Hertfordshire Pensions Update

Transcription

1 Hertfordshire Pensions Update September 2015 A newsletter for Hertfordshire employers Issue Highlights: **Save the Date** CARE Scheme Pay from 01/04/2014 Annual Benefit Statements Monthly Contribution Forms Technical Update Contact Us The Hertfordshire Employers Forum will be held on Friday the 4 th December 2015 from 1:00-5:00pm at Hertfordshire Development Centre, Stevenage. Further information to follow shortly. CARE Scheme Pay from 01/04/2014 CARE scheme pay is based on the same elements as final pay, except that non-contractual overtime is pensionable. CARE scheme pay is based on actual pay and, unlike final pay, it is not scaled up for part-timers. If the member is away through illness, ordinary maternity related leave or reserve forces leave, CARE scheme pay is based on assumed pensionable pay. APP is the pay the member would have received had they been at work. It is calculated as an annual rate and then applied to the relevant period (if it is a part year) as a proportion of that rate. You should use the greater of the CARE pay and APP. This may be important if, like some employers, you do not pay the first three days of sickness absence. Cliff McCulloch Pensions Team Leader cliff.mcculloch@lpfa.org.uk

2 Annual Benefit Statements As you will be aware, an administering authority must issue an annual benefit statement no later than five months after the end of the Scheme year to which it relates. Under this regulation, annual benefit statements should therefore be issued to all members by the end of 31st August 2015 for the 2014/15 Scheme year. However, there are a number of factors that make the issue of annual benefit statements within this timescale difficult, not least that this is the first end of year process for the career average benefits structure and, despite full HR, payroll and end of year guidance being made available to employers, obtaining accurate information from employers to meet the requirements of the new Scheme has proved difficult. Due to the challenges that we have encountered annual benefit statements will be released in batches. There is no particular order that the batches will be released and we expect to meet the deadline of 31st August for the majority of our members. If we have an internal processing query or are waiting for the employer to respond to a query these annual benefit statements will be released in later batches once we are happy that the data is correct. Batches will be released when we have a sufficient number ready to process. What the employer should do next: 1. Please check your fund to ensure that you have no outstanding end of year queries from us. 2. Inform your employees that if they do not receive their annual benefit statement in the first batch that LPFA are still processing year end and their statement will follow shortly. This will help us to focus our time on resolving the year end queries rather than answering telephone calls. Please contact the team if you have any queries at hertsyearend@lpfa.org.uk Nominated Beneficiaries for Death Grant The administering authority has total discretion regarding which eligible beneficiaries should be paid a death grant. By nominating one or more persons or organisations, you can make it clear who you wish to benefit from your lump sum life cover. This will normally allow a more prompt release of monies. Annual Benefit Statement Your Life Cover Nominees 2015 If you have not made a nomination or wish to update or change your nomination, expression of wish forms are available on our website. If you have not made a nomination or wish to change your nomination, the form is available on our website. Private & Confidential Dear Local Government Pension Scheme - (LGPS) For further details on how your benefits are calculated please visit This Annual Benefit Statement illustrates the current value of your benefits in the LGPS. The LGPS was amended as of 1 April 2014, this statement included the first years pension benefits built up within the new Career Average arrangements as well as your benefits built up before the scheme changed and are still linked to your annual salary. Contact Team: Contact Address: Hertfordshire County Council, County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertfordshire, SG13 8DQ Contact Phone: Contact Website: You can view your pension details online, via our secure member self-service system. To login or register for member self-service please visit yourpension.org.uk Further information regarding scheme benefits, including options to increase your retirement benefits, are available on our website uk. Access to our newsletters, guides and factsheets are also available on the website. Yours sincerely, Disclaimer: Your Annual Benefit Statement is an estimated guide to your benefits only and cannot cover every personal circumstance or future changes to the legislation governing the scheme. Nothing contained in this statement can override the legislation governing the LGPS at the time of your retirement. You should not make any decision regarding your pension benefits on the basis of the figures quoted. If you are likely to retire in the near future, you should ask for a specific retirement quotation. Mike Allen - Director of Pensions, London Pensions Fund Authority (LPFA) Prepared by LPFA - working in partnership with Hertfordshire County Council Employer NI Number Date of Birth

3 Monthly Contribution Forms PLEASE NOTE: The contribution form is separate to the Monthly Return which is also due monthly however, the Monthly Return is for member data and the Monthly Contribution form is for the monetary amounts of contributions you pay over to the Hertfordshire Pension Fund. The deadline for monthly submission of Monthly Contribution Returns and payment of contributions is the 19th of each month. For example, for October payroll the due date for payment of contributions would be the 19th November and you should ensure that the funds are remitted in sufficient time to clear into the Pension Fund bank account by the 19th. Employers paying by cheque need to ensure the cheque is received by us allowing 5 days for the cash to clear by the 19th. (Please note if the 19th falls on a weekend you need to ensure that the payment of contributions are paid into the account prior to the 19th). Employers that pay a lump sum in addition to their Employer contribution rate need to ensure these payments are paid on a monthly basis, unless the Hertfordshire Pension Fund has agreed other payment arrangements. If it has been agreed to pay a higher contribution rate to incorporate the lump sum payments, you will still need to detail the breakdown per month on the contribution form. Contribution Returns should be submitted by to hertsyearend@lpfa.org.uk and contributions should be paid by BACS to the HCC Pensions- LGPS Account number: Sort Code: The current charges for late submission are set out in the Administration Strategy. If you should have any queries about this, please contact the Herts LPFA Finance Team. Herts LPFA Finance Team hertsyearend@lpfa.org.uk PLEASE NOTE: Employers should be aware that charges will be incurred for late payments or/ and non submission of monthly contribution forms on each occasion the deadline is not met. This includes poor/missing details on the contribution form, as this incurs further work to correct or chase correct data on the forms.

4 Technical Update Employer Survey from Local Government Association The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Scheme Advisory Board held discussions on the review of ill health retirement procedures in the LGPS in 2014 and out of these discussions they identified that there was a need to review the whole IDRP process, as well as the ill health IDRP process. The Administration and Communications sub-committee is now considering the IDRP process as part of its work programme. As it is the practitioners who have experience of the IDRP process and ill health decision making it, the LGA have asked employers to complete a questionnaire, the results of which will help to inform the discussion. A separate survey has been sent to Administration Authorities. The closing date for the return of the survey is the 12th October. Please return your response directly to karl.white@local. gov.uk Automatic Enrolment I have heard from a number of schools that they have been approach by The Pension Regulator regarding re-enrolment or Auto Enrolment based on their PAYE reference number. If you are part of the main council payroll your enrolment date and re-enrolment dates will be driven by the main council dates, however I would advise you to inform the Pension Regulator that you have applied Auto Enrolment and supply them with the dates of your Authorities staging date. continued...

5 Large public sector exit payments Following the recent consultation on restricting exit payments including pension strain costs to a maximum of 95,000 which closed on 27 August and was the subject of our special August newsletter. The extract below is taken from our legal advisors Eversheds guidance note. The Government has today pushed forward its plan to clamp down on large exit payments in the public sector, with the publication of the Enterprise Bill. The Bill includes various Government proposals, for example setting up a Small Business Commissioner and tightening up the terminology surrounding apprenticeships, but most significantly, if passed, the Bill will give ministers powers to impose legal limits on the ability of public sector organisations to make exit payments in excess of 95,000. Fulll details of exactly what sort of payments will be covered by the new regime will be set out in separate regulations, which will only be made after the Bill has been approved by both Houses of Parliament. A whole host of payments could, potentially, be in scope, including redundancy payments, pay in lieu of notice, sums paid to settle potential tribunal claims and payments involved in providing unreduced benefits under pension schemes. Regulations will also specify which public sector bodies are covered by the rules and make changes to statutory pension and severance schemes. Details of how this new provision will operate in practice will now be keenly awaited. Few underestimate the legal and technical difficulties of introducing a cap against a backdrop of what are already complex pay and pension regulations across the public sector. For many, a cap is also seen as something of a blunt instrument to address a concern over a small minority of public sector employees. The new rules are unlikely to take effect before October 2016 at the soonest. Within the next few weeks we are also expecting the Government to publish regulations aimed at recovering exit payments from individuals earning over 100,000 who leave the public sector and then return to work for in the same sub-sector within 12 months. Those regulations are expected to take effect by April 2016 at the latest. Neil Lewins Technical Specialist neil.lewins@lpfa.org.uk

6 Contact Us We have general Helpline numbers which will put you through to a member of the specific team you require, they are: Pension Team Helpline , Pensions Payroll Team helpline and Projects Team helpline If you have a specific enquiry, you can telephone individual members of our team, who deal with your query area as show below. For general areas, such as admissions, hour, breaks etc. please use the hotline numbers above. For any Pensions or Pensions Payroll enquiries please contact: Cliff McCulloch Team Leader Oliver Gardner Deaths Caroline Clarke Retirements/ Estimates / Fire Gill Spicer Deaths Alex Achilles Retirements/ Estimates Sheila Rogers Deferred benefits into pay Susan Kirkby Retirements/ Estimates Carol Smith Deferred benefits into pay Laura Hughes Retirements/ Estimates Tina Mellor Pensions Administrator Louise Charman Team Leader Theresa Makewell Transfers / Interfund / Divorces Claire Jarvis Transfers / Interfund Jeremy Edgar Transfers / Interfund / Divorces Ruth Barber Transfers / Interfund Vicky Garten Support Administrator Paul Farrant Pensions Payroll David McGrath Pensions Payroll Natasha Thomas Pensions Payroll For any in depth Pension Regulation enquiries please contact: John Smith john.smith@lpfa.org.uk For report requests please contact: Geoff Phelan geoff.phelan@lpfa.org.uk For any year end enquiries please contact the Projects Team: Ross Curtis Acting Projects Team Leader Darren Notley Projects Administrator Victoria Hyam Projects Administrator John Sawford Projects Administrator Please return electronic year end spread sheets (winzipped and password protected) to hertsyearend@ lpfa.org.uk For any finance or payment of contributions enquiries please contact the Finance Team: Michelle O Connor Acting Finance Team Leader Allison Bysouth Finance Admin Assistant Alyson Sharpe Finance Admin Assistant For any customer liaison, presentations and employer guide enquires please contact the Head of Client Delivery: Taryn Mutter taryn.mutter@lpfa.org.uk Postal address: LPFA, Hertfordshire County Council, Post Point CHO 033, County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, Herts SG13 8DQ Fax: General Enquiries: hertscc@lpfa.org.uk Website: