Focus September 2025
Downloadable version
A downloadable version of this newsletter is available below.
In the August 2025 edition of the of the Employer Focus Newsletter, we informed you that that Staffordshire Pension Fund will be holding a Scheme member webinar in support of the national Pensions Awareness campaign.
The presentation will be held via Microsoft Teams on Monday 15 September 2025, 10:00am to 12:00pm and is open to all current Scheme members and employees eligible for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). A link to register for the event is below:
The aim of the session is to help improve Scheme members’ understanding of the importance of pensions provision. Topics will include a brief overview of the Scheme including the benefits of LGPS membership, ways of increasing benefits and options on retirement.
We would be grateful for your assistance in helping to promote the event to your employees.
Our next Scheme employer training event will take place on Monday 20th October 2025.
The session will cover the topic of the Pensions Administration Strategy and the roles and responsibilities, including performance standards, of both the Scheme employer and the Fund. This will be delivered via Microsoft Teams on Monday 20 October 2025, 10:00am to 12:00pm.
If you wish to attend the training, you can register your interest by completing the booking form below:
Note: once you have submitted a response, we will follow up with a separate email with a calendar invite and the Microsoft Teams 'Join Link'.
Staffordshire Pension Fund will be holding a valuation update session specifically for our Academy employers on Wednesday 12 November 2025, commencing at 10:00am and concluding at 11:30am. The Fund’s Actuary Hymans Robertson will be in attendance to deliver a presentation which will include the following:
This is a great opportunity for Academies to engage with the Fund, understand your contribution rates and ask the Actuary any questions you may have.
We would be delighted for as many representatives as possible from the Academies to join the meeting, so please forward this information to anyone else that you think might be interested.
A formal invitation will be issued later in the year, together with information on how to confirm your attendance. The meeting to be held on Microsoft Teams.
We would like to thank all Scheme employers who have helped promote the pre-retirement courses with their employees.
We can confirm that the five courses scheduled until the end of the year have all now reached maximum capacity! Due to the success, additional dates have now been added for the following dates:
Further information, including the booking link to register for the sessions can be found on our website:
The Fund would very much appreciate your continued assistance in promoting the pre-retirement course to your employees (active LGPS members). Please find below a link to a promotional poster that can be used to advertise the course:
Staffordshire Pension Fund will be migrating My Pension Portal (MPP) to a new platform - Heywood Engage – on 3 November 2025. The enhanced portal will feature a more modern, user-friendly design and improved compatibility with mobile devices while continuing to provide all the benefits and features currently enjoyed in MPP.
Details have been provided to Scheme members in the recent summer newsletters which were issued alongside the personal annual benefit statements. Further communications will be issued over the course of the next few weeks including actions existing portal users will need to take to maintain access once the new service goes live.
Staffordshire County Council is currently in the process of migrating the content management system used in the editing and organising content for its website to a new platform. This change will also affect the Staffordshire Pension Fund’s website.
It is expected the transition will take place later in 2025. Whilst the existing domain name – https://www.staffspf.org.uk/Home.aspx – will not change, the secure Employers’ Portal area will be impacted. We are currently working with the County Council’s Digital Services Team to scope out the current set up and establish how existing users will be transferred over to try and ensure the transition is as smooth as possible. Further details will be shared in upcoming newsletters.
Along with all the other Fund’s participating Scheme employers, you are invited to attend our Fund’s AGM on Tuesday 11 November 2025. This event will be held on Microsoft Teams, commencing at 2.00pm and concluding around 4.00pm.
As well as presenting the Fund’s Annual Report and Accounts, an update on the administration and investment of the Fund will form part of the agenda together with time for the Fund Actuary to speak to you about the challenges facing the LGPS and the wider pensions industry which may impact you or your organisation.
We would be delighted for as many representatives as possible from the Fund’s participating Scheme employers to join the meeting, so please forward this information to anyone else that you think might be interested.
If you would like to attend, please register your interest via the link below:
We would be grateful if you could continue to circulate this newsletter to appropriate colleagues in your organisation for example, Human Resources, Payroll and Finance Department or alternatively provide us with their email address, so we can add them to our distribution list.
If you require any further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to email the Fund at pensions.comms@staffordshire.gov.uk