February 2023

New Leaver spreadsheet

We are in the last few days of Employer Self Service (ESS) so please make sure you submit any outstanding leaver forms through the portal by 27^th February 2023 at the latest. After that date, the leavers spreadsheet will need to be used for all leavers as we will no longer accept any forms or calculations via email. Please send the completed spreadsheet to finance.pensionsleavers-mailbox@devon.gov.uk

A copy of the spreadsheet was sent to all listed employers following January’s edition but please let our Employer & Communications Team know if you have not received a copy.

Our Interfacing Guide has been updated to include the Leavers Spreadsheet and a video to help you with completion will be available soon.

Some employers have already started using the spreadsheet and feedback so far is positive, however there are a few things we feel we need to point out:

• Reason for Leaving - ‘Leaver Over 55 (option for pension benefits)’ has been used for all leavers over 55 regardless of service – please make sure you check the members service and if less than 2 years, select ‘Leaver under 2 years membership’ irrelevant of their age. If the wrong reason for leaving is selected the relevant fields may not be completed and we may need to request additional information from you which delays the processing of that members benefits.

• Reasons for Leaving wording has been changed on the leavers tab – It’s important that you only use the choices available within the spreadsheet. Changing any wording causes problems for us when we upload the data to the members record

• LGPS 2008 Final Salary Pay - We no longer expect employers to provide a breakdown of the FTE figure for each change in hours. Instead, we are just asking you to provide an FTE figure for the total 365 days period and percentage of hours as at the date of leaving so any changes in hours or absences should be factored into your calculations. Therefore, you should only ever need to report a maximum of 3 lines.  

• LGPS 2014 CARE Pay - We expect the total actual pensionable pay to include Assumed Pensionable Pay where appropriate – there is no indicator to confirm if the figure includes APP.

• Multiple Payrolls - If you process multiple payrolls, you can submit data for a number of employers on one spreadsheet but you must specify the individual employer numbers on the leavers tab.

• Nil Returns – If you don't have any leavers that month,  there is no need to submit a Nil Return.

We would like to host an online meeting with you all in April following one month’s use of the spreadsheet so we can get your feedback and iron out any teething problems. Date will be confirmed in next month’s edition.

Employer Key Decisions and HR Authorisation forms to be used from 1st March

For any employer led retirements, we will refer to the Employer Key Decisions form you completed for how the strain costs is being paid and whether you are enhancing any benefits. If ‘on a case by case basis’ has previously been selected, your HR department will need to complete the HR Authorisation form for each employer led retirement and send it to: finance.peninsulaemployers-mailbox@devon.gov.uk.

If you haven’t already done so, please download the Employer Key Decisions form and return it to the Employer and Communications Team before the end of February and share the HR Authorisation form with your HR team so they are aware of the process. Both forms are on our website.

Please Keep Us Updated

Just to remind you that we have an online form you can use to confirm:

• Changes in changes to staff responsible for sending and signing off pensions data and who we can contact with any queries
• IDRP Stage 1 Appeals Officer – Let us know the person who is appointed in your organisation to determine the Stage 1 Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) appeals.
• Your payroll provider -Let us know who you use and update us if you change providers.
• who completes and submits the monthly interfaces – Let us know who the person who provides the monthly pension data via interfaces.

Please do not send updates via email but use the online form in all cases.

Annual Returns 2022/23

You should all by now have received a request from us for your Annual Return data for 2022/23, the deadline for the submission is Friday 14th April 2023. If you have any questions regarding the content or delivery of the data please contact the Systems team, contact details can be found on the front page of the Annual Return template.

Employee Contribution rates effective from 1 April 2023

The latest bulletin from Local Government Pensions Committee (LGPC) sets out the employee contribution bands effective from 1 April 2023. These are calculated by increasing the 2022/23 employee contribution bands by the September 2022 CPI figure of 10.1 per cent and then rounding down the result to the nearest £100

Estimate Requests

With the decommission of ESS on 1^st March 2023 you will no longer be able to process any member estimates so that function will now revert to Peninsula Pensions. An employer request form and a bulk strain cost request spreadsheet available on our website on 1st March which should be completed and emailed to: finance.peninsulaemployers-mailbox@devon.gov.uk

Our Employer & Comms team will process the estimates and return to you as soon as possible – estimated turnaround time is 1 week (7 working days).  

This process is for employer estimate requests only. Member should use the Member Self Service portal to estimate their benefits.

We are currently working on a single estimate spreadsheet to replace the current request forms which should be available for use later in March – we'll let you know as soon as it’s ready.

Member Estimates

Members who request voluntary retirement estimates will be asked to use Member Self Service (MSS) to obtain these figures. The only exception to this will be pre 1 April 2015 members who opted out of MSS and members who have AVCs and/or pension debit records. This is clearly stated on MSS. For the exceptions we will use the pay information on their records and not request estimated pay from employers or their payroll providers.

Pension Administration Reminders

Keep us updated with any changes in staff responsible for completing our forms (authorised signatories). This can be done by completing our online form.

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.

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. 

TUPEs & New Academies - Please do not complete the leaver spreadsheet if members are leaving your employment and transferring to another employer under TUPE. Follow the process outlined on our website instead. 

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