Thames Ambulance dispute puts comms in the spotlight

GMB complained that the company had failed to inform its staff about disruptions to the payment schedule, a claim rejected by Thames Ambulance Service.

It’s clearly an emotional issue. There’s an element of trust and maintaining good employee relations

Angela Sharma, Taylor Wessing

Staff working for the healthcare contractor were informed by mastertrust Nest that their contributions for October last year had not been received on time, and relayed their concerns to the union.

Late contributions can mean that members lose out on investment returns, but equally would protect them from losses.

Employer admits fault

After discussions with Nest, the company accepted responsibility for the delayed payments.

“It’s been a processing fault on our end,” a spokesperson for Thames Ambulance Service said, adding that the company’s main priority was now keeping staff informed of the situation.

In a previous statement the ambulance operator assured staff that the payments in question have been made.

While Nest declined to comment on individual cases, it said that its systems were running as expected.

“Nest policy is to communicate often and early with employers who are late with their contributions. If employers don’t resolve the late payment, Nest will make late payment reports to [the Pensions Regulator].”

Drive to automate remains

Thames Ambulance Service took over patient transport services contracts from the South East Coast Ambulance Service in April last year.

The collection model of contributions, used by Nest and many large providers, places a responsibility on employers to make funds available, and submit a contribution schedule. Once this has been done, the scheme is responsible for collection.

Daniel Taylor, director at administration specialist Trafalgar House, said the modern automated systems normally used in these processes meant collection failures were rare.

Where employers transmit contributions directly to schemes, still used for many occupational pension schemes, the continued prevalence of manual systems in payroll and treasury departments can lead to employers missing their contribution windows.

“It’s actually quite common, especially if there has been a change of personnel at the employer,” said Taylor.

In the main, he advised schemes to take steps towards automating payroll systems, in order to avoid delayed contributions.

“The problem with all these processes is time,” he said, adding that any steps towards automation “makes the process run a lot quicker”.

Storm in a teacup

Further concerns were raised about contributions to the NHS Superannuation Scheme, which pays career average benefits to members.

Thames Ambulance Service has only been authorised to make contributions since it was approved by the NHS Pensions Agency in September, months after it took over the NHS staff and services.

A statement from the company announced that member contributions for the period between April and September had been deducted from salaries as usual, and held in a deposit account.

The NHS scheme confirmed that all payments since September had been made on time, with the pre-September contributions due to be reconciled at a later date.

A spokesman for the NHS Business Services Authority said: “We are working with the organisation to ensure that their total pension records are correctly updated in terms of members’ details and pension contributions.”

Keep up communications

“The NHS scheme is unfunded,” said Angela Sharma, senior professional support lawyer at Taylor Wessing, adding: “Ultimately it’s the Treasury that foots the bill.”

As such, even missed contributions by the employer would not affect the entitlements of members. For this reason the NHS does not inform members of issues with contributions.

Sharma said that clear communication with members over such issues was important for both employers and schemes.

“It’s clearly an emotional issue,” she said. “There’s an element of trust and maintaining good employee relations.”

GMB regional organiser Gary Palmer said that confused members had contacted the schemes only to be told their contributions had not been received.

“Why on earth would the company not get their information out to their staff?” he asked. However, he welcomed the later clarification on the matter.

TASL rejected the claim that staff were unaware of the delay in contributions, saying in a statement: “GMB and our staff were fully aware that TASL only secured permission to contribute to the NHS Superannuation Scheme in September 2016... TASL will continue to work with staff over the next few days to provide all the reassurance we can.”

This article was amended since original publication to accurately reflect the ownership of Thames Ambulance Service