EPN452 - Civil Service Pension Scheme

Date posted: 03/03/2016

*Please note: A revised version of EPN452 is available here*

Audience:

This Notice is for staff involved in the preparation of Remuneration Reports in resource accounts. It will be of particular interest to:

Finance Directors and Managers; and
Pension Leads

Action:

Note the guidance on disclosure of salary, pension and compensation information in the new Section 13 of the Employer Pension Guide (this EPN highlights what information is new and encloses copies of the relevant annexes).
Complete Annex 13A of the Employer Pension Guide and send it to the scheme administrator, MyCSP, to obtain pension information on staff covered by the Remuneration Report.
Complete Annex 13B of the Employer Pension Guide and send it to RPMI (the administrator of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund) to obtain pension information on Ministers covered by the Remuneration Report.
Note the example Remuneration Report in Annex 13C of the Employer Pension Guide.
Send the notice in Annex 13D of the Employer Pension Guide to all staff covered by the Remuneration Report.

Timing:

Immediate - you must carry out the actions above as soon as possible

Detail

Resource accounts of organisations covered by the Civil Service pension arrangements must include a Remuneration Report which contains information about the salary and pension packages of Ministers and the senior management team.
EPN444 gave advance warning of the information that you will need to supply to MyCSP to enable them to provide pension information for your Remuneration Report. This EPN provides further details of what you need to do.

What to do with the new section and annexes of the Employer Pension Guide, enclosed in this EPN

Guidance on disclosure of salary, pension and compensation information (Section 13)

Section 13 of the Employer Pension Guide explains what should be included in the Remuneration Report, and includes guidance on:

what disclosure is and who is subject to it
the different elements of remuneration which are reported
partial retirement
compensation and compromise agreements
individuals who have not been in post a whole year
partnership pension accounts
reporting on departmental staff generally
ill health retirements.

Please note that the Section 13 guidance includes new guidance on alpha.

Request to MyCSP for pension information on senior officials (Annex 13A)

You are responsible for identifying the individuals to be included in your Remuneration Report and for requesting pension information. You should complete Annex 13A and return it to MyCSP as soon as possible. You will need to contact your payroll provider to obtain some of the information that you need to give MyCSP. (Unlike last year, you will not need to include figures from last year’s exercise). MyCSP will not be able to provide you with pension information unless you have completed Annex 13A fully and accurately.
Please email your completed Annex 13A to:

resourceaccounts2016@mycsp.co.uk
Please note that MyCSP cannot provide any pension information until they have received and processed the interface from your March payroll. MyCSP will provide you with the pension information within 25 days of your interface being processed, unless you have provided MyCSP with details of the timetable for producing your accounts and a different date has been agreed.
MyCSP will not insert the pension information in Annex 13A and return it to you. To reduce the risk of transcribing errors, they will instead send you the results (both inputs and outputs) from the calculator they use to produce the information. This includes all the pension figures you need for the Remuneration Report.
Please send all questions and update requests to the above email address and, unless the issue is particularly complex, MyCSP will answer all these within 7 days. If you have an urgent enquiry and you need to speak to the MyCSP team directly, you can contact:

Julie McComish (01903 760068)
Nadine Caliste (01903 760324)

Request to RPMI for pension information on Ministers (ANNEX 13B)

Civil Service Departments who need information about their Ministers should complete Annex 13B and send it to RPMI (the administrators for the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund).

Example Remuneration Report (Annex 13C)

The example Remuneration Report shows how pay, pension and compensation information is presented. Apart from figures and dates being updated, the only changes are to the narratives on Ministerial pensions at page 4 and on Civil Service pensions at pages 5 and 6 (including information about alpha).

Note to senior staff covered by Remuneration Report (Annex 13D)

Please issue the note at Annex 13D to all staff who will be included in the Remuneration Report to give them advance warning of the exercise. Once you have obtained all the necessary figures, you should provide the staff in question with details of what you propose to publish and invite them to correct any factual errors.

Figures that will be used by MyCSP this year

When calculating the real increase in CETV and the pension benefits accrued during the year 2015-16 for the single total figure of remuneration, MyCSP takes account of inflation. The CPI increase for September 2015 was -0.1%. Consequently, the Pensions Increase factor for April 2016 will be 0% (as the Pensions (Increase) Act 1971 does not provide for pensions in payment or in deferment to be reduced), the same as the figure that will be used to increase pensions under the Pensions Increase legislation in April 2016. The in-service revaluation factor for alpha however will be -0.1%
The earnings that count towards the calculation of pensions is limited for some staff to a figure referred to as the “earnings cap” or “permitted maximum”. Where this is relevant, MyCSP will calculate pensions on the basis of the earnings cap for 2015-16 of £149,400.

Negative results

In some cases, the real increase in CETV and the pension benefits accrued for the single total figure of remuneration can be negative – that is, there can be a real decrease. This is particularly likely to happen during periods of pay restraint and / or where inflation is higher than pay increases.
The final salary pension of a person in employment is calculated by reference to their pay and length of service. The pension will increase from one year to the next by virtue of them having an extra year’s service and by virtue of any pay rise during the year. Where there is no pay rise, the increase in pension due to extra service may not be sufficient to offset the inflation increase – that is, in real terms, the pension value can reduce, hence the negative values.
For example, this is particularly likely to happen for members in classic plus where no service after 30 September 2002 counts towards the calculation of the lump sum.
Another scenario where there can be negative results is where a member is over their normal pension age. The factors used to calculate the CETV are such that the value of pension that could have been taken at normal pension age decreases as the member gets older.
Finally, the factors used to calculate the member’s CETV were reviewed by the Scheme Actuary in 2015, so the tables of factors used to calculate the member’s CETV as at 31 March 2016 are not the same ones used to calculate their CETV as at 31 March 2015.
When MyCSP supplies you with the requested pensions information, they will explain the reasons for any real decrease in CETV or pension element of the single figure of remuneration.

Contacts

If you have a question about the distribution of EPNs contact employerpensionnotice@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

You can find electronic copies of the Employer Pension Guide, all current EPNs and forms on our website.

This notice is for employers and should not be issued to scheme members.

If members have a question about their pension they can find information on this website or by contacting MyCSP.

EPN452 - Resource Accounts: 2015-16 disclosure of salary, pension and compensation information