Pension bungle sees equal pay row women asked to repay thousands of pounds
AN error has led to women, who received an equal pay settlement, being overpaid in a revised pension lump sum.
Hundreds of women, who have already retired, were due more in their pension to reflect the earnings they should have had in the years when they were underpaid compared to men in similar roles.
However, a mistake in the pension settlement re-calculations has seen some overpaid as much as £10,000 plus in some cases and others underpaid by the same amount.
While all were due varying amounts the highest overpayment is understood to be in the region of £16,000.
The pensioners were informed of the correct amount in a revised statement but were paid the wrong amount into their bank account.
For every person paid more, someone else was paid the same amount less.
The cash has been transferred into bank accounts this week but now they have been told of the error and asked to repay the cash.
Those who were underpaid are being contacted to tell them to expect more.
The mistake means that payments were mixed up and 84 people were underpaid and 84 were overpaid by the same amount.
Strathclyde Pension Fund has apologised and is contacting everyone affected.
In total, 620 equal pay women, who had retired by the time the settlement was reached were in the category of having their pension re-evaluated and were due more cash.
The council had to pay £19million in employer contributions and the women £6m in total. It meant they had to have their employee contributions deducted from their settlement and were due increased contributions to their pension from the council.
It also meant that they had been underpaid in the lump sum they took on retirement and a revised settlement was being worked out.
A spokesman for Strathclyde Pension Fund said: “Clearly, an error has been made and we are very sorry for the worry and inconvenience this will have caused to some of those affected. We are making contact with them, individually, to explain what has happened and ensure they get the payment they are entitled to.”
Strathclyde Pension Fund has been calculating the impact on the pension pots of all claimants who are or were members of the Local Government Pension Scheme and their pensions were re-rated during this month.
A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “Settling Glasgow’s historic equal pay cases also had an impact on the pensions of a number of current and former staff – and, for some, that means the lump sums they received when they retired should have been higher.
“In total, the settlement included £25m in additional pension contributions – including employer contributions of £19m from the council.”
The pension lump sum over payments and underpayments does not affect the original settlements which saw thousands of women paid out after years of