Annual Compensation Payments (ACP)

National Transcommunication Limited Pension Association Contacts, Aims and Objectives
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Steven Cole
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ACP Update

Post by Steven Cole »

On the 16th December 2022 I received a letter from Caroline West at Virgin Media who had been looking into the issue of past payment errors. The letter detailed my new annual payments for 2023 and a one-off back pay relating to corrections for RPI (not CPI) for the years since 2017. Having only recently returned from a Christmas/New Year Break I've yet to check the calculations.

If you are in receipt of an ACP that related to your time at NTL/DTELS and have not receivced a letter, I would recommend you contact Caroline with your specific details.
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Steven Cole
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Location: Exmouth, Devon, UK
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Virgin Media Update

Post by Steven Cole »

As a result of my previous telephone calls to Virgin Media in August and early September today I received an email from Caroline West to say she has been looking at this over the last few months and has acknowledged that no statements have been issued since 2020 and there have been no increases either.

She has advised me that VM will be writing very soon with full details of the new level and the back payments.
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Steven Cole
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Re: Annual Compensation Payments (ACP)

Post by Steven Cole »

I have contacted Virgin Media Employee Services today and they have promised to contact me back regarding the following issues:

1. No ACP increase in 2021 or 2022.
2. Lower than ONS published RPI increases for 2018, 2019 and 2020.
3. No annual ACP statements issued for 2021 or 2022.

I'll post an update when I hear from VM.
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Steven Cole
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Posts: 270
Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:41 pm
Location: Exmouth, Devon, UK
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Annual Compensation Payments (ACP)

Post by Steven Cole »

Recently, I received correspondence from a former NTL and ex-DTELS employee drawing my attention to an underpayment issue regarding his Annual Compensation Payment (ACP) from Virgin Media. Specifically the issue related to annual RPI increases from 2017-2022 that were not being correctly applied by Virgin Media. As an illustration of the issue he included the following table:

Sept RPI (+ %) Pay-Date Paid(+ %)
---------------- -------- ---------
2021 308.6 (4.9) Apr 2022 (0.0)
2020 294.3 (1.1) Apr 2021 (0.0)
2019 291.0 (2.4) Apr 2020 (1.80)
2018 284.1 (3.3) Apr 2019 (1.80)
2017 275.1 (3.9) Apr 2018 (2.7)
2016 264.9 (2.0) Apr 2017 (2.0) ..Last correct payment

Having checked my own payslips I concur that my increases are broadly as laid out in the table above, which shows actual payments on the right are not tracking the RPI published figures on the left. Also, that there was no increase from April 2021 to present day.

The ex-employee has advised me that as he was unable to resolve the issue with Virgin Media he has since contacted The Pension Ombudsman who have accepted his case and it is currently queued for adjudication. He believes their case load is high, so could take some months before they investigate.

I myself will contact Virgin Media in the first instance but if I cannot get a resolution then it would appear the only redress is to follow his lead and contact The Pension Regulator.

Hence, for those NTL and ex-DTELS employee's who are in receipt of an ACP you are advised to check your payslips and then contact Virgin Media in the first instance and if that fails, The Pension Regulator.

As a secondary point, I don't appear to have received any annual increase letters from Virgin Media since the last one in March 2019. It's possible the 2020 got mislaid but certainly not the 2021 or 2022. Also, the letters only stated that the increases were in line with the RPI, but never actually stated what that figure was. As a reminder any query with your ACP should be addressed directly with Virgin Media and not XPS Group who administer the NTL-DTELS Pension Fund.

Steven R. Cole
10th August 2022
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