1. Employers
  2. Leavers

Leavers

Leavers

Table of Contents

Book: Leavers

Leavers

The options available to a scheme member who leaves Local Government employment without being entitled to the immediate payment of benefits, or who opts out the LGPS but remains in Local Government employment, are dependent upon a number of factors.

The pension administration service level agreement requires the Scheme employer to notify the scheme administrators of a scheme leaver within 10 working days from the end of the month in which the member left (or opted out of) the Scheme.

The details that must be completed on form LGS15C.

Please note if you are an i-Connect user, completion of an LGS15C leaver form is only required for notifications of retirement (or in other scenarios as agreed under i-Connect i.e post changes, revised leaving details etc.)

The LGS15C is split into sections. We have detailed below the information we require under each:

Personal details:

  • Employer name
  • Pay Ref
  • Post No
  • Surname
  • Forenames
  • Title
  • Home Address - It is important that we are informed of a leaver's home address as a notification of benefits, options of termination of employment, annual benefit statements and newsletters will be sent to a member's home address
  • Email Address - If you hold an email address by which the member can be contacted this should be inserted here
  • National Insurance Number
  • Date of Birth - It is important to note that no benefits will be paid by the Pension Fund until a member's date of birth has been verified either by sight of a member's birth certificate or similar document, such as a passport
  • Partnership Status - Benefits will not be paid by the Pension Fund until evidence of the member's partnership status has been confirmed i.e. sight of a marriage certificate or civil partnership registration certificate as applicable
  • Job Title
  • Date of Withdrawal from the Scheme - This may be different to the date of leaving employment i.e. if the member has opted out of the pension scheme but not left
  • Has Employment Ceased? - Whether employment has ended or member has opted out of scheme
  • Reason For Leaving or Withdrawal: Please tick one of the following indicated on the form- Resignation, Opt-Out, Dismissal, Early Retirement, Redundancy, Business Efficiency
  • If Augmented Membership is to be granted please state years and days - As an employer you have discretion under Regulation 12 of the LGPS (Benefits, Membership and Contributions) Regulations 2007 to award a scheme member, at any time whilst a contributing member of the scheme, up to an additional 10 years' membership. These extra years must be awarded before a member leaves your employment or within 6 months of leaving. There is a cost to you as the employer in awarding these additional benefits to a member - see section on 'Policy Statements'
  • If Reason is Early Retirement is it your intention to release benefits immediately? - Please indicate here if you mean for the member to start receiving pension benefits from the day after their date of leaving
  • Are you aware of the Capital Cost implications for Early Retirement? - On most occasions, other than ill health retirement, a capital cost will be generated when you decide to retire someone before their Normal Retirement Date. When you request an estimate of benefits for the individual concerned, which you will need to do before any decision to retire an employee early can be taken, you will be supplied with details of the expected cost that you will have to pay to the Pension Fund
  • Ill-Health Capital Costs – In this event the value of capital cost is considered in the assessment of your employer contribution rate calculated at each triennial valuation of the Pension Fund. It is not a cost you will have to pay directly to the Pension Fund
     
  • EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION SECTION - Please indicate whether the member was paying into the MAIN or 50/50 section of the LGPS at their date of leaving the scheme.

  • EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTION RATE - Please confirm the percentage that the member was paying under the MAIN or 50/50 section of the scheme.

  • ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS - Please confirm if the member was paying additional pension contributions at their date of leaving: AVCs, APCs, ARCs, ADDED YEARS

PENSIONABLE PAY INFORMATION - PRE APRIL 2014

  • FINAL PAY - This is the figure that will be used to calculate the pension and lump sum benefits linked to the employee's membership built up to 31 March 2014. Normally this will be the earnings on which pension contributions have been deducted for the last 365 days of pensionable employment but can be one of the previous two 365 days periods if these yield a higher figure. This is also the full-time equivalent value of pay if the member was part-time. A final pay figure is required in all instances even if the member has no membership prior to 1 April 2014 in respect of the employment you are completing the LGS15C for.

  • Please note that only elements of pay which were pensionable under the LGPS 2008 Regulations should be included in Final Pay. Non-contractual Overtime should not be included in Final Pay calculation. A Final Pay calculation example can be found on page 3.

  • ACTUAL ANNUAL SALARY AT DATE OF LEAVING - This is the pay being received on the day that the employee leaves employment and is the actual rate if the member is part-time.

  • FTE (Full-time Equivalent) - This is the full time equivalent rate of pay at the date of leaving if the member is a part-time employment.

PENSIONABLE PAY INFORMATION

  • CUMULATIVE PENSIONABLE PAY RECEIVED DURING PERIOD 1 APRIL 2019 TO 31 MARCH 2020 - This is the total actual pensionable pay that the member paid contributions on from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 to their date of leaving.

  • CUMULATIVE PENSIONABLE PAY RECEIVED DURING PERIOD 1 APRIL 2020 TO DATE OF LEAVING -

    This is the total actual pensionable pay that the member paid contributions on from 1 April last to their date of leaving.

  • MONTHLY BREAKDOWN OF PENSIONABLE PAY RECEIVED - Please provide a monthly breakdown of pensionable pay received from 1 April last to the date of leaving. Please also confirm under which section the member contributed to each month (MAIN section or 50/50 section).

    Assumed Pensionable Pay (APP) is calculated as an annual rate then applied to the relevant period as a proportion of that rate. The annual rate is calculated as follows:

    Calculate the average of the pensionable pay for the 3 complete months prior to the *relevant event. Gross up the figure as calculated to an annual figure. If 3 complete pay periods do not exist use the number of pay periods that are available. For weekly paid staff simply replace 3 months with 12 weeks.

    *Relevant Event: For the purposes of calculating APP for a period of child-related absence the relevant event is the date from which the member goes into reduced pay. The relevant event for a period of authorised unpaid leave is the first day of the absence.

  • ASSUMED PENSIONABLE PAY (ILL-HEALTH/DEATH IN SERVICE) - Required if employment has ceased on grounds of ill-health under tier 1 or 2 or for an active member who dies in service. Please quote an annual value here.

  • ASSUMED PENSIONABLE PAY (LEAVE OF ABSENCE) - Required for any relevant period where the employee has received reduced or no pay as a result of sickness or injury or due to a period of paid child-related leave. NOTE: If at any time during a period of reduced or nil contractual pay the employee’s actual earnings are greater than the APP please substitute Actual Pay for APP for these days e.g KIT days.

HOUR/WEEK HISTORY

  • LAST CONTRACTUAL HOURS PER WEEK - This is the number of hours that the employee was contracted to work per week at the date of leaving. This will be used to check against the last details recorded on the member's pension record. We count 37 hours as a full-time week. If you use a different full-time equivalent please state here.
  • LAST CONTRACTUAL PAID WEEKS PER YEAR - Does the member work term-time only? (i.e less than 52.143 weeks per year). Please state the number of paid weeks here.
  • IF VARIABLE- TOTAL HOURS WORKED SINCE 1 APRIL LAST - Please quote the total number of hours that the employee has worked from 1 April last. This total will then be averaged out to calculate the number of hours worked per week on average.

Please send completed LGS15C forms to the pension team to: info@berkshirepensions.org.uk

POST: Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund, Minster Court, 22-30 York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 1SF

Please ensure that this form has been signed and dated by an authorised signatory.