Employer newsletter - May 2023

Due to changes being made by the government, which we have no control over, for the time being we have been advised to suspend certain transfer calculations. If you receive any questions from employees, please direct them here:

Important information about pension transfers & divorce | East Sussex Pension Fund

 

We have recently updated the HR and payroll guides to reflect the annual updates for 2023/24.

HR guide - This guide sets out the requirements for Human Resource (HR) departments of employers who provide the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales.

The guide provides information about the responsibilities and duties that an employer participating in the LGPS must undertake, as well as the minimum information an employer needs to supply to the relevant LGPS administering authority to enable them to administer the LGPS effectively. This guide is provided in addition to, and does not replace, any requirements agreed with the LGPS administering authority.

Access HR Guide here

Payroll guide - This guide sets out the requirements for payrolls in respect of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) 2014, effective from 1 April 2014. The guide only covers employees in the LGPS in England and Wales.

Access Payroll Guide here

The Local Government Association have scheduled Employer Role training dates for 2023. 

The course is based on the scheme rules for the LGPS in England and Wales. The training will be run via teams.

Course overview:

• Brief overview of the LGPS
• Joining the LGPS
• CARE vs Final Pay
• Absences
• Additional Contributions
• All types of retirement
• Early leavers
• Other areas for consideration - including employer discretions, maximising tax-free cash, internal dispute resolution procedures (IDRP).

Cost - £240 plus VAT

These events are now live on the LGA website (restricted to a maximum of 15 attendees per course). This is a live site and bookings are on a first come, first served basis.

For your ease of reference each date has a link attached to the direct booking page:

Date	Type of training	Location
30 May 2023	Online	Teams
1 June 2023	Online	Teams
20 June 2023	In person	London
31 August 2023	Online	Teams
26 September 2023	Online	Teams
24 October 2023	Online	Teams
7 November 2023	Online	Teams

The Local Government Pension Scheme has just published a handy set of questions and answers related to backdated pay awards and the impact this has on pensions. A backdated pay award occurs when a pay increase is agreed after the date the new rate of pay should have been paid from. Backdated pay may affect your monthly i-Connect files so please contact [email protected] if you need any support.

Access backdated pay awards questions and answers here

A strain on the Fund arises when a member retires earlier than planned without any reduction being applied to their benefits to reflect early payment (for example redundancies for employees aged 55 and above). The normal pension age for all members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is currently aligned to the members State Pension Age. Under Regulation 68, the Administering Authority may require a Scheme employer to make additional payments in respect of benefits becoming payable immediately to its employees without any reduction.

Please contact the Employer Engagement Team if you need any support.

[email protected]

The East Sussex Pension Fund three-year valuation process is now finalised.

As a reminder the total employer contribution rates payable for 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 are shown in the Valuation report below (pages 35 to 42).

Click here to access the valuation report

The East Sussex Pension Fund recently asked employers for their views on the following policy items:

1. Pension Administration Strategy (PAS).
2. Deferred Debt and Debt spreading agreement Policies.
3. Contribution Policy.
4. Cessation Methodology defined in the Funding Strategy Statement (FSS)

The window for comments closed on the 5 May 2023. We will now collate these comments and consider if we need to make any alterations. The policies will then go to future Board and Committee meetings for approval.