As mentioned within the February Pensions Line, we have updated the proposed Pension Administration Strategy to take account where possible, the feedback provided by employers, and have made improvements to our website to help us maintain The Pension Regulator requirements. 

The Devon County Council Investment and Pension Fund Committee have agreed the revised strategy, and this will come into force from 1 April 2024.  

Please be assured Peninsula Pensions will continue to work with employers to provide excellent service to Scheme Members, offering support and guidance as we do now, however, where under performance occurs and engagement is lacking or additional deadlines missed, we will be looking at instigating fines as set out in the strategy. This avoids all employers essentially covering the additional administrations costs for under performance of the minority.      

The revised strategy is now on our website and the key additions and changes are: 

• Introduction of Employer fees for underperformance/lack of engagement.  
• Peninsula Pensions Communication Policy Paper- referred to within the strategy (Appendix A).  
• Introduction of Audits on individual employers and their responsibilities 

Peninsula Pensions must provide specific information to scheme members both joining the scheme and leaving the scheme.  There are statutory timescales/requirements around this, hence the timings included in the strategy for employers relating to these members.  The employer feedback showed concern around these timings. To mitigate this risk, and ensure that we as administrators can comply with the requirements, we have introduced:  

• a ‘welcome’ page for new members providing details about onboarding to Member Self Service and their right to potentially transfer in other pension benefits. We would ask that employers link to this page in their offer and/or contract letters.  
• a ‘leavers’ page which we would ask you to share on your intranet, at exit interviews or in any correspondence you send to a leaving scheme member e.g., those leaving on employer led reasons (i.e., redundancy or incapacity grounds). This will help members know when to expect responses from Peninsula Pensions and what they need to do, for example, make sure their personal email is used for Member Self Service (as opposed to work email), so they are kept updated with the progress of their pension benefits.   

The key feedback was centred around the process in relation to fines. For reassurance, to confirm, employers will initially be given the opportunity to engage with us ahead of issuing any fines to see if matters can be resolved without the need for fines to be issued. Employers can contact us to request a meeting or where we believe an issue has arisen, we will request a meeting with the employer within a 2-week window to discuss and set a plan to resolve.   

There will be a ‘drop in’ online session held in April 2024 to discuss any concerns employers may have on the strategy. However, please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have on the strategy at any time.