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1. Resource accounts of organisations covered by Civil Service Pensions must include a Remuneration Report that contains information about the salary and pension packages of ministers and the senior management team.
2. In Section 13 of the EPG, we have explained what you should include in the Remuneration Report. It also provides guidance on:
How to request pension information from the Scheme Administrator for senior officials (Annex 13A)
3. You are responsible for identifying the individuals to be included in your Remuneration Report and for requesting pension information for them. You must complete Annex 13A and return it to the Scheme Administrator as soon as possible. You will need to contact your payroll provider to obtain some of the information required by the Scheme Administrator. (You will not need to include figures from last year’s exercise). Please note: if Annex 13A is not fully and accurately completed the Scheme Administrator will not be able to provide you with pension information.
4. When completed, please email Annex 13A to resourceaccounts2018@mycsp.co.uk
5. The Scheme Administrator cannot provide any pension information until they have received and processed the interface from your March payroll. The Scheme Administrator will provide you with the pension information you require within 20 days of your interface being processed, unless you have provided them with details of the timetable for producing your accounts and a different date has been agreed. Please be aware that the turnaround for processing the interface is 10 working days.
6. The Scheme Administrator will not insert the pension information in Annex 13A and return it to you. Instead, to reduce the risk of transcribing errors, they will send you the results (both inputs and outputs) from the calculator they use to produce the information. This includes all the pension figures you need for the Remuneration Report.
7. Please send any questions you have and update requests to resourceaccounts2018@mycsp.co.uk . Requests will usually be answered within seven days, however if you have an urgent enquiry, you can phone:
Julie McComish on 01903 760068
Nadine Caliste on 01903 760324
Request to RPMI for pension information on Ministers (ANNEX 13B)
8. Civil Service departments that need information about their ministers should complete Annex 13B and send it to RPMI (the administrators of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund).
Example Remuneration Report (Annex 13C)
9. The example Remuneration Report shows how pay, pension and compensation information is presented. Apart from figures and dates, the only changes are that severance payments made to former ministers are now disclosed.
Note to senior staff covered by the Remuneration Report (Annex 13D)
10. Please issue the note in Annex 13D to all staff who will be included in the Remuneration Report, to give them advance warning of the exercise. Once you have obtained all the necessary figures you should provide the staff in question with details of what you propose to publish and invite them to correct any factual errors.
Figures the Scheme Administrator will use this year
11. When calculating the real increase in CETV and the pension benefits accrued during the year 2017-18 for the single total figure of remuneration, the Scheme Administrator takes account of inflation. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase for September 2017 was 3%. Consequently, the Pensions Increase factor for April 2018 will be 3%. The in-service revaluation factor for alpha will also be 3%.
12. The earnings that count towards the calculation of pensions is limited for some staff to a figure referred to as the “earnings cap” or “permitted maximum”. Where this is relevant, the Scheme Administrator will calculate pensions based on the earnings cap for 2017-18 of £154,200.
Negative results
13. In some cases, the real increase in CETV and the pension benefits accrued for the single total figure of remuneration can be negative – in other words, there can be a real decrease. This is likely to happen during periods of pay restraint or where inflation is higher than pay increases.
14. The final salary pension of a person in employment is calculated by reference to their pay and length of service. The pension will increase from one year to the next by virtue of them having an extra year’s service and by virtue of any pay rise during the year. Where there is no pay rise, the increase in pension due to extra service may not be sufficient to offset the inflation increase – in other words, in real terms the pension value can reduce, hence the negative values.
15. For example, this is particularly likely to happen for members of classic plus where no service after 30 September 2002 counts towards the calculation of the lump sum.
16. Another scenario where there can be negative results is where a member is over their normal pension age. The factors used to calculate the CETV mean that the value of the member’s pension, which they could have been taken at normal pension age, decrease as the member gets older.
17. When the Scheme Administrator supplies you with the requested pension information, they will explain the reasons for any real decrease in CETV or pension element of the single figure of remuneration. They will also provide you with the combined information required for your reports with the relevant rounding applied.
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Contacts If you have a question about the distribution of EPNs or you need to receive them in a different format contact employerpensionnotice@cabinetoffice.gov.uk You can find electronic copies of the Employers’ Pension Guide, all current EPNs and forms on our website www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk under ‘Employers’. 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 at: |