Admission Procedure

"A Brief Guide to your Pension Scheme"

An outline of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the alternatives available are contained in the booklet "A Brief Guide to your Pension Scheme". The form LG/1 should be completed by all employees entitled to join the Scheme and forwarded to the LPFA, once you have completed Part C, whether the employee has elected to join the Scheme or not.

This booklet and form apply to both new employees and existing employees who now wish to join the Scheme.

New Employees

When offering an employment to a person, if you are a scheme employer, please ensure that a copy of "A Brief Guide to your Pension Scheme" is issued at the same time. If you are an admission body "A Brief Guide to your Pension Scheme" should only be given to those employees who are in a class of employees which is designated in the admission agreement as being eligible for membership of the Scheme. This will ensure that any option the employee may wish to make is taken into account when making the first payment of salary/wages. It should be borne in mind that all employees of a scheme employer (who have a contract for at least three months) must be brought into the Scheme immediately, even if form LG/1 has not been completed, unless a positive election not to be admitted has been received in writing. You should retain the employee's written election on your personnel file in case of future disputes and forward a copy to the LPFA.

Existing Employees

Any existing employee who is not a member of the Scheme but who subsequently asks to join should also be given "A Brief Guide to your Pension Scheme" together with form LG/1.

Membership

This will only be recorded when we receive form LG/1 at the LPFA. Please ensure that it is clearly and neatly written, as it becomes the basis upon which the individual's entitlements are determined. When completing the form it may help you to refer to the previous section on eligibility for admission to the Scheme.

If you have doubts as to whether an employee may be eligible, please contact the LPFA with your query.

It is important that the LPFA receive a form LG/1 within one month of the day from which an employee's contributions commence. If for some reason the full details cannot immediately be completed, a form clearly marked ADVANCE COPY at the top should be sent within one month giving as much information as is available followed by a fully completed LG/1 as soon as possible.

Date of Birth

An employee's date of birth must be verified and an original birth certificate should be attached to the LG/1.

If this would delay the submission of the form, the form should be marked BIRTH CERTIFICATE TO FOLLOW and the original birth certificate should be sent as soon as possible afterwards. If there is any difficulty in obtaining a birth certificate, a note of the position should be attached to the LG/1. Individuals should be advised that no payments can be made from the Fund until their date of birth is verified. Unless verification is supplied, a delay in their future receipt of benefits will occur.

Confirmation of Admission to the Pension Scheme

Within 10 working days of receiving the LG/1, the LPFA will send a statement (a statutory notification) direct to the employee. In sending this to the employee we will be giving him formal notification that he is an active member and confirming his contribution rate.

At the same time the LPFA will send you a copy of the individual's formal notification of admission to the Scheme for your own records. You should keep this copy for at least one year after the employee ceases to be employed by you.

Should this document not be received within two months of despatch of the LG/1 please contact the LPFA.

If, as a result of a transfer value payment from a previous employer, an active member receives a membership credit, a further notice of entitlement will be sent to the employee and copied to you for your records. This may be some weeks or months after the notice of admission to the Scheme.

Contributions

Where the employee is an active member you must initiate appropriate deductions within your payroll system.

The rate is dependent on the employee's pensionable pay at the commencement of his membership and employees are to have deductions made according to the following table for the year 2012/2013 (effective from 1st April):

Pay Range	Contribution Rate
£0-13,500	5.5%
£13,501 - £15,800	5.8%
£15,801 - £20,400	5.9%
£20,401 - £34,000	6.5%
£34,001 – £45,500	6.8%
£45,501 - £85,300	7.2%
>£85,300	7.5%

Scheme employers will be notified at the end of each year of the up-rated pay ranges to apply for the following year.

With regards to part-time employees, the pensionable pay to be used is the full-time equivalent pensionable pay (i.e. the pensionable pay received by a full-time employee doing the same job). No adjustment is made for term-time only employees (i.e. an employee who only works during school term time) except in the case of part-time term-time only employees (i.e. an employee who only works during school term time) where the pensionable pay to be used is equal to that which would have been received if the employee was full-time during those term-time weeks.

Contributions are payable against Gross Taxable Pay. Net Pay arrangements operate so that the contributions are deducted from the gross pay before tax is levied.

Back-dating Entry

Please refer cases to the LPFA if this becomes a factor.

Previous Pension Rights

If the completed form LG/1 indicates that the employee would like us to investigate a possible transfer of pension benefits, the necessary investigation will be made by the LPFA.

It is important that active members are properly advised about their rights on transfers from other employments. This information is given to new and prospective employees in "A Brief Guide to your Pension Scheme" and further information will be sent to the active member before they are finally asked to agree to the transfer.

Should you or an employee require further advice, the relevant facts should be given, preferably in writing, to the LPFA.

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