NEWS ARCHIVE 2011
| DECEMBER |
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 Complete our Members Survey
You can enter a draw to win a £25 high street gift voucher of your choice, by completing a survey about the government's proposals to make changes to the LGPS from April 2012.
You can read full details and complete the survey before the closing date of 3 January 2012, by visiting our new LGPS reform website at http://lgps2015.org
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The Fund has published an updated version of its guide, ‘Planning your Retirement’. We hope that you find the guide useful in helping your long or short-term preparations for retirement. It aims to answer important questions on all members minds - about when benefits will be paid, how they will be calculated and how they are affected by income tax and other benefits that may be in payment.
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| NOVEMBER |
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The Fund has launched a new website dedicated to the government's proposed reform of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), starting in April 2012 and culminating in the launch
of a new scheme from April 2015.
The site details the government consultation on alternative proposals to make cost savings in the Scheme from next April. We explore the background to the current situation - from the government's acceptance of all the recommendations made in the Hutton Report for future Scheme reform, to its recognition of the unique position of the LGPS as a 'funded' scheme and making alternative proposals compared to the other public sector schemes.
Over the course of the next three years, we will explain how the membership you have already built up in the Scheme will be protected, together with the cost and value of the retirement benefits you will build up in a new LGPS.
The Fund is keen to hear your views about what is proposed by the government. We will be making our response to the government before the statutory consultation closing date of Friday 6 January 2012. Our response will be centred around the views expressed by our members in our online survey, which you can complete until Tuesday 3 January 2012.
If you are a Fund member and complete all sections of the survey, you will be entered into a prize draw to win a £25 high street gift voucher.
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The Fund has published a poster which will shortly appear in workplaces, reminding members of the importance of keeping their Death Grant nomination forms up to date.
All contributing LGPS members have 'Death-in-Service' cover of three years’ pay should they die before retirement. This 'Death Grant' is payable to nominated beneficiaries, provided a signed 'Expression of Wish' has been received by the Fund. In the absence of a valid form, payment may be delayed until matters of the member’s estate are resolved.
The poster also reminds members who wish to nominate their cohabiting partner to receive a survivor's pension in the event of their death, should complete/or update a nomination form.
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 Annual Benefit Statements 2011Annual Benefit Statements are currently being posted to those employees who were members of the LGPS as at 31 March 2011. If your membership started after 31 March 2011, you will receive your first statement next year.
The 2011 statements will as in previous years, include an Explanatory Notes document to help understanding. Links for Change of Address and Expression of Wish Forms, are also included.
Please note that State Pension information is not included in this year's statement due to the DWP upgrading their systems as a result of the change to State Pension Age (SPA) contained in the Pensions Act 2011.
If you have a query with any of the information on page 1 of your statement, you should contact your employer. 'Your Employer Contact Details' are supplied on page 1 of your statement.
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| OCTOBER |
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 Honey Pot 8
The latest issue of our newsletter for Pensioners of the Fund, 'The Honey Pot' has been published. This issue includes full details of developments within the Local Government Pension Scheme together with a variety of non-pension related articles. If you are a pensioner, why not enter our competition, where a £25 high street voucher of your choice can be won.
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The Fund has published its Report & Accounts for 2010/11. It details the Fund's investment and administrative performance for the year ending 31 March 2011.
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| SEPTEMBER |
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Time is running out if you wish to combine previous periods of LGPS membership with your current active membership, even if your 12 month time limit has passed. You can read full details here.
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| JULY |
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Although the normal retirement age in the LGPS is 65, you can retire earlier. To see how choosing to retire before age 65 will affect benefits payable to you, please use our interactive guide. If you retire on grounds of ill health or redundancy or efficiency, please see relevant information.
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| JUNE |
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THE LATEST ISSUE of our newsletter for Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) members, beeline, has been published. This edition contains extensive coverage of Lord Hutton's Report to the Government making major recommendations about the future structure of public sector pension schemes.
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| APRIL |
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Volunteering to take early retirement on either Redundancy or Business Efficiency grounds can be a very unsettling time, but rest assured, your Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) benefits will be protected - whatever happens. The Fund has published 2 factsheets describing what will happen to your LGPS benefits.
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The Fund actuary Mercer has published its final report after conducting the triennial valuation of the Fund as at 31 March 2010.
In addition, Mercer has published an additional explanatory note regarding LGPS Actuarial Valuations and Scheme funding.
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| MARCH |
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 Honey Pot 7
The latest issue of our periodic newsletter for Pensioners of the Fund has been published. This issue includes full details of your local government pension increase from 11 April 2011, together with a range of articles and our competition, with the prize of a £25 high street voucher of your choice to be won.
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This fact sheet answers some questions likely to be in members minds after the publication of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission's final recommendations concerning the future of public sector pension schemes.
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 Hutton Review Final Report publishedThe Independent Public Service Pensions Commission set up in June 2010 to undertake a fundamental structural review of public service pension provision, has published its final report.
The report’s recommendations for the future structures of public sector pension schemes will now be considered by the Coalition Government. You can download the report, together with all supplementary documents from the HM Treasury website.
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 The LGPS (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations 2011The Local Government Pension Scheme (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 laid before Parliament on
7 March 2011, come into force on 1 April 2011.
The Department for Communities & Local Government (DCLG) has published a covering letter dated 8 March 2011, together with Statutory Instrument 2011 No. 561, together with explanatory memorandum. DCLG consulted on draft provisions during the period from 24 December 2010 to 28 January 2011. A summary of the responses received during this period has also been published. As explained in the consultation letter, the provisions are corrective ones dealing with certain ill health related amendments made in the Local Government Pension Scheme (Miscellaneous) Regulations 2010.
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 Government Fair Deal ConsultationThe Government has announced a consultation about the Fair Deal policy requiring provision of broadly comparable pensions where staff are compulsorily transferred from the public sector to a new non-public sector employer.
The Fair Deal policy applies where a public service is outsourced to be delivered by an independent provider, including private sector businesses and non-profit making organisations such as charitable bodies and social enterprises. It requires that the new employer provides a broadly comparable pension scheme for the transferred staff and bulk transfer arrangements for those staff who wish to transfer their public service pension benefits.
The consultation document sets out details of the Fair Deal policy, objectives and a range of options for future policy and subsequent transfers. This consultation is aimed at:
You can view full details and download all relevant documents from HM Treasury’s website.
Please note that the consultation period runs until WEDNESDAY 15 JUNE 2011.
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| FEBRUARY |
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On 23 February 2011, the Fund wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer expressing concren about HM Treasury proposals to increase employee contributions to the Scheme by 3.2%.
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| JANUARY |
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The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) has published its 2010 Annual Report.
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The Pensions Committee has expressed its thanks to the 1,952 active members who took part in the Fund's recent survey as part of its submission to the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission, chaired by Lord Hutton.
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 Contribution Bands 2011/2012From 1 April 2011, the contribution earnings bands on which members’ contributions are based will change. The Fund has published a revised version of Fact Sheet 3 detailing what contribution rates members will pay from April, together with what rates will be paid if members’ pay changes during 2011/2012.
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