July 2022

LGPS Leaver Form

It’s important that we receive the leaver form in a timely manner as delays will have an impact on the payment of your former employee’s benefits if due - please see the Pensions Administration Strategy for the expected timescales:

Devon Pension Fund Administration Strategy - Peninsula Pensions

Somerset Pension Fund Administration Strategy - Peninsula Pensions

We have been finding that the number of leaver forms being rejected have increased recently so please check the form is fully completed before you submit it. The form will be rejected if it’s not fully completed and you will be assigned a work activity to action - there is some guidance on our website to Help with completion of the LGPS Leavers form.

Please double check that all the required sections have been completed in full and the information provided is correct before submission via Employer Self Service (ESS).

Here's a summary of the most common errors:

• Blank form submitted – check out info below relating to our alternative leavers form
• Date of Leaving missing
• Reason for leaving missing
• Over 55 leaver ticked when member is under 55
• Hours differ from previously notified – double check membership record on ESS to ensure hours match
• Full-time equivalent Pensionable Pay (FTE) not provided – check members record for pre-1 April 2014 membership and if present we will expect the FTE to be provided.

Work Activities

When a work activity is created, an email is automatically generated and sent to either individual users or everyone listed as a user for that employer. However, we are aware that in some cases, emails are not being received but might be blocked by the email security at your end and we are liaising with the employers concerned for a solution. If you are experiencing problems and haven’t raised it previously, please contact the Employer & Communications team.

We ask that you build a check of the work activities into your weekly processes just in case an email hasn’t been received. Please complete the work activity in full when dealt with - if you don’t, it stays on our system as ‘In Progress’ so we will not know if the query has been resolved. There’s some Help with work activities on our website.

Please check Employer Self Service (ESS) regularly for work activities. Deal with any work activities as soon as you can and upload a revised form making sure the queries have been resolved and complete the work activity in full.

Team Changes

On the 1 July 2022 Rachel Lamb became Interim Head of Peninsula Pensions. Initially for a 12 month period whilst Daniel Harris is seconded to another role for Devon County Council. Alexander Thompson will become Interim Technical and Compliance Manager with effect from 1 August 2022.  

Personal Benefit Statements

We are currently in the process of sending statements out to all active members. The majority will be sent via our Member Self Service portal. The exception are for those who have membership prior to 1/4/2015 and opted out of electronic communication.   

Employer Pensions Discretions Policy

Our next focus session is planned for September and will be covering the Employer Pensions Discretions so look out for more details in August’s edition. In the meantime, please take time to review your employer discretion policy as requested in April’s edition. Our website includes full guidance and an example template to help you formulate and review your discretions in line with the regulations. Following the review please send a copy of your current or updated policy to the Employer & Communications team.

Returning Officers

Further to June’s edition, if you have not already done so and you employ a Returning Officer, please could you email the Employer & Communications team confirming their full name, National Insurance Number, your employer name and Altair number (00123 for example) along with whether or not they are paying into the LGPS in that role. This is an annual exercise we run to ensure the records we hold are correct so we would be grateful if you could respond by 8^th August 2022.

Pension Administration Reminders:

Alternative Leaver form - Do you receive work activities stating the ESS leaver form is blank? If so, there is an alternative leaver process for employers who do not currently download and re-upload the leaver form on the same day. A template form is available to be used internally at your end to complete and arrange for checking/sign off ahead of uploading to ESS. Then when the leaver form is ready to be made live on ESS, the alternative leaver form is created so that you can copy and paste the details from yours to the ESS version. If you think this process might work better for you, please contact Emma Davies who will provide more details.

Keep us updated with any changes in staff responsible for completing our forms and submitting pension data (authorised signatories) via our online form.

If you are changing your Payroll Provider, please contact the Employer & Communications Team so that we can help you through the process and make sure you retain access to historical payroll information.

Payment of Pension Fund Contributions - please remember to inform us and the relevant Finance team each time you have paid your pension scheme contributions, by filling in the Monthly Contributions Form.

TUPEs & New Academies – please do not submit any leavers forms if you are outsourcing services and have a number of staff who will be subject to TUPE or your school is converting to an Academy or moving Trusts. Instead, you will need to follow the process on our website.

Useful Links

Peninsula Pensions Employers' Pages

LGPS regulations and guidance

Fund Investments

LGPS National Website

Employer & Communications Team Mailbox

Previous editions of Pensions Line

Peninsula Pensions
Great Moor House
Bittern Road
Sowton Industrial Estate
Exeter EX2 7NL
Tel: 01392 383000
Peninsula Pensions is provided by Devon County Council and is a shared service with Somerset County Council