Please allow at least 6 weeks for us to calculate and verify benefits
Internal disputes procedure
To make a complaint the individual should contact the Pensions Section, where they will look to clarify or put right any misunderstandings. If the individual is still dissatisfied with any decision, they will be given a leaflet and complaint form marked with the name and address of that employers own ‘specified person’ (known as the Stage 1 appeal)
The complaint must be directed to the ‘specified person’ within 6 months of the notification of the disputed decision, who will consider the case. If the individual remains dissatisfied with the decision made at Stage 1, then within 6 months of that decision the individual may apply to Leicestershire County Council to have the decision re-considered (known as the Stage 2 appeal).
Outsourcing Payroll or Human Resources functions
Please be aware that there are requirements which an in house or external provider would need to carry out on behalf of your members. Please give prior consideration to the area of Pensions Administration when taking these important decisions.
This work is currently carried out by staff of your main Payroll Section or the Pensions Section on your behalf. This work would therefore fall upon the employer from that point onwards.
Please be aware that the ultimate responsibility for the provision and verification of information to the Pensions Section and employees resides with the Employer or school. Any enquiries will be directed to the employer or school and not a third party contractor.
The Pensions Office can give advice on changing payroll advisor, please contact us using our online form:
Requirements in a valuation year
Note for Payroll Sections: The Pension Fund undertakes a major Fund Valuation on a tri-annual basis. This essentially means that the value of the fund is assessed with regards to its current liabilities. The results of this will determine the employer’s contribution rates for the next valuation period.
During an assessment year the timescales for updating pension records with end of year contribution amounts and numbers of hours worked for variable time staff are much tighter. Annual contribution returns and hours prints, which are normally requested at the beginning of the financial year, will be requested much earlier. The Pension Section will advise staff of the deadlines for receiving this data. There will usually be follow up queries and your patience and co-operation is appreciated, as we endeavour to balance any queries that there may be during specific timescales.
Discretions on which employers must make policies
All scheme employers are statutorily required to publish their policy on 5 different discretions and these are attached, in addition we have included a further 5 discretions where there is no requirement to publish, but it is recommended that they are set out. (There are many other policies that exist, however the rest of these have been made on your behalf by the administering authority).
These policies can be revised and reviewed in the future if the policy is no longer functioning successfully. The areas for a decision are:
- Facility to award additional pension
- Funding of additional pension contributions
- Flexible retirement policy
- Switching on the rule of 85
- Waiving of actuarial reductions
As well as (non-published):
- Shared cost AVC facility
- Election to transfer benefits into the fund within 12 months
- Election to combine pensions within 12 months
- Allocation of Contribution bands
- Assumed pensionable pay methodology
A policy decision on these matters is required to be passed by an employer’s decision making body/panel/delegated individual. A policy document should be produced internally which works as a declaration of intent, and also a working guide so that those administrating the policy within your organisation can follow clear administrative and policy guidelines in carrying the policy. The policy statements, once adopted should be available to pension scheme members.
Discretionary policies are those aspects of the LGPS which are optional, so each Employer must make their own decision as to whether to adopt none, one, some, or all. These decisions need to be made no matter how many employees are in the scheme. They should be fair and equitable.
National guidance is available, see LGPS national guidance for employers setting Discretionary Policies
Making changes to a policy statement as an employer
If an employer decides to change a policy statement (through its appropriate processes), the LGPS rules specify that the Leicestershire County Council Pension Section must be informed of the new policy within one month of the decision. The employer should also publicise the change to members.
Selecting an Independent Registered Medical Practitioner (IRMP)
Each employer must make sure that any medical advisor that they use for ill health retirement referrals has the required qualifications to act as their IRMP. The Pensions Office keeps a record of IRMPs used by our employers. If you wish to change or add an IRMP please check with the Pensions Office to see if that doctor is already used by another employer and is known to us. If they are not known to us you’ll need to submit their name and qualifications to the Leicestershire County Council Pension Fund, along with a scanned copy of their signature. Please contact us using our online enquiry form.
An Independent registered medical practitioner qualified in occupational health medicine (IRMP) means:
- holding a diploma in occupational medicine (D Occ Med) or an equivalent qualification issued by a competent authority in an EEA State; and for the purposes of this definition, “competent authority” has the meaning given by section 55(1) of the Medical Act 1983
Or
- being an Associate, a Member or a Fellow of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine or an equivalent institution of an EEA State.
The medical advisor must be ‘independent’. The practitioner must not be open to the criticism of acting as the employer’s representative or be concerned with the current treatment of the employee, e.g. the employee’s GP or a treating specialist who may otherwise be placed in a position of conflict of interest.
Also, a doctor cannot be asked to certify an ill health retirement in a case that he/she has already been involved in. It is for this second reason that an employer may wish to choose from a pool of approved and independent advisor's.
Requesting an estimate for an employee for the cost of the early release pension
It’s not recommended that employers calculate capital costs or estimates for their employees. There may be previous pensionable service or other details of which you might not be aware.
Please not that any information relating to the member’s own pension will not be passed to a third party without their written authorisation.
However details relating to costs which an employer might be expected to pay can be provided.
Should you wish a statement to be sent direct to the member please confirm their current home address.
Applications should be made to the Pension Section in writing – either by post, or email.
Any employers requiring capitalised cost estimates should make their requests as early as possible in order to ensure a reasonable response time. In order to ensure that delays are kept to a minimum, please ensure that the following data is always supplied with your request:
- The estimated date of leaving
- The reason for leaving e.g. redundancy
And for employees who are not on the Leicestershire County Council payroll database:
- A pensionable pay figure based on the period 1 April to the date of leaving
- A whole time equivalent final pay figure based on the 12 months prior to the date of leaving
Estimates cannot be calculated without the information being provided in all cases.
The relevant pensionable pay figures can be obtained from your payroll officer.
Please make sure your estimate is necessary. If a second estimate is requested for a date not long after the first (i.e. a couple of months) the difference in cost will be small, and a second calculation is unlikely to be forthcoming.
Pension presentations
Pensions staff are available to give talks on the following topics:
- General overview of the scheme
- Information for non-scheme members
- Groups of scheme members who are affected by a specific set of circumstances e.g. redundancy
Groups of at least 20 are requested. Please contact us using our online enquiry form.
Tracing an employee’s pension rights
The Pension Tracing Service holds details of pension schemes, including the LGPS, together with relevant contact addresses. It provides a tracing service for ex-members of schemes with pension entitlements (and their dependants), who have lost touch with previous employers. All occupational and personal pension schemes have to register if the pension scheme has current members contributing into their scheme or people expecting benefits from the scheme. If an employee needs to use this tracing service please visit their website for more information