clear

New Employee and Scheme Member

Find out what you need to do when someone joins the LGPS

New Employee and Scheme Member

Any person you appoint to a role may have the right to join the Local Government Pension Scheme depending on what type of employer you are:

  • Scheduled bodies

    These are:

    • county councils and district councils
    • police and crime commissioners or chief constables and
    • academies, universities, free schools and studio schools

    If an employee’s contract is for 3 or more months they have a right to join, so automatic entry.

    If an employee’s contract is for less than three months they have a right to join by only by election.

  • Designating bodies

    These are town and parish councils. The employer chooses who can join.

    If an employee’s contract is for 3 or more months they have automatic entry if eligible.

    If an employee’s contract is for less than three months they will need to elect to join.

  • Admission body (open arrangement)

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

    Housing associations and charities, for example, can arrange a legal admission agreement with Peninsula Pensions. The employer chooses who can join.

    If an employee’s contract is for 3 or more months they have automatic entry if eligible.

    If an employers contract is for less than three months an employee needs to elect to join.

  • Admission body (closed arrangement)

    Private employers can arrange a legal admission agreement with Peninsula Pensions.

    Employees have no right to membership as only employee’s listed in agreement can join.

    For more information on the different types of employer, please refer to our guide for new employers.

  • Which employees are not eligible to join the scheme?
    • Casual employees with contracts of less than three months – these employees have the right to opt-in by completing the opt-in form. They should only be automatically entered into the scheme if:
      • their contract is extended making it longer than three months
      • 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
    • Councillors – From 1 April 2014 access to the LGPS was removed for councillors or elected mayors of English county councils, district councils or London borough councils. For more information regarding this decision and a full guide, please contact the Employer & Communications Team.
  • What you need to do
    • When you appoint a new employee and they are eligible to join the Scheme, you must inform them that they will automatically become a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme from either the date of appointment or the date they become eligible to be a member and you must do this within one month.  Please share the link to the Members pages on our website with your new employees
    • If you administer your own payroll you will need to determine the employee contribution rate in accordance with salary bandings for each post (see member contributions section)
    • If you administer your own payroll you will need to determine the employee contribution rate in accordance with salary bandings for each post (see member contributions section)
    • Deduct contributions and submit both employee and employer contributions to the pension fund. Deadlines are different for both Devon and Somerset fund and full details can be found on our employer’s guidance page – notification of amounts must be sent to Pensions and the relevant finance team each month so that the payments can be reconciled.
    • Notify us of the new starter via the monthly interfaces.
    • Notify us of the actual pensionable pay (CARE) monthly using the interface. You can find out information on the monthly interfaces here.

    • Auto Enrolment

    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.

  • Automatic enrolment

    The LGPS Pension Scheme regulations already cover contractual automatic enrolment:

    • All eligible employees under the age of 75 are contractually enrolled into the LGPS on appointment unless their contract of employment is for less than three months
    • Employees with a contract of employment for less than three months will not be contractually enrolled but will be automatically enrolled if they are an eligible job holder
    • Opted out members will be brought back into the LGPS during the re-enrolment process three-year cycle

    What you need to do

    • It is your responsibility to ensure that you are adhering to the legislation.

    For more information, please refer to our guidance on automatic enrolment and on the Local Government Pension Scheme website.

    • Local Authority Officers

    All Local Authorities are required to employee a Returning Officer who officiates at elections. See below for the different type of elections:

  • Different types of elections

    Parliamentary Election – County or Local or District Returning Officer

    European Election – Regional Returning Officer and Local Returning Officer

    Country Election – County Returning Officer

    District or Local Election – District or Local Returning Officer

    Town and Parish Election – District or Local Returning Officer

    Police and Crime Commissioner Election – See section on Non-Pensionable fees below

    EU Referendum – See section on Non-Pensionable fees below

    To Note: Unitary Councils do not have County Council elections but instead have local elections where their Local Returning Officer officiates.

    Returning Officer Employment

    The role of Returning Officer is usually carried out by a senior officer of that local authority (Chief Solicitor, Chief Executive for example). Regulations state that it should be treated as a separate employment which means the role has a separate pension record and accrues separate benefits to the officer main role in that local authority.

    For European elections there are 2 types of Returning Officer’s:

    • the Regional Returning Officer who acts for the whole region i.e. South West
    • a Local Returning Officer usually at District or Unitary level

    Both these types of Returning Officers receive their own fees which are pensionable in the LGPS.

    Pension Contributions

    Only the fees paid to a Returning Officer or Acting Returning Officer are pensionable. All other payments to a Deputy Returning Officer or election staff are not pensionable. However, the Returning Officer can opt out of paying pension contributions in this role if they wish.

    Pre 2014 Pension Benefits

    The pay used in the calculation of the pre 2014 pension benefits is based on:

    • the highest 3-year consecutive average pensionable pay in the total employment period ending on the anniversary of leaving date; or
    • with the employers consent, any 3-year consecutive average pensionable pay as at 31 March within 10 years of leaving.

    When a person’s total period of membership is less than 3 years, the average is to be done by that lesser period.

    Post 2014 Pension Benefits

    The pay used in the calculation of post 2014 benefits is based on the member’s actual pensionable pay in a scheme year.

    Non-Pensionable Fees

    • The fees paid to the Police Area Returning Officer or any other Returning Officer for a Police and Crime Commissioner election are not pensionable
    • The fees paid to the Returning Officer Chief Counting Officer, Regional Counting Officer or Counting Officer in respect of a referendum (local, regional, national or EU) are not pensionable
  • Returning Officers Employment

    The role of Returning Officer is usually carried out by a senior officer of that local authority (Chief Solicitor, Chief Executive for example). Regulations state that it should be treated as a separate employment which means the role has a separate pension record and accrues separate benefits to the officer main role in that local authority.

    For European elections there are 2 types of Returning Officer’s:

    • the Regional Returning Officer who acts for the whole region i.e. South West
    • a Local Returning Officer usually at District or Unitary level

    Both these types of Returning Officers receive their own fees which are pensionable in the LGPS

  • What you need to do
    • Keep this role separate from the main role
    • Assess the pension banding applicable to this role separately from the officer’s main job
    • Deduct pension contributions accordingly and pay both employee and employer contributions to the relevant fund
    • Notify us of the new post using the starter tab on the monthly interface.
    • Provide details of the Returning Officers pensionable pay separately from their main job as and when they receive it
    • Keep us updated with any change in officer via email to the Employer and Communications Team mailbox.

    • Pension Contributions

  • Contribution rates

    Deciding the employee contribution rate

    You need to determine which part of an employee’s pay is pensionable when deducting pension contributions. 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) .

    More information on how to allocate employees to bands can be found in the LGPS payroll guide (section 5.2).

    If an employee wishes to join the 50/50 pension scheme the contribution is half of the main scheme rate. The employer contribution rate remains the same to cover their liabilities.

    The rate of contribution that a member pays to the LGPS is based on the actual pensionable pay they receive and is decided by a group of bandings which change annually.

    Please see the Your Contributions page for the current bandings.

    Employer Contribution Rates

    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. The Fund’s Investment Team will inform you of the correct contribution rate you will need to apply following an actuarial valuation and provide a copy of the actuary’s report. The report also sets out the secondary contributions required to cover any deficit – this is shown as a second percentage rate for the Somerset Fund and a separate monetary value for the Devon Fund.

  • Paying over Pension Contributions to the relevant pension fund

    Paying over Pension Contributions to the relevant Pension Fund

    It is your 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:

  • What you need to do
    • Decide the contribution rate, for each job the member holds by estimating the actual annual pay earned at the date of joining or on 1st April each year and which section of the pension scheme they are joining (main scheme or 50/50 scheme)
    • Decide on how and when an employees pay banding is assessed i.e. Annually, on pay change, overtime average etc. The rate may be adjusted during the year or in April of the following year
    • Inform the member in writing which band they have been allocated each year and inform them of the appeals procedure
    • Pay over pension contribution to the relevant Pension Fund promptly and complete the monthly contributions form each time you make a payment
    • Any reductions in pensionable pay due to sickness, child related leave, reserve forces leave, or other absence from work are to be disregarded when reviewing/assessing the appropriate band/contribution rate
    • As the contribution bands are reviewed on 1 April each year, you will need to review each employee’s position on that date and reattribute as necessary
    • If the employee has a reduction in pay they will continue to pay contributions on the amount of pensionable pay received (if any) except in the case of employees on reserve forces leave
    • If a member has more than one job, each pensionable pay is assessed separately for contribution banding which means a member could pay different percentages in each employment
    • Further information can be found within the Pensionable Pay page on our website.

    • Pensionable Pay and Cumulative Pensionable Pay

    The definition of pensionable pay is very simply, any pay the member actually receives. This includes non-contractual overtime or payment for additional hours.

    Cumulative pensionable pay is the total of the ‘career average pensionable pay’ and/or the ‘assumed pensionable pay’ in either the Main or 50/50 section of the Scheme in the scheme year.

    More information on these can be found within the Pensionable Pay page

Supported by


Top