FOI-02943

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  <p>Thank you for your request for information about the following:</p>

  <p><strong>Request</strong></p>

  <p><em>Has NHSBSA identified any pension lump sum overpayments that were made within the last three years for staff who had been employed by Cwm Taf Morganwg university health board?</em></p>

  <p><em>Please list the dates on which the overpayments were made, the amount of overpayment, the reason for the overpayment, the date on which the overpayment was identified, the date the person was notified of the overpayment and whether any of the overpayment has been written off along with the amount of write off.</em></p>

  <p><em>Where there is a delay of greater than 7 days between identification of an overpayment and the individual being notified please state the reason for this.</em></p>

  <p>The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 20 June 2025.</p>

  <p>On the 7 July 2025 you clarified your response as follows:</p>

  <p><em>Initially I am looking for overpayments that occurred within 2 years of leaving employment and for that to relate to overpayments since 1 April 2022 however if a more complete set of data is available I am happy to receive it.</em></p>

  <p>We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).</p>

  <p><strong>Our response</strong></p>

  <p>We have considered this request under the FOIA and are unable to provide some of the information because it is not held by the NHSBSA or is exempt under section 12 of the FOIA. I will address each exemption in turn.</p>

  <p><strong>Information which is not held by the NHSBSA</strong></p>

  <p>Following a search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the following information you requested is not held by us:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>Where there is a delay of greater than 7 days between identification of an overpayment and the individual being notified, the reason for this.</li>
  </ul>

  <p>This is because the reason for the delay is not recorded.</p>

  <p><strong>Information which is exempt under section 12 of the FOIA</strong></p>

  <p>The NHSBSA holds the remaining requested information; however, we estimate that the cost of compliance with part of the request would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of the FOIA. The information we are unable to provide as a result is:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>Overpayment reason</li>
    <li>Date the person was notified of the overpayment</li>
  </ul>

  <p>This is because it would require manual interrogation of the system to determine this information. We therefore estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the non-central Government limit of £450.</p>

  <p>Please see the following calculations which sets out the estimated cost for compliance with this request:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>30 minutes per lump sum overpayment x 98 records = 49 hours</li>
  </ul>

  <p><strong>Information we are able to provide</strong></p>

  <p>I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds and is able to provide some of the information you have requested. A copy of the information is attached and the notes below explaining the data should be read to ensure correct understanding. The data we are able to provide:</p>

  <ul>
    <li>Overpayment Identified Date: Date the overpayment was identified and processed for recovery</li>
    <li>Overpayment Amount: The amount of overpayment identified</li>
    <li>Overpayment Occurred Date: The date of overpayment occurred</li>
    <li>Write Off Amount: The amount written off</li>
  </ul>

  <p>The attached dataset shows 98 lump sum overpayments identified on or after 1 April 2022 for employing authority codes EA 6059 and EA 0605. These cases involve members who were employed by Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (including NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership) within the two years preceding the date of each overpayment.</p>

  <p>Please note that members may be listed more than once, if multiple overpayments have been raised. Only overpayments related to lump sums are included. The overpayment may not be connected to service with EA 6059 or EA 0605. It simply needed to have occurred within 2 years of leaving active service with one of those employers.</p>

  <p>Overpayments can happen due to a variety of different factors as a normal part of the administration and processing of a member’s pension. For example, any changes to pay or service after submission of the first award will result in a revised award and a subsequent over or under payment.</p>

  <p>Members should be notified of an overpayment and any subsequent recovery at the time the overpayment is processed. The overpayment is automatically identified by our system as part of a number of different processes being completed; If there are delays in these processes being completed, some of which are outside of our control, it may lead to a significant time elapsed between occurrence and identification of overpayment.</p>

  <p>Overpayments may show as £0 if they have been offset, written off, revisited etc. depending on which internal process was followed. Some overpayments will have been written off or offset against their pension, therefore not all members will have been notified directly regarding the overpayment but should have been informed as part of the award claim process.</p>

  <p>The NHSBSA has a legal right to enforce recovery. We write to anyone who receives an overpayment to explain the situation as sensitively as possible and provide information about how to repay. In the letter we provide contact information so that anyone with concerns or questions can talk to us for further support. We’re committed to working with anyone who receives an overpayment to agree a repayment plan based on their personal circumstances. We will try to make contact in writing on three separate occasions. In some cases, we need to carry out further investigations, for example if we are unable to make contact after three initial attempts in writing. As administrators of one of the largest public sector pension schemes, the NHSBSA has a responsibility to the taxpayer to recover overpayments where possible. We acknowledge that recovery may not always be possible in all circumstances.</p>

  <p><strong>Data Queries</strong></p>

  <p>Please contact <a href="mailto:foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk">foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a> ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.</p>

  <p><strong>Reusing the data and copyright</strong></p>

  <p>If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact <a href="mailto:communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk">communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.</p>

  <p>The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:</p>

  <p><a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/">http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version</a></p>
 <p>Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: ng statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.</p>

  <p>Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.</p>

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Tags: NHS Pensions
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log