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Admission Procedure using the Online Joiner Form
"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". This booklet applies 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 and the online joiner form 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" and the online joiner form completed.
Membership
This will only be recorded when the details from the online joiner form are received at the LPFA. Please ensure that it contains accurate information, as it becomes the basis upon which the individual's entitlements are determined. When completing the online 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 online form is completed within one month of the day from which an employee's contributions commence.
Completing the Online Joiner Form
After logging on to the secure section of the website www.yourfund.org.uk, go to the online forms home section and click on the new joiner link. This will immediately take you to the first of the input screens for informing us of a new joiner. The procedure for completing this is as follows (please note that all dates must be entered in the format DD/MM/YYYY):
- NI Number: Please input the member's correct National Insurance number and NOT a temporary number. Remember to confirm that the member has a contract of employment lasting at least three months; if this is not the case, the member is not entitled to join the pension scheme.
- Personal Details: Please input all personal and contact details for the member so that records will be complete.
- Job details: A job title is not compulsory but if the member has more than one employment with you, please differentiate between them with a job description. The field "Date of joining scheme" automatically inputs the same date input for "Date joined employer", however this can be overwritten if the dates are different.
- Hours and weeks worked (always in the format 00.00): If the employee is full-time, working all year round please complete the "Contract Hours" and "Contract Weeks" fields only (e.g. 35.00 and 52.14). If the member is part-time or works term-time only, please ensure that you also complete the "FTE Hours" and the "FTE Weeks" fields with what constitutes your full time equivalents. For a variable-time employee, please use average weekly hours; the system is unable to accept the annualised hours.
- Pay Details: Please input the full annual pensionable pay rate that the member will have contributions deducted from in the format 00000.00. If the member is part-time, please show both the part-time and full-time equivalent rates.
Once all the information has been correctly entered, click on submit; this will register the information with us and produce a reference number for the details submitted which should be kept for your records. Previously submitted forms can be searched for using the reference number or the member's NI number.
Confirmation of Admission to the Pension Scheme
Within 10 working days of the completion of the online joiner, 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 the completion of the online joiner, please contact the LPFA.
Along with the statutory notification, a form will be sent to the member 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.
Date of Birth
An employee's date of birth must be verified before any transfers of previous pension rights can be made, or any benefits paid. The member's birth certificate will be requested when we send them confirmation of their membership.
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.