Business Services Organisation
Please note this newsletter is provided to practice managers, payroll admins and finance managers responsible for administering the HSC Pension Scheme rules to the Officers within GP practices/federations.
It is intended to advise and remind employers of procedures for this process and should not be given to the staff themselves.
This newsletter contains information about :
- Annual Benefit Statements for Officers (ABS25)
- Keeping HSC Pension Service Updated
- Direct Debit Mandates
- Pensionable Pay & Contributions
- GP1 Submission
- Contacting Us
- Focus On – Retirement
- GP Officer Admin Workshops
- Funding Queires
- Contact Us
A downloadable/printable version of this information can be found here.
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Annual Benefit Statements for Officers (ABS25)
Where the GP55A 24/25 has been received and verified as correct, the information has now been uploaded to individual staff records and Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) for each active scheme member has been produced. The Annual Benefit Statement 2025 (ABS25) is available on Member Self Service (MSS) and all staff should now have registered for this service. Staff should not use generic email accounts to access MSS.
Please note, members who contact HSC Pension Service asking for a posted ABS25 due to not having access, will be directed back to their employer to assist them in gaining access. If members are having difficulties signing up to Member Self Service, they should email MSSqueries@hscni.net with details of the issues, including a screenshot of any error messages received.
Officers included on GP55As where the GP55A has been received after the submission deadline of the 16th May 2025, or where an outstanding query on an earlier submission has been raised but remains unanswered, are not guaranteed to have an Annual Benefit Statement produced as part of our ABS25 process for active scheme members. HSC Pension Service administrators will refer any queries from these members back to their employer. Subsequent production of the ABS25 is therefore likely to be delayed.
Important note regarding the Annual Benefit Statement 2025.
Any member affected by the McCloud judgment has had the first phase of the judgement applied to their record, known as rollback. Any service that was in the 2015 CARE scheme and due to be rolled back, from 01/04/2015 to 31/03/2022 ,will now have been moved to their “legacy” scheme. This is their original scheme before they were moved to the 2015 CARE scheme.
As a result of this change, any member effected will have had their benefits reverted into their legacy scheme. This was first shown on the ABS24.
For 2025, any member effected by McCloud will see their McCloud choice visualised on a new format ABS knows as an ABS-RSS.
Members will still receive their final RSS when they apply for benefits. -
Keeping HSC Pension Service Updated
Employers are required to update HSC Pensions of any changes to members personal information as and when they happen. This includes personal addresses.
The GP55a submission allows for a yearly update of all members addresses, however this should be conveyed to HSC pensions as soon as the member moves address to avoid any breaches of GDPR.
Please email HSC Pensions details of members new address as soon as they move – ensure that only one members address is updated per email sent.
Primary Contacts for employers
HSC Pensions relies on employers to update the primary contact information as and when it becomes applicable. Simply submitting information from a new address does not instruct our department to change our mailing list.
Should the contact info need changed, please email HSCPensions@hscni.net with the new details as soon as they are known.
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Direct Debit Mandates
Employers who pay contributions via direct debit will have an active mandate between HSC Pensions and their bank.
Employers can change their direct debit via their bank if they are switching their account, or they can send a new Direct Debit Mandate to HSC pensions.
If you send a new DD Mandate, you MUST send it with at least 20 days notice before your next expected Direct debit.
You must also send the mandate as a Hard Copy in the mail, as we must amend and forward directly to the bank.
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Pensionable Pay & Contributions
Can you please ensure persons responsible for the Employers payroll are fully aware of rules governing pensionable pay and contributions. Extensive information can be found at:
Section 5: Pensionable Pay and Contributions – HSC Pension Service (hscni.net).
Any contributions not paid due to payroll errors may be subjected to interest.
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GP1 Submission
The regulatory requirement for payment of contributions is no later than the 19th of the month following the applicable worked month.
Your direct debit is therefore processed on the 18th of each month and relates to the previous months GP1.
To allow our team to process the GP1s on time, allowing time for review and queries, the GP1 must be submitted no later than the 6th of each month. Submission beyond this deadline causes extra work for multiple teams within HSC Pension Service, and a number of team in the Department of health.
You must therefore ensure that your GP1 is submitted no later than the 6th of each month.
Employers who submit their form late on a consistent basis will soon be contacted to advise of late admin fees that will be applied to their direct debits.
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Contacting Us
Whilst our phone lines are open daily our preferred method of communication is by email. Email queries can be logged to individual member records and any work progressed through the team workflow. This ensures that the work is completed by the appropriate team member and responded to within an acceptable time scale.
A simple general query may be answered quicker than a more complex query, so we respectfully request that you allow us time to reply to your queries before contacting us again.
Please include the NI number or Employer identifier code in any communication so that we can access the correct record.
Any queries from your members should be directed to hscpensions@hscni.net and not directly to a specific member of staff
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Focus On - Retirement
Members now have 2 options for retirement.
- 24 hour retirement
- Partial retirement
Both allow members to access their pension benefits, but each is treated slightly different when it comes to processing from an employers point of view and HSC Pensions point of view.
24 hour retirement requires a member to leave their post for at least 24 hours. their job ends and they claim benefits. If they choose to return to work, they can do so after 24 hours. this is dependant on first agreeing terms with the employer.
Members MUST leave work for a minimum of 24 hours to take 24 hour retirement, if they don’t, they cannot claim benefits.
Partial retirement allows a member to reduce their pensionable pay by at least 10%, remain in their job and claim up to 100% of their benefits. This should be agreed beforehand between the member and their employer. The reduction in pensionable pay must be a permanent change to their contract, and it must remain that way for at least 12 months before it can be negotiated higher again.
Every retirement requires
- An AW6 completed by the member and employer
- A T55a terminating form to the date of retirement
Both are required to be submitted 6 months prior to the members intended retirement date—any forms submitted after this may not be processed in time for their expected first payment.
If a member is taking partial retirement, they must also complete a Partial retirement Supplementary form that outlines their partial retirement details.
All details of retirement from employment or changes to contract MUST occur before the forms are completed so that the member and employer agree on the correct dates of retirement etc.
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GP Officer Admin Workshops
Employer Workshops
The HSC Pension Service GP Admin Team continue to attend workshops organised by local employer groups, practice manager forums etc.
The content we are able to cover for these workshops relates to how the employers process the pension locally (Payroll, GP1, T55a etc.).
During Summer 2025, we held 10 workshops covering 5 topics and over 400 peoples signed up to attend. The slides were sent to all participants—if you were unable to attend, please email HSCpensions@hscni.net to request a copy of the slides.
Member Workshops
If any members wish to attend a workshop regarding the scheme, please contact our department to arrange. There will be a cost associated with this workshop.
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Funding Queires
Any queries employers have to funding should be directed to the Strategic planning and performance group (SPPG).
HSC Pensions provide input to SPPG, but they provide the funding. HSC Pensions cannot answer queries regarding funding.
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Contact Us
By writing to us at:-
HSC Pension Service
Orchard House
40 Foyle Street
Derry/Londonderry
BT48 6ATVia e- mail at: – hscpensions@hscni.net
By Telephone: (10.00am to 12.00pm & 2.00pm to 4.00pm – Monday to Thursday; 10.00am to 12.00pm Friday) on 028 71319111
Find us on X – @hscpensions
Find us on Facebook – HSC Pension Service