Army Preserved Pension Fiasco
Chronological Summary of Events
This page summarises the main events involved in the case against Equiniti Paymaster, and includes a complete list of all the correspondence involved. The part relevant to Equiniti Paymaster starts with the OPM I sent on 8th October 2015.
In most cases, the date in the first column links to the corresponding event details on one of the following two pages. These details usually include an image of the unedited content of the correspondence, and often a PDF document in addition.
The second column gives the sender and receiver of the correspondence:ICM | Ian Clive McInnes |
VUK | Veterans UK |
EQP | Equiniti Paymaster |
POS | Pensions Ombudsman Service (now abbreviated as TPO) |
PAS | Pensions Advisory Service (now abbreviated as TPAS) |
06 Jun 2015 | ICM-VUK | Sent completed APO Form 44 by DHL Express Letter. |
08 Jun 2015 | ICM-VUK | Form APO Form 44 delivered to old Army Pensions Office in Stanmore, then withdrawn. |
22 Jun 2015 | ICM-VUK | Form APO Form 44 delivered to Veterans UK at new address in Glasgow. |
29 Jun 2015 | VUK-ICM | Sent AFPS Form 8 (I would not receive this for over three months!). |
25 Sep 2015 | ICM-VUK | Sent follow-up letter to Veterans UK. |
02 Oct 2015 | VUK-ICM | Received AFPS Form 8 from Veterans UK (initially thought to be an early response to follow-up letter, but in fact was the form dated 29th June). |
05 Oct 2015 | ICM-VUK | Sent completed AFPS Form 8 by registered post to Veterans UK (Pensions Division). |
08 Oct 2015 | ICM-VUK | Sent completed OPM for Mexico by registered post to Veterans UK (Process Team). |
11 Dec 2015 | ICM-VUK | Sent follow-up fax to Veterans UK, giving bank details and mentioning issues with OPM. |
13 Dec 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received general information sheet dated 28th October 2015, including their Complaints Procedure. |
14 Dec 2015 | EQP-ICM | Received unwanted (and incorrect) UK cheque for the month of 16th November. |
14 Dec 2015 | VUK-ICM | Received email with copy of Award Letter dated 26th October attached. |
15 Dec 2015 | ICM-VUK | Replied to email received yesterday, mentioning the spurious cheque (forwarded by Veterans UK to Equiniti Paymaster). |
22 Dec 2015 | EQP-ICM | Received email in response to the above, stating that the OPM I sent on 8th October had not been received, but giving me the option to send a replacement as an email attachment. |
23 Dec 2015 | ICM-EQP | Replied to email sent yesterday, attaching a scan of the form I sent on 8th October. Also reiterated my bank account details, especially calling out the spurious 3-digit Bank Code. |
07 Jan 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received further information sheet dated 27th November 2015: "Changes to how you get your Armed Forces Pension Payments". |
09 Jan 2016 | VUK-ICM | Received redundant AFPS Form 8 (from problems with the delay in receiving the original). |
11 Jan 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received email in the name of SPVA Pensions stating that my OPM had been rejected on the grounds that the 3-digit Bank Code had not been supplied. |
15 Jan 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received two further useless UK cheques (for the arrears and the the Terminal Grant), both dated 2nd November 2015. |
17 Jan 2016 | ICM-EQP | Replied to email dated 11th January 2016, with a full and clear explanation of the requirements for Mexico, after checking again with the bank and online. |
17 Jan 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received a dreadful "Automated Response" that seemed to force the use of post. |
03 Feb 2016 | ICM-EQP | Reverted to the original contact within Equiniti Paymaster, again with full explanation about the requirements for funds transfers to Mexico. |
04 Feb 2016 | EQP-ICM | Early response, but only to state that the matter had been passed back to the same team that had done nothing previously, and that I would receive a reply "in due course". |
10 Feb 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received information "Pension Payments Abroad" dated 14th December 2015, with redundant OPM. |
22 Feb 2016 | ICM-VUK | Reverted to my contact at Veterans UK. It was clearly pointless to attempt further communication with Equiniti Paymaster via email, and escalating the matter within Equiniti Paymaster would have |
23 Feb 2016 | VUK-ICM | Received a prompt reply from my contact at Veterans UK, indicating that he would get Equiniti Paymaster to liaise with me to resolve the issue. |
27 Feb 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received another useless UK cheque, for the month of 16th December 2015. |
29 Feb 2016 | ICM-VUK | Sent a follow-up email to Veterans UK. |
01 Mar 2016 | VUK-ICM | Again, received a very prompt response, although it did not indicate much progress. |
03 Mar 2016 | VUK-ICM | Another email to state that Equiniti Paymaster would be contacting me directly, as it is their OPM that is causing the problems; he offered to help further if I still had problems. |
13 Mar 2016 | ICM-VUK | Having still received nothing from Equiniti Paymaster, I sent a further email. I expressed my concern about the behaviour of Equiniti Paymaster more strongly, hoping that the matter would be escalated. |
16 Mar 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received yet another useless UK cheque, for the month of 16th January 2016. |
19 Mar 2016 | ICM-POS | Sent an email to the Pensions Ombudsman Service in case they could help - I feared Veterans UK could not. |
22 Mar 2016 | POS-ICM | Received a prompt reply, but stating that I was legally obliged to follow an Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) with Equiniti Paymaster first. |
22 Mar 2016 | ICM-POS | Replied to Pensions Ombudsman Service. I stated that the information from Equiniti Paymaster did not mention any such procedure, and made clear the impracticality of using post. |
24 Mar 2016 | ICM-POS | Since it now seemed clear that the information from Equiniti Paymaster did not conform to the IDRP, sent this follow-up, with scans of their information dated 28th October 2015 (unfortunately I had no scanner the last time). |
29 Mar 2016 | POS-ICM | Received a reply to the above two emails. Was recommended to contact the Pensions Advisory Service. |
04 Apr 2016 | ICM-PAS | Contacted the Pensions Advisory Service as suggested. There was no email address, but at least they provided an online form. |
08 Apr 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received this totally out-of-the-blue email from the original contact at Equiniti Paymaster; this finally acknowledged the correctness of the bank details I gave. |
09 Apr 2016 | ICM-EQP | Replied to confirm that I had not presented any of the cheques they sent. |
11 Apr 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received a reply to state the cheques had been cancelled, and some strange stuff about local currency and expected credit date. |
15 Apr 2016 | EQP-ICM | Received details giving the amounts and expected credit date of 18th April. |
20 Apr 2016 | PAS-ICM | Received a late but helpful reply from the Pensions Advisory Service. |
24 Apr 2016 | ICM-PAS | Replied, stating that I had now received payment, but was still hardly happy, and concerned about the apparent lack of an IDRP for Equiniti Paymaster (No Response). |
29 Apr 2016 | EQP-ICM | Another cheque, for 16th February 2016. |
07 May 2016 | EQP-ICM | Another cheque, for 16th March 2016. |
The following two pages comprise details of these events in chronological order. For completeness, this starts from the initial application of the 6th June 2015. However, although the first page serves as background information, it is not directly relevant to the case against Equiniti Paymaster. You can skip this page by clicking here.