This notice will be of interest to:
1. Each year, MyCSP provides employers with the pension information they need to complete Remuneration and Staff Reports about their most senior staff to include in their Annual Reports and Accounts. This EPN gives employers advance notice of the data they will need to give MyCSP to enable them to give you the pension information, what information MyCSP require in an initial fact gathering exercise and outlines the support MyCSP will give you.
2. Advance notice of data you will need to provide to MyCSP
The data you will have to give MyCSP is broadly the same as for the 2015-16 exercise (although obviously for a later year). As soon as possible after 31 March 2017, employers will need to give MyCSP the following data on each member to be included in the Remuneration and Staff Report:
3. Initial fact gathering by MyCSP
For MyCSP to meet employers’ requirements, they need information in advance of the exercise so that they can check members’ records and plan the timetable for producing pension information. Please complete Annex 1 listing your senior staff likely to be included in your 2016-17 Remuneration and Staff Report. MyCSP also require confirmation of your accounting deadline dates. Please return the completed document by 31 January 2017 to RADatareview2017@mycsp.co.uk
4. Training
MyCSP will be holding employer workshops in March 2017 to increase technical knowledge of what the pension figures represent, to outline the process and respective roles and responsibilities and, to provide an opportunity for employers to have any other questions answered. The training will increase awareness of how the calculations are performed and the interpretation of the results by using worked examples. MyCSP will explain how the new transfer factors and introduction of alpha affects the pension figures. If you would like to attend a workshop, contact training@mycsp.co.uk. The cost and dates of the training will be confirmed when you contact the training team.
5. Protecting information
To comply with data protection requirements, MyCSP will protect information they send to employers by using WinZip with AES encryption. This requires the recipient of the email and attachment to have the WinZip client, or a compatible application installed. The ‘compressed folders’ functionality in Windows cannot process encrypted files. Therefore employers are encouraged to ask their IT department for WinZip, or another suitable alternative.
6. Alternatively, employers are welcome to make use of MyCSP’s information exchange system Connect. This provides a secure web based portal to exchange information and is MyCSP’s preferred method for doing so. There are some IT system pre-requisites, so if you wish to find out more please e-mail connect@mycsp.co.uk and MyCSP will provide further information, including confirmation of the costs for using this service.
7. A high level calendar of events is also attached; this will provide employers confirmation of key dates and actions during this process.
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.