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Peninsula Pensions is provided by Devon County Council and is a shared service with Somerset County Council: www.peninsulapensions.org.uk

Welcome to the Local Government Pension Scheme

A Guide for New Scheme Employers

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Introduction

This guide is to help new employers to the Local Government Pension Scheme understand the roles and responsibilities you will inherit as an employer within the Devon County Council or Somerset County Council Pension Funds. It will take you through what you need to know and consider along with the first priorities and steps to complete your registration. For more detailed guidance on the LGPS and our procedures, please see the Employers Guide to the LGPS on our website.

Peninsula Pensions – who we are and what do we do?

Peninsula Pensions is provided by Devon County Council and is a shared service with Somerset County Council. We administer the Local Government Pension Scheme, as one of 89 funds across England and Wales. Peninsula Pensions has in excess of 400 participating employers throughout Devon and Somerset and a scheme membership of more than 100,000 members. As well as looking after the administration needs of employers and scheme members of the LGPS we also administer the Police and Firefighters’ Pension Schemes for Avon & Somerset Constabulary and Gloucestershire Fire Service respectively. Our Strategic Management Team, headed up by Daniel Harris, oversees the three core areas of the administration to ensure all employers and scheme members receive excellent customer service from our highly skilled pension administrators. Please visit our website for individual contact details for each area of our Team.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this guide is Peninsula Pensions interpretation of the current regulations. Changes to rules and regulations can happen at short notice and may be implemented prior to us being able to issue revised documentation. Readers should take their own legal / financial advice on the interpretation of any particular piece of legislation. No responsibility whatsoever will be assumed by Peninsula Pensions for any direct or consequential loss, financial or otherwise, damage or inconvenience, or any other obligation or liability incurred by readers relying on information contained in this guide

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Contents Page

About the Local Government Pension Scheme 4 Legal background 5 Types of Employer in the LGPS 6 New Employer in the LGPS 7 First Priorities - What we need you to do first 8 Your Responsibilities 11 What you need to know 12 New Academy in the LGPS 17 First Priorities - What we need you to do first 18 Your Responsibilities 21 What you need to know 22 New Town and Parish Councils in the LGPS 28 First Priorities - What we need you to do first 29 Your Responsibilities 31 What you need to know 32

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The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is a nationwide pension scheme for people working in Local Government and for other qualifying employers participating in the scheme. There is no minimum age to become a member and employees can remain in the scheme until the eve of their 75th birthday. The LGPS is a statutory public service scheme, so the scheme’s benefits and terms are set out in regulations passed through parliament. It has members in local government, education from primary to higher (non-teaching staff), police staff, the voluntary sector, environment agencies and private contractors. In 2010 the LGPS regulations were amended to allow non-teaching employees of academies to be members of the pension scheme. Prior to April 2014 the LGPS was a final salary pension scheme based on the final 365 days pensionable pay and pensionable service. From April 2014 the LGPS became a ‘Career Average Revalued Earnings’(CARE) pension scheme based on the actual annual salary each year. LGPS 2014 Key facts :

• Benefits from the scheme include;- o A secure annual pension. o A tax-free lump sum. o Death benefit cover.

• Normal retirement age is the state pension age for both men and women

• Accrual rate is at 1/49th of a member’s actual pensionable pay

• Option to draw pension from age 55 to 75 without employers’ consent

• 50/50 option to pay half contributions and accrue half pension For more information on the LGPS and the benefits it provides, please visit our website.

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

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Legal Background

Each employer is responsible for meeting and maintaining their individual funding postions. Employer contributions to the LGPS are variable and dependent on the underlying funding position of the employer. Employers should be aware certain actions, including levels of pay awards, and management of ill-health will impact on their long term pensions funding and the cost of participating in the pension scheme. The scheme is value formally every three years setting the employers contribution rates payable for the subsequent three year period. The LGPS is a qualifying pension scheme under the automatic enrolment provisions of the Pensions Act 2008 and is a tax approved, defined benefit, occupational pension scheme set up under the Superannuation Act 1972. The LGPS was contracted out of the State Second Pension scheme (S2P). Auto enrolment certificates can be found on our website – for your convenience, all the important reference numbers are listed below:

Peninsula Pensions are compliant with the General Data Protection Regulations 26th May 2018 and you can view our Privacy Notice and Memorandums of Understanding for both pension funds on our website. The current legislation in force for the Local Government Pension Scheme are: The Local Government Pension Regulations 2013: https://www.lgpsregs.org/schemeregs/lgpsregs2013.php The Local Government Pension Scheme (Transitional Provisions, Savings and Amendment) Regulations 2014: https://www.lgpsregs.org/schemeregs/tpregs2014.php

We also have regard to The Pension Regulators Code of Practice 14 Useful Links: Devon Pension Fund Administration Strategy Somerset Pension Fund Administration Strategy Pension Fund Investments LGPS Regulations and Guidance LGPS National Website

Devon County Council Pension Fund: Scheme’s contracted-out reference: S2700145L Fund’s contracted-out reference: E3900002R Pension Scheme Registration number: 10079150 Pension Scheme Tax Reference number: PSTR00328754RF

Somerset County Council Pension Fund: Scheme’s contracted-out reference: S2700167A Fund’s contracted-out reference: E3900002R Pension Scheme Registration number: 10079159 Pension Scheme Tax Reference number is: PSTR00330394RW

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Types of Employer in the LGPS

Employers within the LGPS fall into three main categories and an employee’s eligibility to join the scheme depends upon which category their employer falls under. Scheme employers are listed in Schedule 2 of the regulations:

1. Scheduled Bodies - County Councils, District Councils, Police Authorities, Universities and Academies (including Free Schools and Studio Schools) are classed as Scheduled Bodies.

2. Designated Bodies - Town and Parish Councils and entities under the control of Scheduled Bodies (including Local Authority Companies) are classed as Designated Bodies.

3. Admitted Bodies – Companies who taken on a contract to provide an outsourced service from an LGPS employer are classed as an Admitted Body.

The remainder of this guide has been seperated into the different employer category so you will only need to read the section relevant to you:

• New Employer Section - (pages 7 to 15) o Scheduled Employers (except for Academies) o Admitted Bodies

• New Academies (including Free Schools & Studio Schools) – (pages 15 to 25)

• New Town or Parish Council section (pages 26 to 34) o Designated Employers

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New Employer in the LGPS

This section covers new employers within the LGPS who are Scheduled Bodies and Admitted Bodies. Scheduled Bodies include:

• County councils and district councils

• Police and Crime Commissioners/Chief Constables Scheduled bodies have automatic right, and requirement, to be an employer in the LGPS covering their geographical area of Devon and Somerset. These employers have to participate in the LGPS and do not have the option to offer an alternative pension arrangement. All staff are contractually automatically enrolled into the LGPS from the first day of their employment. Admitted Bodies are companies who taken on a contract to provide an outsourced service from an LGPS employer are classed as an Admitted Body. When an LGPS employer outsources a service, the new provider is required to seek admitted body status to enable staff affected to remain in the LGPS or offer a broadly comparable scheme to them. If they become an admitted body, the transferred staff remain eligible for the LGPS whilst at least 50% of their time is spent on the delivery of the outsourced service. Depending on the terms of the admission agreement other staff may be allowed to join (if they relate to the delivery of the outsourced service), this is known as an open admission agreement. If staff are not permitted to join, then it is known as a closed agreement. These are bodies which participate in the LGPS under an ‘admission agreement’ – a contract between the body, the Fund and usually another Scheme employer; they fall into two categories:

• Community Admission Bodies – these include organisations which have a ‘community of interest’ with a Scheme Employer, bodies which local authorities give grants to, housing corporations and bodies representative of local authorities and their officers.

• Transferee Admission Bodies – these include organisations which have contracted to take over a function of another Scheme Employer and many of their members will have transferred across under TUPE regulations.

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As an Admitted Body, the employer allows any existing scheme members involved in TUPE to remain in the LGPS for as long as the employer is connected with the delivery of the outsourced service. Other staff may be allowed to join (as long as they are connected with the delivery of the outsourced service) if the admission agreement permits. This is known as an open admission agreement. If staff are not permitted to join then it is known as a closed agreement.

First Priorities - What we need you to do first

1. Inform Peninsula Pensions of the date of transfer

2. Provide Peninsula Pensions with a list of the staff involved in the transfer and an

indication of whether they are currently in the scheme or not.

3. Obtain your new employer number from Peninsula Pensions

4. Assure those employees already in the pension scheme that their membership will

continue in the same way with the new employer.

5. Write to those eligible employees not in the LGPS at the time of transfer to advise them that they will be automatically contractually enrolled into the LGPS (depending on your admission agreement)

6. Inform your payroll provider of the employer’s and employee’s contribution rates

7. Automatically enroll all eligible staff into the LGPS:

• All existing employees who are already members of the LGPS should remain in the scheme so that their membership will be continuous.

• All existing eligible employees not in the scheme should also be automatically admitted to the scheme on the day you become an employer

• Automatically contractually enroll new eligible staff into the LGPS

Please note that there are some staff who are not eligible to join the LGPS so please refer to the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’

8. Decide the percentage of pay each employee must pay into the LGPS in accordance

with the relevant bandings on our website.

9. Arrange for your employer and employee contributions to be paid to pension fund and complete the monthly contribution form and continue to do this on time each month.

• Pension scheme contributions are deducted from an employee’s actual pensionable pay in accordance with the relevant banding on our website.

• You will be notified of your contribution rate by the Scheme Actuary or Fund Investment Team in your New Employer Report

• You will also need to inform Peninsula Pensions and the Finance team each time you have made a payment, by filling in the Monthly Contributions form (see the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’)

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10. Provide us with some essential information - Once your pension scheme contributions have been arranged, we then need to complete the administration side of things to ensure we have everything we need from you and that you understand your employer responsibilities.

a) Contact details and authorised signatories - Pensions forms need to be

‘signed off’ or submitted by authorised signatories so we ask that you complete our online Employer Contact Details form as soon as possible to confirm the following:

b) Confirm Contact Details - so that we know who to contact with any queries and who will be registered as authorised contacts.

c) Confirm Authorised Delegated Contacts (if applicable) - We do not deal

directly with payroll providers, but you can delegate some or all day to day administration to them. The details authorise Peninsula Pensions to accept data and completed pensions forms directly from your payroll provider. The responsibility for the timely and accurate provision of data and contributions remains with you as the employer.

d) Confirm Name of Payroll Provider – We would appreciate it if you could confirm

your payroll provider for our records.

e) Confirm IDRP Stage 1 Appeals Officer Form - Let us know the person who is appointed in your organisation to determine the Stage 1 Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) appeals. This is the complaints procedure for scheme members who have a grievance against their employer or the pension scheme administering authority is called the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP). You will need to nominate an appeals officer to deal with Stage 1 of the Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure (IDRP) if the complaint is against a decision that the employer has made.

f) Sign up to our employer newsletter Pensions Line – our e-zine which keeps you updated with changes to legislation and procedures along with notification of training events and any other information we think you will find useful. Please confirm the names and email addresses of anyone who needs to receive our newsletter and I will add them to our mailing list.

11. Sign up to our Employer Self Service Portal - ESS allows employers access to their

employees’ pension records over a secure web connection via our database Altair. It’s free to use and enables the employer to advise of New Starters via an online form, check employee’s records to ensure correct data held, produce your own estimates and submit Leavers forms. You will have to register to use Employer Self Service (ESS) within Altair – please click on the following link to register: https://employers.peninsulapensions.org.uk/employerservicesweb/login.

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12. Confirm New Starters You have already provided us with a list of the employees involved in the TUPE so their records will be updated accordingly to confirm you as their new employer. If you have an open admission agreement, we will need to know the details of each new employee who commences employment with you after the date of transfer so you will need to complete a ‘New Starter Creation’ via Employer Self Service - there is a guide on our website to help you through this process (see pages 12 to 17).

We do have an Interface template to enable easier data exchange from your payroll systems to our Pensions database and more details can be found in the relevant section of ‘What you need to know’.

13. Formulate and publish your Employer Pensions Discretions Policy and provide a copy to Peninsula Pensions. Please see the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’.

14. Inform your members of:

• The Peninsula Pensions website which has lots of information relevant to members of the LGPS.

• Member Self Service on the Peninsula Pensions website where they can get up-to-date information on their pension.

15. Contact our Employer and Communications Team to arrange training on your responsibilities as an employer within the LGPS and what you need to do.

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Your Responsibilities

What you need to do each month:

• Automatically contractually enroll new staff into the LGPS if their contract is for more than three months (Admitted Bodies – this will depend on the terms of the admission agreement)

• Pay pension contributions on time and complete and return the Monthly Contributions form

• By using Peninsula Pensions approved interfaces and/or Employer Self Service portal, keep us informed of

o New Starters o Change of name o Change of hours o Unpaid or maternity leave o Strike breaks

• Keep us informed of any pensionable employees who leave or have chosen to opt out of the Local Government Pension Scheme by submitting a Leavers Form via Employer Self Service (see guidance on our website).

• Provide monthly pensionable pay figures to calculate the post 2014 CARE Pension

What you need to do annually or when requested to do so:

• Attend employers’ meetings and training sessions when notified

• Ensure your pension discretions are reviewed annually and are up to date

• Send us an annual return at the end of each financial year, giving details of employee contributions paid and pensionable pay.

• Notify members of any relevant changes to pension scheme when advised by Peninsula Pensions

• Ensure appropriate action is taken when advised of new legislation or procedures

For the full list of Employer Responsibilities and information on First Instance Decisions please visit our Employers Guide on our website.

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What you need to know

Automatically enrolling all eligible staff into the LGPS

Which employees are eligible to join the scheme?

• All staff employed by a scheduled body should be automatically admitted to the scheme on the first day of employment (unless their contract is for less than three months or they are casual – see below).

• Staff who are employed an admitted body and have been deemed to be eligible for membership should also be automatically contractually enrolled into the scheme from the date of designation.

• Staff who have previously opted out of the LGPS can make an election to re-join by completing the opt-in form available on our website . For admitted bodies, it depends on your admission agreement and if they are deemed as eligible for membership.

• An employee who is eligible for membership but who is not currently a member in that employment, can apply to their employer to join the scheme. If they do, they should be bought into the LGPS on the first day of the payment period following their completed application.

Automatic enrolment is a Government initiative to help more people save for later life through a pension scheme at work. The legislation runs separately from the Local Government Pension Scheme. As an employer it is your responsibility to ensure that you are adhering to the legislation. Further guidance can be found on our website and on The Pensions Regulator website. Which employees are NOT eligible to join the scheme?

• Casual Contracts/Employee’s with contracts of less than three months - these employees have the right to opt in by completing the opt-in form available on our website. They should only be automatically entered into the scheme if:

o their contract is extended making it longer than three months o if they were then appointed to a second two-month contract they would be

brought in automatically at that point (because they’re now on a contract of three or more months).

• Any employee age 75 and over - employees cannot join or remain in the scheme after the eve of their 75th birthday.

• Employees eligible for membership of another public sector pension scheme (although there is some dual eligibility for the LGPS and the National Health Service Pension Scheme)

• Staff employed by an admission body who are members of another occupational

scheme

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Deciding the employee contribution rate

It is necessary for the employer to determine which part of an employee’s pay is pensionable when deducting pension contributions in accordance with the bandings on our website – the rate of contributions a member pays is assessed on actual pensionable pay not the full-time equivalent rate of pay. Pensionable pay is the pay the member pays pension contributions on. It is all salary, wages, fees and other payments paid to the employee, and any benefit specified in the employees’ contract of employment as being pensionable. Exclusions are shown in LGPS Reg 20 (2)

Paying over Employee and Employer Pension Contributions to the relevant Pension Fund

Each employer within the LGPS must pay contributions to cover liability for their employees. Employee Pension scheme contributions are deducted from an employee’s actual pensionable pay in accordance with the relevant banding on our website. If a person opts for the 50/50 section of the scheme, the contributions they pay will be exactly half of the current rates, however, the employer contributions remain at the full rate so to cover their liabilities. Please see the Employers Guide on our website for more information on the 50/50 Section of the scheme. Employer contributions are expressed as a percentage of the member’s actual pensionable pay. The rate will change every three years following the actuarial valuation of the pension fund. You will be notified of your contribution rate by the Scheme Actuary or Fund Investment Team. Making payments It is a scheme employer’s responsibility to ensure that prompt payment of the employer and employee pension fund contributions are made to Peninsula Pensions. You will need to inform us and the Finance team each time you have made a payment: If you are a Devon Fund Employer: Please complete and submit our online Monthly Contributions Form (EAS5) - This area is password protected so the person or people who will be responsible for notification & payment of fund contributions will need to be setup with access. You will need to email gary.bidder@devon.gov.uk who will arrange for a username and password to be issued. Please refer to our instructions on how to pay scheme contributions to the Devon Pension Fund. If you are a Somerset Fund employer: Please contact the Corporate Finance Team for a copy of the Monthly Contribution Return: Corporatefinancepens@somerset.gov.uk. Please refer to our instructions on how to pay scheme contributions to the Somerset Pension Fund.

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Confirming New Starters

This can be done one of two ways: 1. ‘New Starter Creation’ via Employer Self Service (see pages 12 to 17 of the ESS

Guide). 2. Starter tab on the interface template – this is a monthly process to submit, If you

would like to sign up to this please email richard.tuck@devon.gov.uk Points to note: Multiple Contracts - Where an employee has multiple post that are separate contracts you will need to keep separate records. The exception to this is where there is a single employment relationship for example:

• Two concurrent employments - both must be terminated

• Two sequential employments without a break (i.e. promotion) In cases of multiple employments with separate contracts you will need to; -

• Keep separate data for each job

• Provide separate data for MAIN scheme and 50/50 scheme for each job

• Provide actual pensionable pay figures to include any assumed pay for each job

• Submit separate pension forms for each separate job. Opting-Out of the LGPS - Employees are automatically enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme (if eligible). Membership to the Local Government Pension Scheme is not compulsory so a member may opt-out of the pension scheme at any time (will be brought back in on the LGPS enrolment date). They are free to opt back in and out as many times as they wish. Members can obtain the opt-out form from our website. Please note you must not issue forms to the employee.

Employer Self Service (ESS) and Data Collections

As an employer in the LGPS you will need to access our Employer Self Service(ESS) facility. By signing up you will have access to our Altair database over a secure connection. ESS will allow you to;-

• Advise us of new starters via an online form

• Change and update member details such as hours, changes.

• Check your employee’s records to ensure the correct data is held

• Produce your own estimates(Redundancy exercises avoid Peninsula Pensions turnaround times for ‘strain’ costs)

The system is free to use and as long as you are on our contacts lists for your organisation, you should sign up at : https://employers.peninsulapensions.org.uk/employerservicesweb/login

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Annual and Monthly Data Collections There are a number of submissions that we require monthly and annually;-

• Interface Templates: It is possible to submit information to us by interface for starters, hour changes, address changes, and service breaks (as an alternative to Employer Self Service). If you would like to sign up to this please email richard.tuck@devon.gov.uk

• Care Template: Ideally a monthly submission showing cumulative CARE(actual pensionable pay) for a given year.

• Annual Return Template: This is requested from you once a year and includes employee contributions, current working hours,contributions,and full-time equivalent salary as at 31/03/XXXX. We also request CARE pay in case this has not been submitted monthly.

Provision of Data

It is important that you put processes in place to retain access to historical payroll information when you change payroll provider so that you can continue to fulfil your responsibilities as a Scheme employer.

Outsourcing of Services

If you are outsourcing services and have a number of staff who will be subject to TUPE and moving to a new employer, please do not submit any leaver forms as this will complicate the process – instead there is a staff data capture spreadsheet you can complete on our website. For more details on what you need to do, please contact the Employer & Communications Team.

Employer Discretions

The Local Government Pension Scheme is a statutory pension scheme which means its rules are laid down under Act of Parliament. However, Scheme regulations do allow an employer certain discretions to enhance members’ benefits. All employers must have a policy on their LGPS discretions, some of which are:

• Flexible retirement

• Waiving of actuarial reductions

• Funding of additional pension through a Shared Cost Additional Pension (SCAPC) arrangement

To help you make decisions about these discretions, there is some guidance and an example template on our website

Ill Health Retirements

You must appoint an Independent Registered Medical Practitioner (IRMP) to deal with any ill health retirement applications and they need to be approved by the pension fund. Please see our Employer’s Guide for more information ill health retirement.

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Complaints and Disputes

There is a two stage Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) which deals with complaints from LGPS members. If the complaint is about an employer decision, then the employer must deal with stage 1 of the IDRP and you must appoint an officer to deal with such cases. Please see our website for more information.

Strain costs

The funding of the scheme is based on all members retiring at their normal retirement age and receiving their benefits for a certain number of years, as well as a few other factors. If benefits are paid before they were expected to be paid, (before the normal pension age of the member, for example) the pension fund suffers a detriment resulting in a ‘strain’ on the pension fund. The ‘Strain Cost’ must be repaid to the pension fund either by an actuarial reduction applied to the member’s benefits for early voluntary retirement or the employer is responsible for payment in the cases of redundancy/efficiency, flexible retirement etc. We calculate the strain cost, and the cost to you as the employer depends on the member’s sex, age and service at the date of retirement. You can pay the strain cost as one lump sum immediately, or over three years including interest. If paid over three years, the first payment is due in the April after the member has left. More information can be found on our website.

Additional employer costs

If there is any information you might need that only the actuary can supply, then you will be charged for the work done. When you need to use the services of your Independent Occupational Health Medical Practitioner, then you will be charged by them. Any payments due from an employer which is paid over a month late will incur interest.

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New Academy in the LGPS

This section covers new Academies, Universities, Free Schools and Studio Schools within the LGPS All Academies, Universities, Free Schools and Studio Schools are scheduled bodies under the LGPS regulations. In 2010 the LGPS regulations were amended to allow non-teaching employees of academies to be members of the pension scheme. Please note: Teaching staff are covered by the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and more information can be found on their website. On conversion, an Academy will become a stand alone employer in the pension fund with an individual funding position. Non-teaching employees of an Academy have the right to join the scheme, or remain in it following conversion. Scheduled bodies have automatic right, and requirement, to be an employer in the LGPS covering their geographical area of Devon and Somerset. These employers have to participate in the LGPS and do not have the option to offer an alternative pension arrangement. All staff are contractually automatically enrolled into the LGPS from the first day of their employment.

Useful reading: LGPS Arrangements for Academies

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First Priorities - What we need you to do first

1. Inform Peninsula Pensions of the conversion and proposed date as soon as possible – some processes can take a while. There is no formal application for a school to become an eligible employer in the LGPS - it will automatically occur once you become an academy.

2. Assure those employees already in the pension scheme that their membership will

continue in the same way with the new employer.

3. Write to those eligible employees not in the LGPS at the time of transfer to advise them that they will be automatically contractually enrolled into the LGPS (depending on your admission agreement)

4. Inform Peninsula Pensions of the name of the new academy/Multi Academy Trust (MAT) (if applicable)

5. If joining a MAT, Peninsula Pensions will need to know if you will be requiring separate accounting reports per academy or a single report for the MAT.

6. Provide Peninsula Pensions with a list of the non-teaching staff in the LGPS and an indication of whether they are in the scheme or not.

7. Obtain your new employer number from Pensions (if applicable)

8. Obtain a copy of the new academy report to confirm the employer contribution rate

9. Inform your payroll provider of the employer’s and employee’s contribution rates

10. Automatically enroll all eligible staff into the LGPS:

• All existing employees who are already members of the LGPS should remain in the scheme so that their membership will be continuous.

• All existing eligible employees not in the scheme should also be automatically admitted to the scheme on the day you become an employer

• Automatically contractually enroll new eligible staff into the LGPS

Please note that there are some staff who are not eligible to join the LGPS so please refer to the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’

11. Decide the percentage of pay each employee must pay into the LGPS in accordance

with the relevant bandings on our website.

12. Arrange for your employer and employee contributions to be paid to pension fund and complete the monthly contribution form and continue to do this on time each month.

• Pension scheme contributions are deducted from an employee’s actual pensionable pay in accordance with the relevant banding on our website.

• You will be notified of your contribution rate by the Scheme Actuary or Fund Investment Team in your New Employer Report

• You will also need to inform Peninsula Pensions and the Finance team each time you have made a payment, by filling in the Monthly Contributions form (see the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’)

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13. Confirm New Starters You have already provided us with a list of the current employees at the time of conversion so their records will be updated accordingly to confirm you as their new employer. We will need to know the details of each new employee who commences employment with you after the date of conversion so you will need to complete a ‘New Starter Creation’ via Employer Self Service - there is a guide on our website to help you through this process (see pages 12 to 17).

We do have an Interface template to enable easier data exchange from your payroll systems to our Pensions database and more details can be found in the relevant section of ‘What you need to know’.

14. Provide us with some essential information - Once your pension scheme contributions have been arranged, we then need to complete the administration side of things to ensure we have everything we need from you and that you understand your employer responsibilities.

a) Contact details and authorised signatories - Pensions forms need to be

‘signed off’ or submitted by authorised signatories so we ask that you complete our online Employer Contact Details form as soon as possible to confirm the following:

b) Confirm Contact Details - so that we know who to contact with any queries and who will be registered as authorised contacts.

c) Confirm Authorised Delegated Contacts (if applicable) - We do not deal

directly with payroll providers, but you can delegate some or all day to day administration to them. The details authorise Peninsula Pensions to accept data and completed pensions forms directly from your payroll provider. The responsibility for the timely and accurate provision of data and contributions remains with you as the employer.

Please note: When we authorise access to Employer Self Service (ESS) for an authorised contact they will be able to view all the employee’s listed under that employer number. In the case of Multi Academy Trusts (MAT’s) who report as one entity, this means that any users registered under that employer will be able to see the employee’s records for all schools within that MAT. You will need to confirm whether you agree that all contacts listed above have access to members records for the whole MAT.

d) Confirm Name of Payroll Provider – We would appreciate it if you could confirm

your payroll provider for our records.

e) Confirm IDRP Stage 1 Appeals Officer Form - Let us know the person who is appointed in your organisation to determine the Stage 1 Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) appeals. This is the complaints procedure for scheme members who have a grievance against their employer or the pension scheme administering authority is called the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP). You will need to nominate an appeals officer to deal with Stage 1 of the Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure (IDRP) if the complaint is against a decision that the employer has made.

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f) Sign up to our employer newsletter Pensions Line – our e-zine which keeps you updated with changes to legislation and procedures along with notification of training events and any other information we think you will find useful. Please confirm the names and email addresses of anyone who needs to receive our newsletter and I will add them to our mailing list.

15. Sign up to our Employer Self Service Portal - ESS allows employers access to their

employees’ pension records over a secure web connection via our database Altair. It’s free to use and enables the employer to advise of New Starters via an online form, check employee’s records to ensure correct data held, produce your own estimates and submit Leavers forms. You will have to register to use Employer Self Service (ESS) within Altair – please click on the following link to register: https://employers.peninsulapensions.org.uk/employerservicesweb/login. Once you have registered, you will need to confirm if you require access to multiple employers, for example; you are a Multi Academy Trust and need to access all schools within the MAT. When we grant access to Employer Self Service (ESS) for an authorised contact, they will be able to view all the employee’s listed under that employer number. In the case of Multi Academy Trusts (MAT’s) who report as one entity, this means that any users registered under that employer will be able to see the employee’s records for all schools within that MAT. You will need to confirm whether you agree that all contacts listed have access to members records for the whole MAT.

16. Formulate and publish your Employer Pensions Discretions Policy and provide a copy to Peninsula Pensions. Please see the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’.

17. Inform your members of:

• The Peninsula Pensions website which has lots of information relevant to members of the LGPS.

• Member Self Service on the Peninsula Pensions website where they can get up-to-date information on their pension.

18. Contact our Employer and Communications Team to arrange training on your responsibilities as an employer within the LGPS and what you need to do

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Your Responsibilities

As an academy it is important you understand the responsibilities being transferred to you from the Local Authority so that there is are no gaps in data submission. What you need to do each month:

• Automatically contractually enroll new staff into the LGPS if their contract is for more than three months

• Pay pension contributions on time and complete and return the Monthly Contributions form

• By using Peninsula Pensions approved interfaces and/or Employer Self Service portal, keep us informed of

o New Starters o Change of name o Change of hours o Unpaid or maternity leave o Strike breaks

• Keep us informed of any pensionable employees who leave or have chosen to opt out of the Local Government Pension Scheme by submitting a Leavers form via Employer Self Service (see guidance on our website).

• Provide monthly pensionable pay figures to calculate the post 2014 CARE Pension

What you need to do annually or when requested to do so:

• Request FRS102 Figures from the pension fund

• Attend employers’ meetings and training sessions when notified

• Ensure your pension discretions are reviewed annually and are up to date

• Send us an annual return at the end of each financial year, giving details of employee contributions paid and pensionable pay.

• Notify members of any relevant changes to pension scheme when advised by Peninsula Pensions

• Ensure appropriate action is taken when advised of new legislation or procedures

For the full list of Employer Responsibilities and information on First Instance Decisions please visit our Employers Guide on our website.

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What you need to know Automatically enrolling all eligible staff into the LGPS

Which employees are eligible to join the scheme?

• All non-teaching staff employed by an academy should be automatically admitted to the scheme on the first day of employment (unless their contract is for less than three months or they are casual – see below).

• Non-teaching staff who have previously opted out of the LGPS can make an election to re-join by completing the opt-in form available on our website.

• An employee who is eligible for membership but who is not currently a member in that employment, can apply to their employer to join the scheme. If they do, they should be bought into the LGPS on the first day of the payment period following their completed application.

Automatic enrolment is a Government initiative to help more people save for later life through a pension scheme at work. The legislation runs separately from the Local Government Pension Scheme. As an employer it is your responsibility to ensure that you are adhering to the legislation. Further guidance can be found on our website and on The Pensions Regulator website. Which employees are NOT eligible to join the scheme?

• Teaching staff are not eligible to join the LGPS. They are covered by the Teachers’ Pension Scheme

• Casual Contracts/Employee’s with contracts of less than three months - these employees have the right to opt in by completing the opt-in form available on our website. They should only be automatically entered into the scheme if:

o their contract is extended making it longer than three months o if they were then appointed to a second two-month contract they would be

brought in automatically at that point (because they’re now on a contract of three or more months).

• Any employee age 75 and over - employees cannot join or remain in the scheme after the eve of their 75th birthday.

• Employees eligible for membership of another public sector pension scheme (although there is some dual eligibility for the LGPS and the National Health Service Pension Scheme)

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Deciding the employee contribution rate

It is necessary for the employer to determine which part of an employee’s pay is pensionable when deducting pension contributions in accordance with the bandings on our website – the rate of contributions a member pays is assessed on actual pensionable pay not the full-time equivalent rate of pay. Pensionable pay is the pay the member pays pension contributions on. It is all salary, wages, fees and other payments paid to the employee, and any benefit specified in the employees’ contract of employment as being pensionable. Exclusions are shown in LGPS Reg 20 (2)

Paying over Employee and Employer Pension Contributions to the relevant Pension Fund

Each employer within the LGPS must pay contributions to cover liability for their employees. Employee Pension scheme contributions are deducted from an employee’s actual pensionable pay in accordance with the relevant banding on our website. If a person opts for the 50/50 section of the scheme, the contributions they pay will be exactly half of the current rates, however, the employer contributions remain at the full rate so to cover their liabilities. Please see the Employers Guide on our website for more information on the 50/50 Section of the scheme. Employer contributions are expressed as a percentage of the member’s actual pensionable pay. The rate will change every three years following the actuarial valuation of the pension fund. You will be notified of your contribution rate by the Scheme Actuary or Fund Investment Team. Making payments It is a scheme employer’s responsibility to ensure that prompt payment of the employer and employee pension fund contributions are made to Peninsula Pensions. You will need to inform us and the Finance team each time you have made a payment: If you are a Devon Fund Employer: Please complete and submit our online Monthly Contributions Form (EAS5) - This area is password protected so the person or people who will be responsible for notification & payment of fund contributions will need to be setup with access. You will need to email gary.bidder@devon.gov.uk who will arrange for a username and password to be issued. Please refer to our instructions on how to pay scheme contributions to the Devon Pension Fund. If you are a Somerset Fund employer: Please contact the Corporate Finance Team for a copy of the Monthly Contribution Return: Corporatefinancepens@somerset.gov.uk. Please refer to our instructions on how to pay scheme contributions to the Somerset Pension Fund.

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 24

Confirming New Starters

This can be done one of two ways: 3. ‘New Starter Creation’ via Employer Self Service (see pages 12 to 17 of the ESS

Guide). 4. Starter tab on the interface template – this is a monthly process to submit, If you

would like to sign up to this please email richard.tuck@devon.gov.uk Points to note: Multiple Contracts - Where an employee has multiple post that are separate contracts you will need to keep separate records. The exception to this is where there is a single employment relationship for example:

• Two concurrent employments - both must be terminated

• Two sequential employments without a break (i.e. promotion) In cases of multiple employments with separate contracts you will need to; -

• Keep separate data for each job

• Provide separate data for MAIN scheme and 50/50 scheme for each job

• Provide actual pensionable pay figures to include any assumed pay for each job

• Submit separate pension forms for each separate job. Opting-Out of the LGPS - Employees are automatically enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme (if eligible). Membership to the Local Government Pension Scheme is not compulsory so a member may opt-out of the pension scheme at any time (will be brought back in on the LGPS enrolment date). They are free to opt back in and out as many times as they wish. Members can obtain the opt-out form from our website. Please note you must not issue forms to the employee.

Employer Self Service (ESS) and Data Collections

As an employer in the LGPS you will need to access our Employer Self Service(ESS) facility. By signing up you will have access to our Altair database over a secure connection. ESS will allow you to:

• Advise us of new starters via an online form

• Change and update member details such as hours, changes.

• Check your employee’s records to ensure the correct data is held

• Produce your own estimates(Redundancy exercises avoid Peninsula Pensions turnaround times for ‘strain’ costs)

The system is free to use and as long as you are on our contacts lists for your organisation, you should sign up at: https://employers.peninsulapensions.org.uk/employerservicesweb/login

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 25

Annual and Monthly Data Collections There are a number of submissions that we require monthly and annually;-

• Interface Templates: It is possible to submit information to us by interface for starters, hour changes, address changes, and service breaks (as an alternative to Employer Self Service). If you would like to sign up to this please email richard.tuck@devon.gov.uk

• Care Template: Ideally a monthly submission showing cumulative CARE(actual pensionable pay) for a given year.

• Annual Return Template: This is requested from you once a year and includes employee contributions, current working hours,contributions,and full-time equivalent salary as at 31/03/XXXX. We also request CARE pay in case this has not been submitted monthly.

Provision of Data

It is important that you put processes in place to retain access to historical payroll information when you change payroll provider so that you can continue to fulfil your responsibilities as a Scheme employer.

Outsourcing of Services

If your school is converting to an Academy or moving MAT or you are outsourcing services and have a number of staff who will be subject to TUPE and moving to a new employer, please do not submit any leaver forms as this will complicate the process – instead there is a staff data capture spreadsheet you can complete on our website. For more details on what you need to do, please contact the Employer & Communications Team.

Employer Discretions

The Local Government Pension Scheme is a statutory pension scheme which means its rules are laid down under Act of Parliament. However, Scheme regulations do allow an employer certain discretions to enhance members’ benefits. All employers must have a policy on their LGPS discretions, some of which are:

• Flexible retirement

• Waiving of actuarial reductions

• Funding of additional pension through a Shared Cost Additional Pension (SCAPC) arrangement

To help you make decisions about these discretions, there is some guidance and an example template on our website

Ill Health Retirements

You must appoint an Independent Registered Medical Practitioner (IRMP) to deal with any ill health retirement applications and they need to be approved by the pension fund. Please see our Employer’s Guide for more information ill health retirement.

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 26

Complaints and Disputes

There is a two stage Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) which deals with complaints from LGPS members. If the complaint is about an employer decision, then the employer must deal with stage 1 of the IDRP and you must appoint an officer to deal with such cases. Please see our website for more information.

Strain costs

The funding of the scheme is based on all members retiring at their normal retirement age and receiving their benefits for a certain number of years, as well as a few other factors. If benefits are paid before they were expected to be paid, (before the normal pension age of the member, for example) the pension fund suffers a detriment resulting in a ‘strain’ on the pension fund. The ‘Strain Cost’ must be repaid to the pension fund either by an actuarial reduction applied to the member’s benefits for early voluntary retirement or the employer is responsible for payment in the cases of redundancy/efficiency, flexible retirement etc. We calculate the strain cost, and the cost to you as the employer depends on the member’s sex, age and service at the date of retirement. You can pay the strain cost as one lump sum immediately, or over three years including interest. If paid over three years, the first payment is due in the April after the member has left. More information can be found on our website.

Actuarial Work Required

Contribution rates and Payment of contributions Each employer within the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) must pay contributions to cover the liability for their employees and when an educational establishment decides to transfer to Academy status, it is necessary for an employer’s Local Government pension contribution rate to be assessed. The fund actuary will complete this assessment, confirming any deficit attributable to the Academy as well as the employer’s pension contribution rate using details of the transferring LGPS members. Please note that there is a charge for the new academy report and any additional work required may incur additional fees. FRS102 figures You will also be aware that at the end of August each year, you may need FRS102 figures for your accounts and this calculation needs to be done by an actuary. If the fund Actuary has provided your new academy report, then they can also provide your first FRS102 figures but there will be a charge for this work. Annual Valuation Once established, you will need an FRS102 every August as part of your statement of accounts production. There will be a standard charge to produce these reports, but additional charges may apply dependant on the number of queries raise by the Actuary. Any additional requests by the employer will attract an extra charge.

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You are free to choose any Actuary you wish to provide you with FRS102 figures. If you would like our actuaries to carry out the necessary work associated with the conversion, please let us know and we can confirm the costs involved. Please note the amount of deficit quoted in a FRS102 valuation can be higher than the 3 yearly Fund valuation as the methodology for the calculation is completed on a different basis. However, it could go the other way depending on the rate of current bond returns. Please contact the Employer and Communications Team for more details on the costs involved for any actuarial work.

Additional employer costs

If there is any information you might need that only the actuary can supply, then you will be charged for the work done. When you need to use the services of your Independent Occupational Health Medical Practitioner, then you will be charged by them. Any payments due from an employer which is paid over a month late will incur interest.

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New Town or Parish Council

Under LGPS regulations Town and Parish Councils are known as Designation Bodies (formerly Resolution Bodies) Designated Bodies include Town and Parish Councils and entities under the control of Scheduled Bodies (this includes Local Authority Companies). These employers can choose an employee or post, or a class of employees, as being eligible to join the LGPS and they must then be brought into the scheme automatically. In order to participate, you will need to pass a resolution to state that you wish to offer the LGPS as a pension scheme. The resolution will need to designate the employees to be eligible for membership and state who is permitted to join - individuals can be named although it may be advisable to use post titles instead so that a new designation is not needed each time someone leaves. The resolution would be agreed at a meeting and we will need of the minutes for our records. Any staff who are employed in each post designated within the minutes will have the option to join the LGPS and can do so by completing an opting in form available on our website. The form then needs to be sent to your payroll provider to commence the deduction of pension scheme contributions and a copy will need to be sent to us once you have submitted a Starter form. Any new staff who become later employed within those designated posts should be automatically contractually enrolled into the LGPS.

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First Priorities - What we need you to do first

1. Inform Peninsula Pensions of the date of the resolution and admission to the LGPS – please attach the copy of the minutes from your meeting.

2. Write to the eligible employees named in the resolution to advise them that they have the option to join the LGPS and provide a link to the opt-in form on our website.

3. Obtain your new employer number from Peninsula Pensions

4. Inform your payroll provider of the employer’s and employee’s contribution rates

5. Action staff elections to join the LGPS – you can backdate the commencement of membership to the date of resolution:

• Automatically contractually enroll new eligible staff into the LGPS

Please note that there are some staff who are not eligible to join the LGPS so please refer to the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’

6. Decide the percentage of pay each employee must pay into the LGPS in accordance

with the relevant bandings on our website.

7. Arrange for your employer and employee contributions to be paid to pension fund and complete the monthly contribution form and continue to do this on time each month.

• Pension scheme contributions are deducted from an employee’s actual pensionable pay in accordance with the relevant banding on our website.

• You will be notified of your contribution rate by the Scheme Actuary or Fund Investment Team in your New Employer Report

• You will also need to inform Peninsula Pensions and the Finance team each time you have made a payment, by filling in the Monthly Contributions form (see the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’)

8. Provide us with some essential information - Once your pension scheme

contributions have been arranged, we then need to complete the administration side of things to ensure we have everything we need from you and that you understand your employer responsibilities.

a) Contact details and authorised signatories - Pensions forms need to be

‘signed off’ or submitted by authorised signatories so we ask that you complete our online Employer Contact Details form as soon as possible to confirm the following:

b) Confirm Contact Details - so that we know who to contact with any queries and who will be registered as authorised contacts.

c) Confirm Authorised Delegated Contacts (if applicable) - We do not deal

directly with payroll providers, but you can delegate some or all day to day administration to them. The details authorise Peninsula Pensions to accept data and completed pensions forms directly from your payroll provider. The responsibility for the timely and accurate provision of data and contributions remains with you as the employer.

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d) Confirm Name of Payroll Provider – We would appreciate it if you could confirm your payroll provider for our records.

e) Confirm IDRP Stage 1 Appeals Officer Form - Let us know the person who is

appointed in your organisation to determine the Stage 1 Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) appeals. This is the complaints procedure for scheme members who have a grievance against their employer or the pension scheme administering authority is called the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP). You will need to nominate an appeals officer to deal with Stage 1 of the Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure (IDRP) if the complaint is against a decision that the employer has made.

f) Sign up to our employer newsletter Pensions Line – our e-zine which keeps you updated with changes to legislation and procedures along with notification of training events and any other information we think you will find useful. Please confirm the names and email addresses of anyone who needs to receive our newsletter and I will add them to our mailing list.

9. Sign up to our Employer Self Service Portal - ESS allows employers access to their

employees’ pension records over a secure web connection via our database Altair. It’s free to use and enables the employer to advise of New Starters via an online form, check employee’s records to ensure correct data held, produce your own estimates and submit Leavers forms. You will have to register to use Employer Self Service (ESS) within Altair – please click on the following link to register: https://employers.peninsulapensions.org.uk/employerservicesweb/login.

10. Confirm New Starters Once you have actioned existing employees elections to join the LGPS, you will need to complete a ‘New Starter Creation’ via Employer Self Service - there is a guide on our website to help you through this process (see pages 12 to 17).

We do have an Interface template to enable easier data exchange from your payroll systems to our Pensions database and more details can be found in the relevant section of ‘What you need to know’.

11. Formulate and publish your Employer Pensions Discretions Policy and provide a copy to Peninsula Pensions. Please see the relevant section in ‘What you need to know’.

12. Inform your members of:

• The Peninsula Pensions website which has lots of information relevant to members of the LGPS.

• Member Self Service on the Peninsula Pensions website where they can get up-to-date information on their pension.

13. Contact our Employer and Communications Team to arrange training on your responsibilities as an employer within the LGPS and what you need to do.

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Your Responsibilities

What you need to do each month:

• Automatically contractually enroll new staff into the LGPS if their post is listed within your designation (if their contract is for more than three months).

• Pay pension contributions on time and complete and return the Monthly Contributions form

• By using Peninsula Pensions approved interfaces and/or Employer Self Service portal, keep us informed of

o New Starters o Change of name o Change of hours o Unpaid or maternity leave o Strike breaks

• Keep us informed of any pensionable employees who leave or have chosen to opt out of the Local Government Pension Scheme by submitting a Leavers form via Employer Self Service (see guidance on our website)

• Provide monthly pensionable pay figures to calculate the post 2014 CARE Pension

What you need to do annually or when requested to do so:

• Attend employers’ meetings and training sessions when notified

• Ensure your pension discretions are reviewed annually and are up to date

• Send us an annual return at the end of each financial year, giving details of employee contributions paid and pensionable pay.

• Notify members of any relevant changes to pension scheme when advised by Peninsula Pensions

• Ensure appropriate action is taken when advised of new legislation or procedures

For the full list of Employer Responsibilities and information on First Instance Decisions please visit our Employers Guide on our website. For more detailed guidance on the LGPS and our procedures, please see the Employer Guide on our website.

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 32

What you need to know Automatically enrolling all eligible staff into the LGPS

Which employees are eligible to join the scheme?

• Any staff who are employed in each post designated within the minutes will have the option to join the LGPS and can do so by completing an opting in form available on our website.

• Any new staff who become later employed within those designated posts should be automatically contractually enrolled into the LGPS

• Staff who have previously opted out of the LGPS can make an election to re-join by completing the opt-in form available on our website.

Automatic enrolment is a Government initiative to help more people save for later life through a pension scheme at work. The legislation runs separately from the Local Government Pension Scheme. As an employer it is your responsibility to ensure that you are adhering to the legislation. Further guidance can be found on our website and on The Pensions Regulator website. Which employees are NOT eligible to join the scheme?

• Casual Contracts/Employee’s with contracts of less than three months - these employees have the right to opt in by completing the opt-in form available on our website. They should only be automatically entered into the scheme if:

o their contract is extended making it longer than three months o if they were then appointed to a second two-month contract they would be

brought in automatically at that point (because they’re now on a contract of three or more months).

• Any employee age 75 and over - employees cannot join or remain in the scheme after the eve of their 75th birthday.

• Employees eligible for membership of another public sector pension scheme (although there is some dual eligibility for the LGPS and the National Health Service Pension Scheme)

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 33

Deciding the employee contribution rate

It is necessary for the employer to determine which part of an employee’s pay is pensionable when deducting pension contributions in accordance with the bandings on our website – the rate of contributions a member pays is assessed on actual pensionable pay not the full-time equivalent rate of pay. Pensionable pay is the pay the member pays pension contributions on. It is all salary, wages, fees and other payments paid to the employee, and any benefit specified in the employees’ contract of employment as being pensionable. Exclusions are shown in LGPS Reg 20 (2)

Paying over Employee and Employer Pension Contributions to the relevant Pension Fund

Each employer within the LGPS must pay contributions to cover liability for their employees. Employee Pension scheme contributions are deducted from an employee’s actual pensionable pay in accordance with the relevant banding on our website. If a person opts for the 50/50 section of the scheme, the contributions they pay will be exactly half of the current rates, however, the employer contributions remain at the full rate so to cover their liabilities. Please see the Employers Guide on our website for more information on the 50/50 Section of the scheme. Employer contributions are expressed as a percentage of the member’s actual pensionable pay. The rate will change every three years following the actuarial valuation of the pension fund. You will be notified of your contribution rate by the Scheme Actuary or Fund Investment Team. Making payments It is a scheme employer’s responsibility to ensure that prompt payment of the employer and employee pension fund contributions are made to Peninsula Pensions. You will need to inform us and the Finance team each time you have made a payment: If you are a Devon Fund Employer: Please complete and submit our online Monthly Contributions Form (EAS5) - This area is password protected so the person or people who will be responsible for notification & payment of fund contributions will need to be setup with access. You will need to email gary.bidder@devon.gov.uk who will arrange for a username and password to be issued. Please refer to our instructions on how to pay scheme contributions to the Devon Pension Fund. If you are a Somerset Fund employer: Please contact the Corporate Finance Team for a copy of the Monthly Contribution Return: Corporatefinancepens@somerset.gov.uk. Please refer to our instructions on how to pay scheme contributions to the Somerset Pension Fund.

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 34

Confirming New Starters

This can be done one of two ways: 5. ‘New Starter Creation’ via Employer Self Service (see pages 12 to 17 of the ESS

Guide). 6. Starter tab on the interface template – this is a monthly process to submit, If you

would like to sign up to this please email richard.tuck@devon.gov.uk Points to note: Multiple Contracts - Where an employee has multiple post that are separate contracts you will need to keep separate records. The exception to this is where there is a single employment relationship for example:

• Two concurrent employments - both must be terminated

• Two sequential employments without a break (i.e. promotion) In cases of multiple employments with separate contracts you will need to; -

• Keep separate data for each job

• Provide separate data for MAIN scheme and 50/50 scheme for each job

• Provide actual pensionable pay figures to include any assumed pay for each job

• Submit separate pension forms for each separate job. Opting-Out of the LGPS - Employees are automatically enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme (if eligible). Membership to the Local Government Pension Scheme is not compulsory so a member may opt-out of the pension scheme at any time (will be brought back in on the LGPS enrolment date). They are free to opt back in and out as many times as they wish. Members can obtain the opt-out form from our website. Please note you must not issue forms to the employee.

Employer Self Service (ESS) and Data Collections

As an employer in the LGPS you will need to access our Employer Self Service(ESS) facility. By signing up you will have access to our Altair database over a secure connection. ESS will allow you to;-

• Advise us of new starters via an online form

• Change and update member details such as hours, changes.

• Check your employee’s records to ensure the correct data is held

• Produce your own estimates(Redundancy exercises avoid Peninsula Pensions turnaround times for ‘strain’ costs)

The system is free to use and as long as you are on our contacts lists for your organisation, you should sign up at : https://employers.peninsulapensions.org.uk/employerservicesweb/login

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 35

Annual and Monthly Data Collections There are a number of submissions that we require monthly and annually;-

• Interface Templates: It is possible to submit information to us by interface for starters, hour changes, address changes, and service breaks (as an alternative to Employer Self Service). If you would like to sign up to this please email richard.tuck@devon.gov.uk

• Care Template: Ideally a monthly submission showing cumulative CARE(actual pensionable pay) for a given year.

• Annual Return Template: This is requested from you once a year and includes employee contributions, current working hours,contributions,and full-time equivalent salary as at 31/03/XXXX. We also request CARE pay in case this has not been submitted monthly.

Provision of Data

It is important that you put processes in place to retain access to historical payroll information when you change payroll provider so that you can continue to fulfil your responsibilities as a Scheme employer.

Outsourcing of Services

If you are outsourcing services and have a number of staff who will be subject to TUPE and moving to a new employer, please do not submit any leaver forms as this will complicate the process – instead there is a staff data capture spreadsheet you can complete on our website. For more details on what you need to do, please contact the Employer & Communications Team.

Employer Discretions

The Local Government Pension Scheme is a statutory pension scheme which means its rules are laid down under Act of Parliament. However, Scheme regulations do allow an employer certain discretions to enhance members’ benefits. All employers must have a policy on their LGPS discretions, some of which are:

• Flexible retirement

• Waiving of actuarial reductions

• Funding of additional pension through a Shared Cost Additional Pension (SCAPC) arrangement

To help you make decisions about these discretions, there is some guidance and an example template on our website

Ill Health Retirements

You must appoint an Independent Registered Medical Practitioner (IRMP) to deal with any ill health retirement applications and they need to be approved by the pension fund. Please see our Employer’s Guide for more information ill health retirement.

PP New Employer Welcome Guide (Version 1 - April 2020) Page 36

Complaints and Disputes

There is a two stage Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) which deals with complaints from LGPS members. If the complaint is about an employer decision, then the employer must deal with stage 1 of the IDRP and you must appoint an officer to deal with such cases. Please see our website for more information.

Strain costs

The funding of the scheme is based on all members retiring at their normal retirement age and receiving their benefits for a certain number of years, as well as a few other factors. If benefits are paid before they were expected to be paid, (before the normal pension age of the member, for example) the pension fund suffers a detriment resulting in a ‘strain’ on the pension fund. The ‘Strain Cost’ must be repaid to the pension fund either by an actuarial reduction applied to the member’s benefits for early voluntary retirement or the employer is responsible for payment in the cases of redundancy/efficiency, flexible retirement etc. We calculate the strain cost, and the cost to you as the employer depends on the member’s sex, age and service at the date of retirement. You can pay the strain cost as one lump sum immediately, or over three years including interest. If paid over three years, the first payment is due in the April after the member has left. More information can be found on our website.

Additional employer costs

If there is any information you might need that only the actuary can supply, then you will be charged for the work done. When you need to use the services of your Independent Occupational Health Medical Practitioner, then you will be charged by them. Any payments due from an employer which is paid over a month late will incur interest.

Exiting the Fund

You need to be aware that, when there are no active members in the scheme, you may find yourself responsible for a ‘termination deficit’. A ‘termination valuation’ is carried out by the Fund actuary and is a regulatory requirement. Any deficit identified must be made good by the employer concerned and will fall due immediately if the Council has repealed its resolution to offer the LGPS to its employees. In addition, any legal or actuary costs incurred by the termination will be passed to the employer. However, it is possible to defer the ‘termination’ if the last member leaves the scheme, but the Town or Parish Council is intending to offer the scheme to a new employee. More information on this matter will be provided on request.

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We are here to help you

For more detailed guidance on the LGPS and the procedures you need to follow, please visit our website and have a look at our Employers Guide Website: https://www.peninsulapensions.org.uk/lgps-employer/ We also have a dedicated Employer & Communications Team who will work with you to ensure the best possible service for all your LGPS staff by providing guidance, support and training to you. Please contact the Employer & Communications Team direct via email: peninsulaemployers@devon.gov.uk You can contact our Employer Liaison Officer to arrange training on your responsibilities as an employer within the LGPS and what you need to do: Mark Griffin Employer Liaison Officer Tel: 01392 385372 Email: mark.griffin@devon.gov.uk

Peninsula Pensions Employer Team

Shirley Cuthbert – Employer & Communications Manager Emma Davies – Senior Employer Liaison Officer Mark Griffin – Employer Liaison Officer Beverly McCarthy - Employer & Communications Team Pensions Assistant Molly Milkins - Pensions Apprentice - Employer & Communications