Ill-health early retirement (“IHER”) settlement update
IMPORTANT – THIS CONCERNS ANY CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE FOR PAYMENT/BENEFITS UNDER THE COURT SETTLEMENT IN THE FUTURE
We wrote to members in March 2022 about the settlement of the Trustee’s Court application over certain IHER benefits payable from the Fund. As stated in that letter, the settlement was approved by a Judge at a hearing on 24 February 2022. A link to a copy of that letter is below.
https://www.mnrpf.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/MNRPF_Member_Pre_Approval_letter_FINAL_updated.pdf
The Trustee is now in the process of implementing the settlement. In summary, increased benefits and/or payments will only be given under the settlement to certain members who:
- retired on an IHER pension on or after 1 November 1989 and before 8 October 1993 (referred to as Categories A and B in the letter); or
- were in service on 8 October 1993 and would have been eligible for an IHER pension when leaving service, had an IHER pension still been available after that time (referred to as Category C in the letter – see further below).
We will write to those who might be eligible to receive a payment or additional benefits under the settlement.
Claims Process For Certain Members – Category C
As part of the settlement, there is a particular claims process for Category C members who are those who:
- were in service on 8 October 1993, and had been in service long enough at that time to have qualified for an IHER pension (had new IHER pensions not been stopped on 8 October 1993); and
- left service before Normal Pension Age due to permanent unfitness for sea service at the time they left service.
We will write to all of the potential Category C members who we are able to trace and provide them with details of how to make a claim if they believe that they may be eligible.
If you think you may be eligible to claim as a current Category C member, but you have not received a letter about the claims process by mid-July, then please get in contact with us. If you do not make a claim, you will not be considered for any payment under the settlement.
If you know any member who left service after 8 October 1993 because they were permanently unfit for further sea service, and they have not received a letter from Mercer by mid-July 2022, please ask them to contact Mercer. If they have died and you know their personal representatives or survivors, then please also suggest to them that they contact Mercer. If the member has died, you can provide their name and any contact details for their personal representatives to Mercer (no other personal information please). We do not have contact details for everyone who could benefit from the settlement (including the survivors of members and their estates).
If you have received a letter about the claims process, then please observe the deadlines in the letter. If a deadline is missed, you risk being excluded from the process.
To make a claim in the settlement as a Category C member, you will need to provide us with information and evidence.
Contact details
Please contact our Pension Administrators, Mercer Employee Benefits, at the postal or email address below.
The Mercer Helpline
If it would help to have a helpline agent call you at a pre-arranged time and day, please let Mercer know and they will be happy to set that up for you.
If it would help to have a helpline agent call you at a pre-arranged time and day, please let Mercer know and they will be happy to set that up for you.
Freephone helpline telephone number: 0800 197 6923
You Can Also Write To Us Or Email Us
Our address for enquiries by post is:
Merchant Navy Ratings Pension Fund
Post Handling Team
Maclaren House
Talbot Road
Stretford
Manchester
M32 0FP
Our email address for enquiries is: mnrpf.mailings@mercer.com
