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Thank you to those employers who provided responses to our consultation on the PAS. Whilst the number of responses were low, they did provide food for thought and we have updated the draft to reflect some key concerns. The draft PAS will now be reviewed by both the Devon & Somerset Pension Fund Committees on 1 March and 15 March respectively. You can find details of the draft PAS on your Fund’s democratic pages.
Browse meetings - Investment and Pension Fund Committee - Democracy in Devon
Browse meetings - Pension Fund Committee - Modern Council (somerset.gov.uk)
Although fees remain included in the draft proposed by the new PAS, our primary focus remains engaging with, supporting and offering training to employers. This approach aims to ensure employers can provide the necessary information needed for us to deliver an excellent service to our scheme members, your employees.
We are currently updating our website to include extra information that will assist both us and employers in fulfilling our responsibilities. We plan to share these links with scheme members before new member and full leaver notifications are provided to us. We will provide full details of this work to you by Mid-March, both to new pension members and additional information for those leaving.
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We are eager to receive the leaver's spreadsheet information a month ahead of an individual's leaving, which would be ideal in all instances, and are pleased to see that some employers are already actively engaging with us and arranging this process. However, to help us manage workflow, we would ask that employers refrain from including cases with a leaving date more than a month in the future. There are concerns that cases submitted earlier could result in change to the final pensionable pay figures resulting in duplication of work and calculations for both employers and Peninsula Pensions.
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 Please submit the leavers spreadsheet up to 1 month in advance of the leaving date and within 1 week of final pay period.
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The employee contribution bands for 2024/2025 have been establish and are now updated on our website.
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 Please could you update your payroll systems and apply the new rates from 1 April 2024.
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From 1 April 2024 the employer contribution rate for Academies and Multi Academy Trusts increases to 22.9% of pensionable pay.
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Please ensure that your payroll manager/provider is aware of this increase.
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We have been informed that some of you have received emails from Teachers Pensions contacting you to request information regarding your employees who are affected by the Transitional Protection changes in relation to excess service.
Unfortunately, we are unable to assist with this request as we do not hold records for these employees. Therefore, you will need to review the report and confirm or address any queries independently.
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As noted in previous editions, we are able to generate a report of your active members to confirm their membership start date, not solely their employment commencement. This will aid you in identifying the members for whom you need to provide the last 365 days FTE pensionable pay upon their leaving. While currently available upon request, this process will be implemented for all employers within the next month, so please keep an eye on your emails and make a note on your records for those members.
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Please note that when completing pension remunerations, we will need 366 days if it is a leap year.
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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.
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Peninsula Pensions
Great Moor House
Bittern Road
Sowton Industrial Estate
Exeter EX2 7NL
Tel: 01392 383200
Peninsula Pensions is provided by Devon County Council and is a shared service with Somerset Council |
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