There are many ways that the Scheme can help members who for various reasons need help with managing their pensions, including:
- You can nominate someone to act on your behalf when you have to contact the administrators, for example, if you are hard of hearing: use the “appoint an agent” form to authorise someone to ask questions on your behalf. Your pension will still be paid to you, but the person you have nominated will be your “agent”; they can’t change anything, but they can explain things.
- You can nominate a person to receive your Scheme correspondence. If you have trouble seeing or managing your affairs use the “Appoint 'care of' address” form to authorise someone to act as a ‘care of address’. Your pension will still be paid to you, but the person you have nominated will be your “agent” and will receive correspondence; they can’t change anything, but they can receive your correspondence and explain things.
- You can nominate a representative who can receive your pension on your behalf. This could be a family member or an organisation (eg care home) where you’re receiving care. To put this in place, complete the “Payee” form. This requires medical evidence of your condition to be given to the administration office. Your Pension will no longer be paid to you, but instead will be paid to the person you have nominated on your behalf. Correspondence will also go to the representative rather than yourself
- You may have already set up a power of attorney. If so, please advise us of this by sending in a copy.
- In cases of extreme mental incapacity, a “Court of Protection” order may be put into place by the Court (see Court of Protection on www.gov.uk/courts-tribunals/court-of-protection)