Other data cleansing projects
APF will carry out ad-hoc data cleansing as and when issues arise or regulations change. The following are not an exhaustive list of all projects:
McCloud
In 2018 the court of appeal implemented a remedy to remove discrimination and ensure equal rights to those who’s pensions were affected by the change to Career Average Revalued Earning scheme regulations as of the 1st of April 2014. This meant that members with qualifying service prior to 1st April 2012 with no gap in service greater than 5 years are entitled to have the service accrued between 1st of April 2014 to 31st March 2022 revalued under the final salary scheme, if found to be of higher value this forms an underpin that will be paid to the member upon retirement. A data exercise was required to ensure APF had complete service records for members for the underpin period.
Casual hour project
Casual hour data projects are carried out on a regular basis to record service hours of casual members that were not previously held.
Age 65 project
Under the McCloud ruling, it is required that any member that has qualifying service will have a Pensionable remuneration figure calculated to the day before their 65th birthday. The Fund carries out underpin checks using information already provided, and an FTE is requested where an underpin applies. For Active members, once they reach age 65 the Fund will contact the employers to confirm the pensionable remuneration figure.
Address tracing project
Outstanding address data queries for non-active members are reviewed on a regular basis. Within the administration system, monthly data checks are run to identify changes in member data using various external data sources. Once traced a mailing is sent to the member to request the member validates their new data/address.
Pensions into payment
When a member has reached pensionable age, their pension must be put into payment according to regulations. However, if a member address that is held is incorrect, the fund must take necessary steps to trace these members.
Actuary data tool
The data tool is provided by the scheme actuary following an annual data return and consists of prioritised data that could have a material financial impact to an employer’s liability in the Fund, this is dependent on the size of employer. Once received by the actuary, the data is reviewed per employer and actioned where necessary.
AVC reconciliation
Members can elect to pay additional voluntary contributions (AVC) which are set up by the fund with a third party, the current AVC provider is Legal and General. As contributions are not paid directly to the Fund, the fund carries out regular additional reconciliations to the member data held within the funds system and AVC provider.
Other ways we receive information
Tell Us Once, is a government service that a member of the public can use to notify multiple government departments about a person’s death. This data is received through the pension payroll department. Death certificates are not required if this service is used.
NI database
The National insurance database is used for the following events:
- New Starters
- Refunds
- Deferreds
- TVOUTS
- Interfunds
- Retirements
- Ill Health
- Deaths
Where a member has a match for qualifying service, the other LGPS is contacted for service details.