What is End of Year?

The LGPS scheme year runs from 1 April to 31 March. At the end of each scheme year, all employers must provide the statutory end of year return, for their LGPS members who were contributing to the Scheme for all or part of the scheme year.

If you return your information via i-Connect, this will be part of your March i-Connect submission 

The information that you provide is used to calculate the member's CARE pension built up for that year and produce an Annual Benefit Statement for each any active members who have contributed to the Scheme during the year.

Using i-Connect

When you submit your end of year data using i-Connect:

• There is no need to complete any additional spreadsheets.
• Please provide details of any difference between BACS payments made and i-connect totals.
• Please ensure you report Final Pay on your March return. This should be the average of the Full-Time Equivalent salary over the whole year.  Not actual pay, not term-time pay, and not current scale point.
• Please ensure all casual employees are included on your March return If a casual member has not earned for the whole year, please report them as a leaver, and send leaver details on your March return (if not before).
• Ensure we have your most appropriate contact details for any EOY data queries.
• If you have any employees who are making Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) payments via your payroll, please make sure you have detailed the year-to-date information on i-Connect. This information is important for tax purposes. These should be the total amounts in the year – there is no need to split between Prudential and L&G.

Calculating Final Pay

Why do we need Final Pay?

The LGPS is now a career average revalued earnings (CARE) scheme. However many members keep their links to the Final Salary scheme.

These members do not build up Final Salary ‘service’ or ‘membership’ after 31 March 2014, but that part of their pension remains linked to their pensionable pay under the definitions of the Final Salary regulations. Their annual statements must give a current projection, so we need Final Pay at year-end to calculate the final salary link.

A quick rule of thumb – report the average for the whole year, as if the member had worked full time, whole time throughout the year - no gaps for reduced pay or absence, or part-time working. We do not want the annual rate at 31 March

Final Pay - dos and do nots

Do:

• use full-time equivalent salary figures in your calculations
• calculate an average over the period 1 April to 31 March
• include only additional elements of pay, pensionable under the 1997 Regulations
• include overtime payments if they are contractual payments
• scale-up your Final Pay figure for anyone working over full-time hours

Do not:

• use actual salary figures in your calculations
• use term-time salary figures in your calculations
• provide a salary figure as at 31 March
• include additional elements of pay that were not pensionable under the 1997 Regulations
• include overtime payments if they are not contractual payments
• provide scale point figures for anyone working over full-time hours

Final Pay tools

Final pay examples (pdf format, 167Kb)

Multiple employees final pay calculator (xlsx format, 41Kb)

Casual employees

If a casual member has not earned for the whole year, please report them as a leaver, and send leaver details on your March return.

What about AVCs?

If you have any employees who are making Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) payments via your payroll, please make sure you have detailed the year-to-date information on i-Connect. This information is important for tax purposes. These should be the total amounts in the year – there is no need to split between Prudential and L&G.

Do you need more help?

There is lots of help available from Pension Services if you are struggling with your End of Year submission. We can offer workshops, telephone support or even one to one help at your office.

Let us help you - the earlier you contact Pension Services for employers the better. 

Key dates

End of year is 31 March 

19 April

This is the last date for you to submit your March return containing the end-of-year information.

We are happy to receive correct returns before then.

Your quick check

• Do not submit your return if there are discrepancies between the contributions you have paid over the year and values shown on the end of year return 
• Do not change the format
• We will send back any return that does not balance.

 30 April to 31 July

The team will work on the end-of-year process. You may receive queries from us, please respond quickly if so. 

The outline of our process is:  

Step 1: Check the return is complete and formatted correctly

Step 2: Check the contributions detailed on the return balance to those paid over to the bank account during the scheme year.

Step 3: Compared to your details on our pension system to pick up missing starters, leavers, and payroll number amendments.

Step 4: Consistency checks, such as spot checks on matching reported CARE pay with contributions paid.

Step 5: Final Pay Comparison (we use a tolerance of 10% when comparing to the previous year) We will send queries when we do not hold information on file to support the reason for the change.

As far as possible we will batch together questions for each employer, acknowledging their work patterns. 

However please note that your initial response may generate further queries: please give as full an answer and contextual details to support your replies. This often helps.

31 August

Last date for issuing benefit statements to members based on the year-end details from employers. We will contact you once all your employer statements have been issued.