Aon has been appointed by the Trustee to manage the process of contacting former members about their transfer payment. Aon is an accredited member of the Pensions Administration Standards Association. You can find more details about Aon at: www.aon.com

GMP is a minimum level of pension that some schemes must provide for their members. It’s linked to when there were two parts to the State pension – the Basic State Pension and the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS, which later became the State Second Pension). Workplace pension schemes had the option to ‘contract out’ of the State Second Pension, resulting in National Insurance savings for the employer and its employees. Most schemes took advantage of this option.

In exchange, the scheme would promise to pay members at least as much pension as they would have received from SERPS. This is the part of your former Scheme benefits that is known as GMP.

In the past, State pensions were paid to men and women at different ages. This is still the case for GMP. As a result, men and women built up GMP at different rates and their GMP is payable from different dates. In 1990, the law changed and all UK pension schemes had to adopt an equal pension age for men and women. However, the law setting out how GMP was treated did not adjust in line with this change. As a result, GMP remained unequal.

The High Court ruling stated that pension earned between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997 must be equalised for the effect of unequal GMP. GMP earned before this period doesn’t need to be equalised. GMP ceased to exist for service after this period.

Following a High Court ruling, UK pension schemes must now equalise pension benefits where the GMP which built up between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997 is unequal for men and women. This is called ‘GMP equalisation’. It applies both to current members of affected pension schemes and former members of affected schemes who have transferred out.

We worked out the level of GMP a former member built up in the Scheme between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997 and measured the value of their total pension based on that GMP. We then did the same thing as if they were of the opposite sex.

For former members due a top-up payment, this showed that the value of their pension would have been higher if it had been worked out on the basis of the opposite sex. In a small number of cases, an additional adjustment was included to reflect the way the original transfer payment was calculated.

To ensure payments are going to the right people, we need to confirm your identity. No payment can be made until this has been confirmed.

If you don’t get in touch, we won’t be able to confirm your former membership details and won’t be able to pay any top-up payment.

Yes, as long as they’re formally authorised by you to do so. For example, if you’ve appointed them to act as your Power of Attorney or equivalent. Please ask them to complete the form and provide us with proof of their appointment. They can call us if they’re unsure what they need to do.

Yes, the link in your letter is secure.

When you first log in, the site asks you to confirm who you are, with your surname and the top-up reference number on the first page. For future visits two-factor authentication will apply – that is, when you log in, you’ll receive a code by email or text message to enter, proving it’s you trying to access the site. This is why we ask for your mobile number and email address.

If you’re unable to use the website or don’t want to provide a number or email address, there are other ways you can get in touch to confirm your details:

• Call Aon on 0330 818 4060. The helpline is open on Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, excluding bank holidays.
• Complete the ‘Confirming your details’ form and return it to: Kimberly-Clark Pension Scheme, Aon, PO Box 196, Huddersfield HD8 1EG.

If you’ve received a letter from Aon and are still concerned about its legitimacy, there are other steps you can take to reassure yourself.

• Read point 2 of HM Revenue & Customs ‘Guaranteed Minimum Pension equalisation newsletter–April 2022’
• Call Aon on 0330 818 4060. The helpline is open on Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm, excluding bank holidays.
• Contact MoneyHelper, the government’s free impartial guidance service for pension and money matters. Explain that you’ve received a letter about a potential top-up payment relating to GMP and some pension benefits you have transferred out of the Scheme. MoneyHelper will be able to confirm that UK pension schemes are legally required to carry out GMP equalisation in respect of past transfers. Call the pension helpline on 0800 011 3797, Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 5pm.

We used a specialist address-tracing agency to help us find you. This is common practice amongst UK pension schemes, especially for GMP equalisation top-up exercises when trying to find members who’ve transferred out. The address-tracing agency uses a number of sources, including the electoral roll, to trace individuals to their last known address.

GMP is usually a modest benefit and many of the increases or payments resulting from this review are small. Once you’ve confirmed your details, Aon will send you a pack with information about your top-up payment – including the amount you will receive.

The interest element of your total redress payment has been calculated using the approach prescribed by the High Court. This requires us to use an interest rate of 1% above the Bank of England’s official Bank Rate for the period from the date of your transfer to the date that redress is paid.

Depending on your circumstances, you may have a choice about how you receive your top-up payment. This could include receiving your top-up payment as a cash sum (paid into your bank account) or as a transfer to an alternative pension arrangement.

Your options will be determined by the following factors:

• the size of your top-up payment
• when you transferred out of the Scheme
• whether you still have deferred benefits or are being paid a pension in the scheme you transferred out of.

The information pack that Aon sends you will contain full details on how to receive your payment.

If you don’t complete the forms as specified in your information pack, we will not be able to make your top-up payment.

If you’ve had more than one transfer out of the Scheme, your top-up payment will cover all the transfers that are affected by this GMP issue.

You’ll need to contact the administrator of the arrangement you want to receive your top-up payment to check that they’re able to accept it. If they’re able to receive the top-up payment, you’ll need to ask them to complete and return a ‘Receiving arrangement acceptance form’. This form will be in the information pack Aon sends you.

If you receive your top-up payment as a cash sum into your bank account

Top-up payments made as a cash sum will be subject to tax. As you’re no longer a member of the Scheme, we don’t have up-to-date details of your tax record but will be required to make a deduction for tax from your payment. Under current tax rules:

• 25% of your payment will be tax free
• we’ll deduct tax from the remaining 75% at the basic rate of income tax (20%).

After payment, we will send you a P45 detailing the amount of tax taken. If you’re not a basic-rate taxpayer, you should contact HM Revenue & Customs to reclaim any tax overpaid or pay any additional tax due.

If you receive your top-up payment as a transfer to an alternative pension arrangement

In most cases, we would expect this transfer to be free of tax. This is because it would count as a payment from one UK authorised pension scheme to another. You would then pay tax on this money when you receive it as part of your pension.

Please note: if you have Lifetime Allowance protection, your top-up payment could affect your tax position and result in you losing your protection.

If you live overseas, different tax rules may apply and you may need to take specialist financial advice.

Aon will not write to those former members who are not due a top-up payment.

If you haven’t heard from Aon by November 2026, and believe you built up benefits within the Scheme between 17 May 1990 and 5 April 1997, it may be that the review confirmed the value of your pension would not have been higher if it had been worked out on the basis of the opposite sex.

You can confirm this by contacting Aon using the following details:

• Call: 0330 818 4060
• Write to: Kimberly-Clark Pension Scheme, Aon, PO Box 196, Huddersfield HD8 1EG