Pensions Line January 2025

Devon County Council sent this bulletin at 31-01-2025 12:28 PM GMT

January 2025

Update on employer reports

Thank you to all employers who are providing information and feedback in relation to the Employer reports, especially with regard to the outstanding queries. Engagement levels and information received have both increased making positive impact to scheme member benefits and will mean less queries on annual returns.

Feedback from Employers providing examples of data they have already sent through with previous submission has also led to a review and adjustment to our processes to limit this going forward.

For those who have not responded we would ask you to provide us with an update within the next week be that by adding outstanding information to the monthly interfaces or by contacting the E&C team direct. Where information remains outstanding and no contact has been received we will start to assess if a fee under appendix C of the Pension Administration Strategy should be issued for cases that were outstanding in 2023/24. Devon Pension Fund Administration Strategy - Peninsula Pensions Somerset Pension Fund Administration Strategy - Peninsula Pensions

Annual Returns 2024/2025

It’s that time of year again when our thoughts turn to the Annual Return. We will be issuing a formal request to all fund employers in the coming weeks (late February/beginning of March) detailing the data requirements for this years submission.

We would like to specifically highlight Additional Contributions as an area of emphasis. Even if you believe that your payroll/employees have not paid any of the following, please familiarise yourself with their concepts (reading the manual or guidance included with the annual return) and please contact either the Employer & Communications team or Jane Aplin (jane.j.aplin@devon.gov.uk) if you have any questions.

Employee Additional Contributions

Added Years
In-House AVC’s
Employee APC’s (Additional Pension Contributions)
Employee ARC’s (Additional Regular Contributions)

Employer Additional Contributions

Employer Shared Cost APC’s

Employer and Employee Contributions

Salary Sacrifice/Shared Cost AVC’s contracts

If you haven’t received the annual return email before the middle of March, please contact us immediately. The deadline for the submission of the annual return data will be 30^th April 2025.

HR Authorisation Form

In preparation for our new finance system we have amended our HR authorisation form to add in a cost code and purchase order number to assist our teams, this is mandatory for Devon County Council, and optional for other employers.

Make sure you are using our recent form when filling out HR authorisation, available on our website.

Redundancy Pensions

Recently there has been some misunderstandings relating to pension entitlement with a few scheme members who are being made redundant at or over age 55. This has come from calls to our team and also through scheme members misunderstanding information on the National LGPS website.

We have altered the way we respond to these questions to try and address this information and have also made contact with the LGA with regard to the National LGPS website wording.

Within any documents you may provide to staff going through the redundancy process please let them know the following:

If you had resigned from your job and asked to take your pension it would have been calculated as at your date of leaving but then had a reduction applied because you are taking it early (prior to your state pension age).  A table of the reductions applicable can be found on Peninsula Pensions website. You can also complete an estimate on your Member Self Service which will show the reduction.

However, when a person 55 or over is made redundant the LGPS regulations require payment of the pension benefits you have accrued to your date of leaving to be paid without the reduction being applied. Instead, your employer must pay money to the Pension Fund to cover the cost of the early release of your pension. This is known as a 'strain' payment.

We would also remind employers that the team will provide an estimate to employers for scheme members that you are considering for redundancy.  

Employer Data Audit

As set out in the administration strategies for both the Devon and Somerset Pension Funds audits are a key part in ensuring the benefits we pay are correctly calculated.

With this in mind Devon Assurance Partnership (DAP) will be commencing an audit early March to assess the quality of data received through the monthly interfaces we receive from employers and payroll providers. This audit will involve DAP contacting approximately 30 randomly selected employers to ask about the data they have provided.

Both ourselves and DAP appreciate that we are close to the end of the financial year and whilst this audit will help reassure the Fund of the quality of data we receive we hope it will not take too much out of your day to talk with DAP.

If you have any questions in relation to this audit please email E&C team.

25/26 Employee Contribution Bands

The latest bulletin from Local Government Association sets out the employee contribution bands effective from 1 April 2025. These are calculated by increasing the 2024/25 employee contribution bands by the September 2024 CPI figure of 1.7 per cent and then rounding down the result to the nearest £100.

Please could you update your payroll systems and apply the new rates from 1 April 2025.

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

Previous editions of Pensions Line

Employer & Communications Team Mailbox

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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