Sounds like she didn’t receive/sign/enter in to a formal contract, and the system automatically accepted deductions? If you a re rejected at stage 2 then there should be a possibility of your trade union referring her case to the TU solicitors for advice - your wife can’t be the only person that this has happened to. As you rightly indicate, your wife’s money should have been invested in the NHS pension investment scheme, and if so it will have increased in value. If it was never invested then they have erroneously deducted her salary for many years so there may be legal redress at least for compensation. Why not ring the ombudsman’s office to ask the simple qestion of whether deductions would constitute an implied contract or not (I find phoning better because a human being will try to make qualfied suggestions which they would never put in to print). Interesting situation, unfortunately.