Employer Focus - March 2021

This bulletin from the Staffordshire Pension Fund, focuses on current issues that you should be aware of relating to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).


 

Fund's annual general meeting  Back to top

The Fund's slightly delayed 2020 AGM was held on 23 February 2021 and once again proved to be a very successful event. Presentations were made by Fund officers and Hymans Robertson (the Fund actuary) and covered the following:

  • presentation of the 2019/20 annual report and accounts
  • general Pension Fund administration and investment updates
  • actuarial update by the Fund's actuary - Hymans Robertson

Full copies of the AGM presentations are available. 


 

Employer's submission of year end pension data returns  Back to top

As highlighted in February's Employer Focus we would like to remind all employers that the submission of data for the financial year ending 31 March 2021 must be received by Pensions Services no later than 23 April 2021, in order that we can comply with the requirement to issue annual benefits statements within statutory time limits.

This deadline will allow for data validation processes to be completed and any necessary data cleansing to be performed prior to the issue of our members' annual benefit statements.

Employer guidance

To assist employers with completing their annual return we have a dedicated area of the Pension Fund's website, which contains all the necessary documentation for completion including guidelines and supporting information.


 

LGPS members contribution banding from 1 April 2021  Back to top

This table sets out the members' contribution bands which will be effective from 1 April 2021. These are based on the pay bands for 2020-21 as increased by the September 2020 consumer price index (CPI) figure.

Please ensure your HR and payroll teams take the necessary action to implement the changes from 1 April 2021.


 

Pension Fund website / forms  Back to top

The Fund's website is the main source of information for both current and prospective members, pensioners, deferred members as well as Fund employers.

The website holds scheme guides, forms and information for members and employers to view. Employer responsibilities are set out in the employer’s section of the website. All participating employers in the Fund are encouraged to use this area to ensure they meet their responsibilities.

The Fund also regularly reviews the forms that employers are required to complete to request information or to instruct the Fund to process leavers. To ensure you are completing the most up to date forms you should download the latest forms from the employer section of the website.

Please note: the forms section of the website is password protected. Therefore, if you have forgotten your password or don't currently have access to this area, but need to do so as part of your responsibilities then please contact martin.griffiths@staffordshire.gov.uk.

Employer forms (password protected)

All the forms you need are in the forms and documents section of the employer's area.


 

Local Government Association (LGA) - understanding the employer role - training  Back to top

The Local Government Association will be running their employer role course over four dates which covers the duties and responsibilities of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) employers.

The course contents

  • Brief overview
  • Joining the LGPS
  • CARE vs final pay
  • Absences
  • Additional contributions
  • Regulatory requirements - actives
  • All types of retirement and death
  • Early leavers
  • Other areas for consideration

Cost

The charge is £270 plus VAT for the day long course.

This will run from 10:00 a. m. until 4:00 p. m. using MS Teams. A PDF copy of the notes for the course will be sent to delegates shortly before the course is run.

Dates

The available dates are:

If your chosen dates are booked then please let elaine.english@local.gov.uk know who will be able to  add you to a waitlist. LGA will try to ensure anyone who wants a place on the course can get one by adding additional dates if required.


 

Pension taxation - lifetime allowance (LTA)  Back to top

In the Chancellor's budget on 5 March 2021, Mr Sunak announced that the LTA will be maintained at its current level of £1,073,100 for a further five years, until April 2026, rather than being linked to inflation as usual.

The LTA is the total value of benefits an individual member can have without triggering an excess benefit charge.

If the value of a member's pension benefits from all UK pension schemes (not including state retirement pension, pension credit or any partners pension of dependants pension) when they draw them is more than the LTA, the member will have to pay tax on the excess benefits.

Members affected by the LTA will have total pension benefits in excess of £45,000 per annum.


 

£95,000 exit payment no longer in place  Back to top

The following article applies to all public sector employees and employers including councils (metropolitan, county, district, borough) police and fire authorities and academies.

On Friday 12 February 2021, HM Treasury announced that the Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments Legislation has been revoked with immediate effect, due to 'unforeseen consequences' of the legislation. The (brief) Treasury guidance (external link to a PDF document) on this can be found on their website.

As a consequence of the Treasury announcement the following applies to the Fund and employers:

  • for exits from 12 February 2021, LGPS administering authorities must pay qualifying scheme members an unreduced pension under regulation 30(7) of the LGPS 2013 regulations. Scheme employers will be required to pay full strain costs in relation to those unreduced benefits, as notified by their administering authority (Staffordshire County Council). Employers should not make cash alternative payments to either the scheme member or the administering authority
  • the guidance sets out HM Treasury's expectation that employers should pay the additional sums that would be paid had the cap not applied for employees who left between 4 November 2020 and 12 February 2021

Further information

To further assist employers the Local Government Association (LGA) have published a document which sets out the information for employers on the position for redundancy and business efficiency exits now that the cap has been disapplied. It applies to exit of LGPS members who are 55 and over.


 

Further information   Back to top

If you require any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to get in touch: