SPRING 2015 ISSUE 13 IN THIS. Pay Dates Pension Increase. Are you still working and

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1 SPRING 2015 ISSUE 13 A Newsletter for retired members of the Local Government Pension Scheme participating in the Staffordshire Pension Fund IN THIS Are you still working and Pay Dates Pension Increase ISSUE> paying into the LGPS?

2 Welcome Welcome to the 2015 spring issue of our newsletter for retired members of the Staffordshire Pension Fund. The good news is that when you receive your copy, it indicates that spring is on its way and we can wave away the dark mornings and evenings and hopefully enjoy some warmer weather for a while. The newsletter includes an article on the introduction of Pension Boards for the Local Government Pension Scheme, I would welcome expressions of interest from retired scheme members who would be interested in becoming involved. More information can be found on page 6. We hope you find the content helpful and as usual welcome any feedback or comments that you think may enhance future editions. Janet Caiazzo Janet Caiazzo Pension Manager Contents 03 Pay dates 04 Pension Increase 05 What is a Guaranteed Minimum pension? 06 Pension Boards for the Local Government Pension Scheme 07 Are you still working and paying into the LGPS? 07 National Fraud Initiative 08 Contact us.. 02

3 Pension Pay Dates Pay Dates Apr 15 - Mar 16 Your Staffordshire Pension is paid into your chosen bank or building society at the end of each month. This will appear as a credit in your account from SPF or SCCP Your pension payment dates for the next 12 months are shown on the right: MONTH PAY DATE APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH Your Pension Payslip A dedicated team has now relocated from the Shared Service Centre to Pension Services in order to administer a new payroll system from January The new payroll system links directly to our current pensions administration system. The only difference you may notice is a slight change to the look of your payslip. Please be assured that there will be no change to the way we calculate your pension. The new payslip will not show the total Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) as a separate amount. The GMP will be included in the main pension quoted on your payslip. The Post 88 GMP Pension Increase will, however, still be shown separately if relevant. 03

4 PensionIncrease > Your LGPS pension increases every April in line with the cost of living. Although pensions are increased in April, they are based on the rise in the cost of living over the 12 months to the previous September. Based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) as at September 2014 your pension this year will increase by 1.2%. If you are under age 55 - your pension will be increased if you recieve a dependants pension, you retired because of ill-health, or your deferred pension was brought into payment early because of ill-health and you are permanently incapacitated from engaging in any regular full-time employment. If you are under 55 and your pension is in payment for any other reason it will normally be paid at a flat rate until age 55. From age 55 it will increase to the level it would have been, had it been increased every year since your date of leaving. If you ve just started to receive your pension within the last 12 months your first increase will be a proportion of the full increase. From age 60 (women) / age 65 (men), or state pension age if this is later, payment of the increases to your pension is shared between the LGPS and the State as follows: Your pension may comprise of two elements: Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) and pension in excess of GMP. A GMP applies if you were a scheme member between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997 and have reached State Pension Age. Any GMP earned before 6 April 1988 is usually increased by the State each April with the increase being paid with your State basic pension. Any GMP earned after 6 April 1988 is usually increased by the LGPS up to a maximum of 3% each year with any remaining increase being paid by the State together with your State basic pension. Please note, this year s increase is 1.2%. The balance of your pension in excess of your GMP will increase each year fully in line with the rise in the cost of living. The table on the right tells you what this year s increase is. Pension beginning Increase Before 21-Apr % 22-Apr-14 to 21-May % 22-May-14 to 21-Jun % 22-Jun-14 to 21-Jul % 22-Jul-14 to 21-Aug % 22-Aug-14 to 21-Sep % 22-Sep-14 to 21-Oct % 22-Oct-14 to 21-Nov % 22-Nov-14 to 21-Dec % 22-Dec-14 to 21-Jan % 22-Jan-15 to 21-Feb % 22-Feb-15 to 21-Mar % 04

5 What is a Guaranteed Minimum Pension? The Local Government Pension Scheme is a contracted-out Pension Scheme. This means that when you were working, you paid a lower amount of National Insurance contributions than someone doing exactly the same job as you, but who wasn t paying into the Scheme. This is because you were only paying for your Basic State Pension and not paying for the Additional State Pension (between 6th April 1978 to 5th April 1997 this was called The State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS)). If you were a member of the scheme between 6th April 1978 and 5th April 1997, Staffordshire Pension Fund must guarantee that when you attain State Pension Age your local government pension is at least equal to the Additional Pension you would have received with the State Retirement Pension if you had been in SERPS. This rate is known as the Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP). You may have been notified of this amount by HM Revenue and Customs under the title Contracted Out Deduction. Most of the time, the pension we pay is larger than the GMP, but in a very few cases (especially where a member did a lot of noncontractual overtime) the GMP may be larger than Staffordshire Pension Fund s payment. If the GMP is larger, then Staffordshire Pension Fund will increase the pension we pay to match the rate of the GMP. A GMP consists of two elements, one in respect of any scheme membership between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1988 (Pre 1988), the other in respect of any scheme membership between 6 April 1988 and 5 April 1997 (Post 1988). The GMP is paid as part of your pension benefits, not as an addition. The application of GMP to your pension benefits means that Pensions Increase (inflation proofing) will be added to your pension benefits in a slightly different manner. Staffordshire County Council is responsible for full Pensions Increase on the Pension excluding the GMP elements, and is responsible for a maximum of 3% Pensions Increase on the part of your GMP which accrued after 06 April Any Pensions Increase above 3% on the Post 1988 GMP and the whole of the Pre 1988 GMP is the responsibility of the State, and will be paid to you as part of your State Pension benefits. When you receive your first payslip after the application of a GMP or, if you are already over State Pension Age, your next payslip in April, you will see that your pension can be broken down into up to 3 Allowances: Ordinary Basic Pension This is the starting rate of your pension Pensions Increase This is the Pensions Increase that applies to the part of your pension that is not GMP Post 88 GMP PI This is the Pensions Increase payable on the part of your GMP that accrued after 1988 (limited to 3% per year) 05

6 Pension Boards for the Local Government Pension Scheme Staffordshire County Council is seeking expressions of interest from scheme members to sit on the new Pensions Board, which will be formed from 1 April 2015, to represent Scheme members. Background The Public Service Pensions (PSP) Act 2013 included several provisions relating to better governance and improved accountability of all the various public sector pension schemes. From 1 April 2015 Staffordshire County Council has to set up a Pension Board to ensure that as the Scheme Manager for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) it executes its duties and responsibilities in the following areas: Securing compliance with the LGPS regulations, the Pensions Regulator s Code of Practice and any other legislation relating to the governance and administration of the LGPS; Ensuring the effective and efficient governance and administration of the LGPS for the Staffordshire Pension Fund. Board membership is voluntary and restricted to a maximum of seven voting members, two of which will be representatives of the Scheme membership. The County Council has decided that one of these seats will be occupied by a nominated trade union representative and the other will be sought from the membership of the Staffordshire Pension Fund. Next Steps If you feel that you have the aptitude, time and capacity to learn about the LGPS, are a contributing or retired scheme member and are interested in this new role please contact us for an informal chat or us using the details provided below to register your interest. A financial, professional or administrative background would be considered an advantage but not essential. Full training will be given to all selected members of the Board to undertake this role. It is anticipated that the Board will meet for a minimum of four times a year plus additional time would be needed for preparation reading and training sessions. The closing date for registering your interest is 31 March 2015 Please contact Pensions.representative@ staffordshire.gov.uk Larry Pugh

7 Are you still working and paying into the LGPS? If you are receiving your local government pension and still working, building up pension in another local government job, you need to be aware of a change to the rules concerning payment of a death grant if you die whilst still employed. In these circumstances, the Fund will compare the death grant payable in respect of the pension you are in receipt of with the appropriate death grant payable in respect of your active employment. The Fund will pay a lump sum death grant of the higher amount rather than two separate death grants to whoever you nominated to receive it. If you retired after 31 March 2008, or are still employed and paying into the LGPS, a death grant may be payable upon your death. If you retired before 31 March 2008 and are no longer employed and paying into the LGPS, then no death grant is payable upon your death. It is very important that you complete a Death Grant Nomination of Beneficiary form, to let us know who you want to receive any death grant payable. If you have not completed a form, or wish to update or change your nomination you can contact us or download a form from our website National Fraud Initiative Staffordshire County Council is required by Law to protect the public funds it administers. It may share information provided to it with other bodies responsible for auditing or administering public funds, in order to prevent and detect fraud. The Audit Commission appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of this authority. It is also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises. Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body. This is usually personal information, including contact details. Computerised Data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified. The use of data by the Audit Commission in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority under its powers in Part 2A of the Audit Commission Act It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act Data matching by the Audit Commission is subject to a Code of Practice. This may be found at nfi/codeofdmp 07

8 Contact us... You can contact Pension Services by... writing to: Pension Services, Wedgwood Building, Tipping Street, Stafford, ST16 2DH or by ing: or by phoning: or by fax: www we also have a website at: Please remember You should inform Pension Services directly of any amendments we should make to your personal details, for example if you change your name, address or marital status. The details should be given in writing, quoting your Pay Reference Number and enclosing copies of any supporting documentation if appropriate (e.g. a copy of your marriage certificate if you have married or a copy of your decree absolute if you have divorced). If any correspondence is returned to the Staffordshire Pension Fund, this may lead to your pension payment being stopped, so please make sure to let us know if you have moved. If a copy of the information in this Newsletter is needed in large print, Braille, another language or on audio format, please get in touch with us. 08