Hertfordshire. INSIDE Fire Pension Board. Injury Pensions. Re-employment. Member Self-service. Retired Firefighter newsletter November 2017

Transcription

1 Hertfordshire Retired Firefighter newsletter November 2017 INSIDE Fire Pension Board Injury Pensions Re-employment Member Self-service

2 Hertfordshire Fire Pension Board The Hertfordshire Fire Pensions Board has been established in accordance with changes to the Public Sector Pension Act The Board will assist and support the management and governance of the Firefighters Pension and complying with regulations and other legal and regulatory requirements. The members of Board are as follows: Employer representatives: Terry Hone Sian Hedger Jonathan Smith (Substitute member) Member representatives: Stuart Joiner Darren Scotchford Daniel Cooper (Substitute member) Further information about the Hertfordshire Fire Pension Board can be found on our website at: Pension-Board.aspx

3 Injury Pensions Due To Service Pensions and State Disablement Benefits If you have retired on an injury pension, you must let us know of any other state pension benefits you are receiving, as this will impact the amount of pension paid. This includes any benefits from the Department of Works and Pensions, Job Centre Plus, or Benefits Agency including industrial injuries disablement, incapacity or invalidity benefit and allowances like reduced earnings or severe disablement. If you receive these benefits or if your situation changes, please contact us using the details at the back of this newsletter.

4 Changes to regulations FBU Legal challenge There is an ongoing challenge to certain protection arrangements for firefighters in the 1992 pension scheme. The legal challenge was upheld by the Central London Employment Tribunal, which The Fire Brigade Union are appealing. The appeal will be heard in December 2017, and we will provide more information once the results are known. Amendment regulations We have recently received amendment regulations introducing two changes which have been long anticipated. Where a widow/partner of a firefighter who died either in action or retired due to injuries sustained whilst a firefighter, or whose cause of death is linked to their role as a firefighter, the widow/partner s pension benefits will continue. Where a member of the 1992 or 2006 scheme is due to transition into the 2015 scheme but has begun a potential ill health retirement process, their transfer into the 2015 scheme should be suspended while the review of their ill health retirement claim is ongoing. National Fraud Initiative The Authority participates in the Cabinet Office National Fraud Initiative. This is a compulsory initiative that all Local Authorities are required to take part in and is used for data matching purposes. Please note that key pension data and personal identifiers such as contact details may be provided to bodies responsible for auditing, administering public funds or where undertaking a public function for the purposes of preventing and detecting fraud. Learn more at government/collections/ national-fraud-initiative. Court rulings In a recent case (Brewster) in Northern Ireland, the court ruled that pension scheme payments should be made to cohabiting partners in the event of a pensioner s death, even in the absence of a nomination form. As a result, we expect that all UK public sector pension schemes will honour this ruling and our regulations will be amended to reflect this. We have carried out considerable checks to identify partners of members who could benefit and will be contacting such members shortly.

5 A second court ruling (Walker) confirmed that a same sex married partner cannot be paid a smaller partners pension than would have been paid to an opposite sex partner for benefits accrued since We are awaiting clarity on the impact on public sector schemes, but our initial view is that this will not directly affect any of our scheme member s benefits. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) A new data protection regulation (GDPR) comes into effect in May. This will not impact the way you receive your pension. However, it will change the way we hold and process your data. You will have more control over your personal data to ensure it is used for the express purpose it was collected for. The GDPR strengthens the existing Data Protection Act and ensures greater protection of your data and also gives the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) the ability to levy higher fines for serious breaches. More information can be found on the ICO website.

6 Re-employment of Uniformed Staff After Retirement If you have recently retired from the Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, are under age 55 and in the 1992 Firefighters Pension Scheme, you must cease all employment (including any employment as a Retained Firefighter). If you are considering returning to another role you must have the relevant break in service before commencing your new role. If you don t follow this process you may lose your Protected Pension Age, which would mean your lump sum and pension instalments up to age 55 could be taxed at up to 70%. You should seek independent financial advice if you are considering re-employment. Please refer to the re-employment policy (SO86) for further information. The Hertfordshire pensions team ( ) can offer further guidance. HCC also offer the services of Affinity for Independent Financial Advice. You can contact Affinity on Freephone Children in receipt of a pension If you are over the age of 17 and have left full time education and have not been awarded your pension for life please contact us to update your current circumstances on: Tel: or hertscc@localpensionspartnership.org.uk

7 Member Self Service Did you know that you can now take control of your FPS pension online? What is Member Self Service? The Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue member self-service system provides provides instant access to view personal and financial information about your pension securely online. What can the online system do? Our secure system now allows you to: View and update personal details and changes of address Update your bank account details To register or access your account visit: To access your secure online pension records please follow the instructions overleaf. Step 1 Complete the registration form online at: Step 2 - LPP will send you a unique activation code S t e p 3 - O n c e y o u h a v e b e e n i s s u e d y o u r a c t i v a t i o n c o d e, you can go online and set up your username and password

8 Paying Pensions Abroad Pension payments may be made to a foreign bank account if a pensioner moves overseas following their retirement. If payment is required into a foreign bank account, then you should write to confirm the bank details. For bank accounts within the Eurozone, we need an IBAN and BIC/Swift number. For bank accounts outside the Eurozone a bank account number, all necessary routing codes and the BIC/Swift number are required. Pension payments to foreign bank accounts are made via Western Union. Please note that foreign bank accounts cannot be updated online. If you would like to discuss this, please contact Herts Pensions Payroll on: Tel: Fax: or hertscc@localpensionspartnership.org.uk Don t forget... Pensions can be paid quarterly, in arrears, should you prefer and this may help to minimise bank charges.

9 FAQs When is my P60 sent? P60 statements are distributed at the end of April each year. It is important that you keep this document as it is a record of your tax and pension paid over the last 12 months. Do I get a payslip each month? All pensioners will receive a payslip in March, April and May and after that only if the net pension changes by 5 or more. You should retain any payslips sent to you, if you need to claim benefits at any time you may need to produce these as evidence of earnings. Why has my tax code changed? The Pension Team can only change a tax code on the direct instruction of HM Revenue & Customs and has no part in deciding your tax liability or code. If you have queries about your tax code or tax, please send these to the following address quoting your pension reference and NI number: HM Revenue & Customs 22 Trinity Bridge House 2 Dearmans Place Salford Manchester M3 5BS Tel no: Tax Office Reference: 951/XZ49191 Will my pension be paid earlier in December? Your pension will be paid on the 22nd December but will return to the last working day of the month from January 2018.

10 Keep in touch with us... Please keep Herts Pensions team informed should you: Become re-employed Move property Change bank accounts Failure to do so may result in the late payment of your pension. Changes of this nature must be submitted to Herts Pensions team in writing and signed by you, quoting your pension number and national insurance number. Hertfordshire Pensions Team General Enquiries: (8.30am - 5pm) Fax: hertscc@localepensionspartnership.org.uk Local Pensions Partnership Hertfordshire Pension Team Post Point CHO 033, County Hall Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG13 8DQ Hertfordshire Pensions Payroll If you have any queries regarding your pension, please call a member of the Payroll Team on the local rate number: Tel: (8.30am - 5pm) Fax: hertscc@localpensionspartnership.org.uk