Audience: This Notice will be of particular interest to: HR staff who plan to run or arrange pre-retirement seminars for members of the Civil Service pension arrangements who are approaching pension age or who are thinking about retiring.
Action:
Timing: Immediate
Chapter 7.1 of the Employers’ Pension Guide says that employers should invite members of the Civil Service pension arrangements to a pre-retirement course. We have provided a presentation on the Civil Service pension arrangements to be used in your seminars. The presentation and handouts have now been updated and are available on the Civil Service Pensions website.
The material is designed to help you inform members retiring or thinking about retiring. The material does not cover partnership as members have direct contact with their particular pension provider. If you receive enquiries from members in the partnership scheme, you must advise them to contact their pension provider. The information in the material is current at the time of distribution and will be updated as new legislation or changes occur.
• PowerPoint slide presentation entitled “Thinking about retirement.”
• Handouts to give to members
• Useful contacts list
• Thinking about retirement booklet
The PowerPoint presentation is self explanatory and there are speaker notes accompanying some slides. Although designed for PowerPoint presentations, you can of course print off the material if you do not have access to a projector.
The handouts are much more detailed and give comprehensive information on the retirement process. You will need to add the name and address of your APAC to the handouts.
When you, or your training provider, are ready to run a seminar we strongly advise you to visit our website and download the PowerPoint presentation to ensure you have the most up to date version. To download, right click the mouse and use the “save as” option. You will need to print off the handouts and the contacts list to give to those members who are attending. You will need to add your APACs name and contact details to the last page of the handouts. (We suggest that the handouts are given out to members before the seminar.) We have tailored the speaker notes so that the person who delivers the presentation does not need to have a pensions background. The presentation takes around 45 minutes.
We suggest that the speaker reads the member handouts before delivering the presentation so that they are aware of the content. The speaker should not attempt to answer any pensions questions that are not covered by the material. The speaker should recommend members to contact their APAC unless, of course, you have someone from your APAC delivering the presentation.
Most importantly, the presenter must not give advice which might influence or lead a member to making a decision on their pension benefits options.
If you do not have access to our website please contact the Employer Helpdesk (details below) so that we can discuss suitable alternative formats.
Consultation
We are grateful to the various employers, APACs and members who have helped us update this material. If, after running your own seminar, you have further comments or suggestions to make, then please do not hesitate to give your feedback to us. Details of how to contact us are below.
Contacts
Enquiries about content, distribution or to receive in a different format
employerhelpdesk@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk
01256 846414
Employer Helpdesk
Civil Service Pensions
Grosvenor House
Basing View
Basingstoke
RG21 4HG