Date posted: 04/08/2015
Audience:
This notice will be of interest to:
- Staff responsible for Scheme Medical Adviser (SMA) referrals
- Staff responsible for paying SMA invoices.
Action: To note:
- SMA is changing its name from Capita Health and Wellbeing (CHW) to Health Assured (HA)
- Cabinet Office has formally agreed to novate (transfer) its framework contract with CHW to HA with effect from 1 August
- Cabinet Office has agreed an increase in the SMA's tariff charges by the Retail Price Index (as set out in the framework agreement) with effect from 1 July
- Tariff prices will increase by 1% by individual 'product'.
Timing:
Background
- EPN361 (Scheme Medical Advice Services – New framework agreement effective from 1 July 2013) announced that CHW would be continuing as SMA following a competitive procurement, and provided Civil Service employers with a tariff of the newly revised contract prices.
- HA has acquired CHW’s Ill Health Retirement business with effect from 1 August 2015. HA is a UK-based Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health provider, operating across public, private and non-profit sectors.
- As the Civil Service Pension Scheme manager Cabinet Office has agreed that HA will assume the rights and obligations of CHW as the SMA for the Civil Service pension arrangements. The contract ends on 30 June 2017.
- Effect on services
HA has confirmed that all existing CHW staff are transferring to the new business and that the Hinckley address and the individuals that you have and are working with remain in place.
- Other than corporate logos, the people, the place and more importantly the processes that you are familiar with remain in place.
- You and your staff who are completing the various SMA-related forms currently available and referencing CHW should continue using them. References in forms and guidance will be changed to the new provider but until then the forms remain valid.
- Price Increase
The Contract between Cabinet Office and the medical adviser allows for charges to be increased by Retail Price Index (RPI) with effect from 1 July based on the previous 12 months indexation. For the 12 months to 1 July 2015 RPI was 1%, and this is therefore the increase across the medical adviser’s tariff for 2015/16. This is applied to individual products on the tariff, a copy of which is included in the Annex to this EPN.
Contacts
If you have a question about the distribution of EPNs contact employerpensionnotice@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.
You can find electronic copies of the Employer Pension Guide, all current EPNs and forms on our website.
This notice is for employers and should not be issued to scheme members.
If members have a question about their pension they can find information on this website or by contacting MyCSP.
Attachments
