Common issues
There are certain circumstances which may affect the accuracy of your statement. If you believe that your statement is incorrect, it may be that your issue is covered by the following:
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If you have more than one job where you contribute to the LGPS, you'll receive a separate annual benefit statement for each job.
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If you're paying additional contributions (to buy additional membership or additional pension), the amounts shown on your statement will reflect the amounts you've bought by 31 March.
Additional contributions that are included are:
- Additional pension contributions (APCs) to buy extra or 'lost' pension. (Your contract for this will have started on or after 1 April 2014).
- Additional regular contributions (ARCs) to buy extra pension. (Your contract for this will have started between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2014).
- Purchase of added years (PAY) to buy extra service in years and days. (Your contract for this will have started before 1 April 2008).
- Additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) are not included on the statement. Your AVC provider will send you a separate statement.
Purchase of added years (PAY) to buy extra service in years and days. (Your contract for this will have started before 1 April 2008).
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If you've told your employer about your change of name, they should have let us know. Please ask your employer to let us know as soon as possible.
It’s important that both ourselves and your employer know so the details they send to us match up with our records.
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Just a few of the reasons why your CARE pay might be lower than you expect are:
- You've been off work through illness or injury:
If you've been off work because of illness or injury and moved to reduced or no pay, your employer needs to tell us about your 'assumed pensionable pay', which reflects what you would have earned had you not been off work, based on your most recent periods of full pay.
If you think your employer hasn’t done this, please contact them directly.
- You've been off work through child-related leave:
If you've had a period of paid child-related leave, such as maternity leave, and been on reduced pay, this should trigger your employer to include 'assumed pensionable pay' in the pay details they send to us.
If you think that may not have happened, please contact your employer directly.
- You have had other authorised leave without pay:
If you've had a period of authorised unpaid leave or unpaid additional child-related leave, your CARE pay will be lower because you weren’t paid. However, you can buy the pension you lost because of your absence. Your employer will be able to tell you how much pay you've lost and you can use that to find out how much it'll cost you.
Go to the national LGPS member website for more details and an online calculator. If you apply within 30 days of your return to work, your employer will share the costs with you. If you apply after 30 days of your return to work, your employer is not obligated to share the cost with you, but they may do so at their discretion.
- Your contract has changed:
If your contract has changed and some or all of your working hours have been moved into a different contract, you may now have more than one pension record. If that’s the case, we'll send you a separate pension statement.
Please note: any query in relation to your pay must be addressed directly to your employer rather than Staffordshire Pension Fund.
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- If your issue has not been covered here, don't worry. You can contact us by phone, email or post and we'll be happy to help.