Pension Liaison Officer Group meeting Minutes

Transcription

1 Pension Liaison Officer Group meeting Minutes Present: Name Carol Wollage Julia Dustan Marion Murrell Penny Sargeant Katrina Blee Pam Wilkinson Sue Honeysett Alix Jones Anne Cheffey Chris Swain Hannah Richardson Karen Gibson Nick Buckland Simon Legg Stephanie Clifton Carol Swan Alison Giffiths Pam Byrne Gill Cox Ryan Baker Rosie Wood Carole Hedges Steve Barrett Authority Ansbury Ansbury Bournemouth Transport Ltd Care South Corfe Mullen Parish Council Dorset Fire and Rescue Service Kingston Maurward College Magna Housing Group Purbeck District Council Spectrum Housing Group Synergy Housing (Aster) Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Committee Room 1 County Hall Thursday 22 May 2014 Apologies: Name Margaret Wait Angie Hall Elaine Sheridan Michael Peden Val Hunt Sarah Butcher Linda Riggs Angela Richards Authority Borough of Poole Bournemouth Borough Council Bournemouth University Care South Christchurch and East Dorset Councils Dorset Community Action Dorset Police and Crime Commissioners

2 Maxine Reynard Julie Wright Marian Thomas Dorset Police and Crime Commissioners East Lulworth Parish Council Kingston Maurward College 1. Minutes of the last meeting 1.1. Minutes were agreed 2. Matters arising from the minutes 2.1. No matters arising 3. Bulletins 3.1. Bulletin Secretary of State Guidance Although guidance has now been issued, unfortunately it was issued in pdf format, which means the pensions software has not been updated as the software provider requires them in table format. GAD have now issued them in Word and this can be converted into Excel. There are over 200 tables to add, so would be extremely time consuming to input these manually. Hopefully the system should be updated soon, are having to manually calculate some types of benefits Administration and Employer Guides There have been a number of updated papers and guides produced by the LGPC secretariat. In addition, the LGA has made representation regarding amendments to the LGPS Regulations 2013 and the LGPS (Transitional Provisions, Savings and Amendment) Regulations A full consultation on draft amendments is to follow The LGA communications plan has been updated LGPC are offering a lot of training. Nick, Anne, Karen and a councillor will be attending the Trustee conference on June in Bournemouth. Karen confirmed that it was a very interesting event. Anne said it is more aimed at councillors and the Administrating Authority, but previously we have had some employers attend Bulletin The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) (Transitional Provisions, Savings and Amendment) Regulations 2014 are in place Councillors are to leave the pension scheme when their office term finishes. Councillors are under the 1997 scheme, which is not compliant with the Pensions Act Pensions increase order 2014 will be applied from 7 April at a rate of 2.7% Anne referred all to a wealth of Automatic Enrolment information on the LGA website Sue enquired about councillors and auto enrolment. It was pointed out that councillors are not employees, they are office holders and do not come under auto enrolment regulations Bulletin Employee communications and discretions policies. Anne asked whether employers attended the discretions training and if they were on course to complete their policy by the end of June. The Administering Authority has to complete a policy too HMRC pensions newsletter can be found on the DWP website.

3 3.4. Bulletin LGPS 2015 This concerns governance arrangements, which Nick will discuss later. The LGPS have altered the scheme a year early, which has caused difficulty with transfers to other public sector schemes Shadow scheme advisory board released its report on the responses to the call for evidence. Nick advised the meeting that there was no immediate threat of forced fund mergers Pensions Ombudsman Decision. Ill health retirements. The use of a different doctor in the same firm has been overturned by the Pensions ombudsman. The LGPS has made representation to the ombusman to say that does not comply with our regulations Scheme pays The have dealt with 3 cases where people have exceeded their Annual Allowance and used the scheme pays option. 4. Circulars 4.1. Circular 281 LGPS Trustee Training Fundamentals XIII; Annual LGPS Trustees Conference and Employer Training Auto Enrolment and the LGPS This circular was noted Circular 280 Update on Annual LGPS Trustee Conference This circular was noted Circular 279 LGPS Practitioner and Employer Training Events This circular was noted Circular 278- Annual Update This circular was noted Circular 277 Changes to Ill Health Certificates The forms have been updated. Anne reminded everyone to please use the certificates from the web, not stored versions Circular 276 LGPS Trustees Conference This circular was noted Circular 275 LGPS Practitioner and Employer Training Events This circular was noted. 5. CMS / Your Fund update 5.1. The are introducing a workflow system for administration use. Your Fund is the employer side, which enables employers to complete forms online and send them directly to the Fund. Your Fund links to our system to validate data We will have training on CMS in two weeks time and plan to go live in mid June The ultimate goal is for all employers to use Your Fund to submit forms We are looking for employers for the first two waves. Please contact us if you would like to be in these groups and go live before December Ansbury and Weymouth and West have already volunteered. 6. Pensions Administration Strategy

4 6.1. The Admin strategy came into force on 1 April Anne will need to review this in light of the new scheme Anne pointed out the charging schedule at the back. She informed the meeting that employers, who do not inform us of retirements, cost the Fund through interest due on late retirements. In the future, this cost may be passed onto the employer Nick reiterated that charging employers would only be a last resort for persistent late submissions Nick stated that the admin authority also have responsibility with regard to timescales and CMS will help monitor that are meeting these timescales Anne said if employers had any queries, to come back to the Pensions Team. 7. End of Year Update / Annual Benefit Illustration 7.1. Karen thanked employers for getting their returns in on time. However, there are still a few outstanding After load the data they will get back to employers with tolerance checks. This is when the compare figures with last year s figures. If the figure you have provided differs from the year before by 500 or more, the employer will need to look at the list and feed back the reason. The employer will be given a timescale to respond. When the Annual Benefit Illustration is sent out, if the pay used is wrong the employee will be directed back to their employer The are intending to send the 2013/14 ABI in early September. There will not be a projection to retirement age included. It will show current value at 31 March 2014, which will show their benefits in the final salary part of the scheme If the have no address / returned addressee gone away illustrations, the Annual Benefit Illustrations are passed to the employer to distribute The deferred members AB have been posted and members should be receiving these on the Friday of this week Carole Hedges asked for more explanation of the pro-rated service in the booklet, as she felt employees did not understand. Karen said she would look at the wording and try to make it clear. Karen explained that the keep records of the queries and try to address the common queries in the next illustration Carole asked whether it would be possible to identify which employees need a final salary figure and which do not in the future. Anne explained the problem with the final salary link and aggregation. 8. Communication update 8.1. Karen reiterated the importance of reading the Employer Newsletters as these contain a synopsis of all recent and important information She said that the will be continuing the employer workshops and will arrange one when there is enough demand. Please lgpsemployers@dorsetcc.gov.uk if you would like to attend an employer workshop Employee talks are also always available upon request. Karen talked about the Prudential who may contact employers and offer presentations. The would prefer all employers to use the Communications Team Please use the website for all forms.

5 9. LGPS The meeting worked in groups discussing three topics; focusing on employer s experiences and whether the could provide any assistance Attribution and pay bands The general feeling was this went fairly smoothly, once decisions had been made on how to deal with overtime payments The average contribution rate of 6.5% is a National average so locally this may be different Some employers were reviewing the bands throughout the year. A query was raised on how this will be shown on next year s end of year return Assumed Pensionable Pay (APP) There is guidance on the Details of Termination regarding APP Employers identified issues with their payroll system, where the payroll is struggling with APP It was asked how to deal with employees who do not have 3 months prior to absence. Karen Gibson confirmed that employers should use as much previous service as they have available Any enquiry was made about how to deal with zero hours contract employees and APP. The will look into this and confirm later Unpaid Leave and Shared Cost Additional Pension Contributions (SCAPC) If the unpaid leave is spread over a series of months, should the repayment be wrapped up at the end? This leads to an issue with the online calculator and the dates that are input There was a query regarding non-return from maternity and an issue with jury service It was confirmed that if a member does not complete paying for their SCAPC, they will be awarded the correct proportion An issue with the SCAPC form was raised, as there is nowhere for an employer to indicate that they have seen the form, a system is needed to ensure correct procedure is followed. 10. Investments Nick updated the meeting on the latest developments in respect of the structural reform of the LGPS and on the future governance arrangements. He shared a presentation originally given by Jeff Houston at the NAPF local authority conference, this presentation is attached. 11. Any other business There was no other business 12. Date and Time of the next meeting Friday 10 October 2014