)

/ /

Q13

Do you have any previous pension rights that you might be

interested in transferring into the NHS Pension Scheme?

Yes

See below

Go to Part 2

If your answer is ‘Yes’, you should download the Transfer In Guide and application pack from our

website at: www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-pensions

. However, it is important to note that this can only be

done within the first 12 months of becoming eligible to join the Scheme. (Go to Part 2)

New employee questionnaire-20240425-(V16) 4

Part 2 Declaration

I confirm I will inform my employer (or Employing Authority) if my employment position with other

NHS organisations changes.

Signature

Date

Please make sure this form is provided by the commencement of your employment to enable the

correct assessment of your pension position.

The form should be returned to:

How we use your information

The NHS Business Services Authority – NHS Pensions will use the information provided for

administering your NHS Pension Scheme membership and processing payment of your NHS

pension benefits. We may share your information to administer and pay your NHS pension, enable

us to prevent and detect fraud and mistakes, for debt collection purposes, or as required by law.

For more information about who we share your information with and how long we keep your

personal data and your rights, please visit our website at www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/yourinformation

Employer stamp

New employee questionnaire-20240425-(V16) 5

Completion notes

These completion notes are provided to assist you in completing the new joiner questionnaire.

Please complete the questionnaire as fully as possible so that the correct assessment can be

made.

Q1 – This question is to establish if you have any previous NHS Pension Scheme membership at

the date of starting this new employment.

Q2 – This is to establish whether you will have any other NHS employments at the same time as

your new role.

Q3 – This is to ensure you do not have an overlapping employment.

Q4 – You can only be pensionable in this Scheme up to whole time, therefore it is important that

your employer knows how many hours you work in your other employment(s). Please make sure

that you keep your employer/payroll informed if the situation changes.

Q5 – If you are continuing to work in another NHS post we need to know who your other NHS

employment is with. This is important as there are reasons why you may not be eligible for the

NHS Pension Scheme in two employments. The name of your other employer may be the same as

the one you are starting with. Please note that if you are working for an NHS organisation through

an employment agency, this does not count as NHS employment.

Q6 – If you are in receipt of any NHS pension benefits then you may not be eligible to rejoin the

NHS Pension Scheme. However, by providing the information requested we will be able to make

the correct assessment. We ask you to identify which Section or Scheme you were in (1995

Section, 2008 Section or 2015 Scheme) but if you are unsure then please tick the ‘Not known’.

Q7 – NHS service that has been counted in the calculation of a redundancy payment needs to be

declared to ensure the correct assessment of your service. If you are in receipt of an NHS Pension

as the result of redundancy, this will impact the assessment.

Q8 – If you have Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) arrangements with either Equitable life,

Prudential or Standard Life through the NHS Pension Scheme then you need to inform the AVC

provider that you are changing employer to ensure continuity can be considered.

Q9 – If you have either Added Years, Additional Pension purchase or Early Retirement Reduction

Buy Out (ERRBO) through the NHS Pension Scheme it is essential that you confirm the details

and provide a copy of the contract that was provided to you when you commenced the

arrangement to ensure continuity of the arrangement.

Q10 – Please note that Mental Health Officer (MHO) status no longer applies to any post

commenced after 6 March 1995. However, if you have previously held a post that attracted MHO

status and you believe the new post also qualifies for MHO status then you need to indicate this by

ticking ‘Yes’ and completing the details of the previous employment.

Q11– Please note that Special Class status (SCS) no longer applies to any post commenced after

6 March 1995. However, if you have previously held a post that attracted SCS and you believe the

new post also qualifies for SCS then you need to indicate this by ticking ‘Yes’ and completing the

details of the previous employment.

New employee questionnaire-20240425-(V16) 6

Q12 – Refunded membership may be included in your qualifying membership (membership

counting towards your maximum allowed membership) but will not be included in the calculation of

your pension benefits. Also, should you have taken your refund within the last 6 months you are

entitled to pay it back should you wish to increase your current membership of the Scheme.

Q13 – You may be able to transfer other pensions into the NHS Pension Scheme, however it is

important to note that this can only be done within the first 12 months of becoming eligible to join

the Scheme.

If you would like to consider your option to transfer benefits, please tick the ‘Yes’ box and

download the Transfer In Guide and application pack. If you say no but decide at a later date that

you wish to consider a transfer (within the 12 month deadline) then you can obtain the Transfer In

Guide and application pack from your employer or the NHS Pensions website

(www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-pensions

). If you have previous NHS pension membership within

England and Wales this will be automatically added to any new membership in the NHS Pension

Scheme. If you have previous membership of the NHS Pension Scheme in Scotland or Northern

Ireland, this will not be automatically linked. You must apply to transfer these benefits if you would

like your membership to be added to your new membership in the NHS Pension Scheme (England

and Wales).

If you wish to transfer from a scheme that participates in the Public Sector Transfer Club, please

note that you must 'elect to proceed' with this transfer within 12 months of becoming eligible to join

the NHS Pension Scheme (an election to proceed is not a request for an estimate, it is the signed

option form requesting payment of the transfer value).

Once the assessment has been made, you will be notified by your employer by the first pay day

which Scheme you have been enrolled in, what the Scheme features are, the contribution rates

and your options.

Assessment is not possible until your first payment is made.

Death Benefit Nomination Forms

In the event of your death, the NHS Pension Scheme may provide for your family or a person you

have nominated.

You can nominate someone to receive a lump sum on death benefit if you die using the lump sum

on death benefit nomination forms.

If you have a partner, but are not married or in a civil partnership, you may also be able to

nominate them to receive an adult dependant’s pension using a separate form.

You can also cancel or change a previous nomination.

For further information please visit our website at www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/nominations

where you will also find the relevant forms.