Date posted: 22/01/2016
Audience:
This notice will be of interest to:
- Pension leads
- HR managers
Action:
- To review your internal processes in order to give MyCSP early informal notice of any exit schemes that you are running.
- To note the revised CSCS section on the Civil Service Pensions website, which contains a new employer guide to the exit process.
Timing:
Detail
- The Cabinet Office have been working with MyCSP and Civil Service departments to improve the forecasting of the numbers of staff leaving under early exit schemes for the remainder of this financial year and throughout 2016 / 2017. This is to ensure there are appropriate resources in MyCSP to meet any increase in demand from employers. MyCSP have also streamlined their processing of exit schemes by putting in place a dedicated team at their Newcastle site.
- To help demand planning, all employers planning a sizable exit scheme (eg more than about 20 staff) should give MyCSP as much notice of their intention to do so as possible. Employers should aim to tell MyCSP of the potential numbers and the preferred timing of the scheme, and if possible to do this at the planning stage before asking for Cabinet Office approval. Employers can give MyCSP advanced notice of a scheme by using the exit.schemes@mycsp.co.uk mailbox. The Cabinet Office have also put in place a more regular monthly forecasting process for the largest Civil Service departments, and those departments should continue to use that process. This request for early informal information is in addition to the F1 process, which remains in place.
- There is of course a limit on appropriately trained MyCSP resources. This forecasting should help planning especially in the event that multiple employers wish to run large schemes at the same time. If, in exceptional circumstance, the combined volumes exceeded the maximum capacity MyCSP have available for exits, then they may attempt to redistribute resources to deal with the demand or negotiate with employers to reschedule. If MyCSP are unable to negotiate alternative timings then the Cabinet Office may arbitrate a solution.
- We have also revised the CSCS sections on the Civil Service Pensions website. The website now has dedicated CSCS pages for both employers and members. You can find the employer webpages here. We have also written a 'What to expect guide...'. This is particularly to help those employers who are less familiar with running exit schemes. The guide sets out indicative timescales for each stage of the process to help employers plan their schemes. These are guidelines only and the actual timescales will depend on the size of the scheme, the demand on MyCSP resource and employer’s internal processes.
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.
