Employer Focus - August 2021
A downloadable version of this newsletter is available below.
Employer Focus newsletter August 2021 (218KB)
Over the last 18 months the COVID-19 pandemic has placed huge pressures on employers and the fund in the way we deliver our services. During this period of uncertainty, we have all taken important actions to lessen the impact this pandemic has had on the service we provide to our pension scheme members.
We would therefore like to acknowledge and thank all employers for your continued commitment to work alongside the fund to minimise any reduction in the high-quality pension services provided to all our stakeholders.
We would also like to thank employers for your commitment to ensure the fund received your annual pension year end returns for 2020/2021 within our published deadlines.
We would like to remind our employers of the need to comply with legal obligations in relation to data. To assist employers, in October 2019 and June 2020 we contacted all employers providing a link to a template personal data retention policy.
The template sets out the fund's expectation for scheme employers in relation to the retention of personal data required by the fund. The template should be tailored by employers before incorporation into existing organisational personal data retention policies.
You can download more detailed information about data retention requirements and obtain an example template copy for the employer data retention policy:
At the end of August we will be emailing your LGPS members registered on our online portal (Members Pension Portal - MPP) with an update on their Annual Benefit Statement. This email will include an explanation on how your LGPS members can view their statements online
Example: Staffordshire Pension fund - What's new (staffspf.org.uk)
As we do not have email addresses for all our members, where possible we would be grateful if you could advise your employees who are LGPS members that their statements will be available to view on My Pensions Portal from the end of August.
For information about Annual Benefits Statements please visit our website
We have arranged for the fund’s Actuary to provide a specialist presentation covering the outcome of the 2020/21 FRS102 reporting process. The training is relevant to those with financial reporting responsibility from Individual Academies / Multi Academy Trusts. The training will cover presentation, outcomes and impacts from 2020/21 Academy FRS102 reports which will be available prior to the training session. There will be an opportunity to put questions to the Actuary during the session.
The date is 14 October 2021 between 10am – 11.30 am and will be delivered via MS Teams.
If you wish to attend you should contact
pensions.comms@staffordshire.gov.uk
The Government recently published its response to the consultation on increasing the normal minimum pension age from 55 to 57. There are no real surprises and as expected the Government’s response confirms the increase in the NMPA from 2028. In summary.
- This change will not affect members of the Armed Forces, Police and Fire public service schemes, whose current pension ages will be protected.
- If there is an unqualified right to take a benefit at age 55 then that will be protected for members who had that right via the Scheme Rules on 11 February 2021 (the date the consultation started).
- This will apply to anyone who becomes a member before 6 April 2023 (so joiners after 5 April 2023 won’t be protected.
It is not clear how this change would affect access to immediate payment of benefits on Redundancy / Efficiency, as this regulation refers specifically to benefits being payable from age 55 or “Flexible Retirement” which requires employer consent and therefore isn't an 'unqualified right' to take benefits. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) will need to make regulatory changes in due course.
In June 2021, the Pensions Regulator (TPR) updated its Automatic enrolment detailed guidance (link below). The guidance has been updated to remove:
- out of date content relating to an employer's staging date
- the effect on the qualifying person exception as a result of the changes to the cross-border pension requirements following the UK's exit from the EU
Auto enrolment guidance | The Pensions Regulator
The changes will not affect members who are retiring due to ill health.
If you require any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact Martin Griffiths, Communication Officer
martin.griffiths@staffordshire.gov.uk
01785 276070