Guidance

Countdown bulletin 35 - June 2018

Updated 14 August 2018

Scheme Cessation guidance for Pension Scheme Administrators (PSAs)

This section answers some issues that PSAs have raised with HMRC.

Shared Work Space (SWS)

We’ve recently decided to mirror the Scheme Reconciliation Service (SRS) process in scheme cessation, so that we can take advantage of automation and aim for the December 2018 deadline.

Guidance and query templates for automation

Guidance and query templates are held in the scheme’s overview e-Room in the same folder, in a sub section called New Process/instructions/templates.

Queries should be uploaded and will be returned in the data transfer sub section of the schemes entry in the new process folder in the overview room.

The timescale for automated responses are the same as those communicated in the plan for scheme reconciliation automated responses.

The scheme cessation team as a whole will be responsible for query files.

Section 50 letters

Our technical and policy team have confirmed Section 50 letters will need to be issued.

Extending the current deadline of December 2018

There are no plans at this time to extend the December 2018 date, as we’ve responded to concerns about the deadline by changing the scheme cessation process.

Merged files for our larger schemes

We appreciate you may find it more convenient to receive a merged file, but we need PSAs to work with us to improve the stream lined scheme cessation process.

New automated solution for 2R local authority schemes liability part period

This solution is to clear queries where the local authority (ECON 2R) PSAs are asking us to shorten the period of the liability held on HMRC records, to align with the scheme records.

Local authorities use a generic contracted-out ECON (2R) and this has caused issues when individuals have transferred between local authority jobs. Membership records are not always recorded as separate periods and a continuous period incorrectly exists on HMRC records.

This solution will interrogate the employer history for the HMRC period and where it suggests the scheme membership is correct, the membership will be debited and re-input as separate periods accordingly.

The query template must contain:

• National Insurance number
• SCON
• surname (HMRC)
• HMRC start date
• HMRC end date
• scheme start date
• scheme end date

The input file deadline is 1 August 2018.

When downloading the input file into the e-Room, make it clear which automated solution it’s for, such as the Liability for Part Period.

New automated solution for change of Responsible Paying Authority (RPA)

This solution will allow you to advise HMRC that they have changed the responsibility for the administration of a scheme from one administrator to another.

The solution will accept both ‘was in scheme’ requests (where the change of responsibility is being accepted by the administrator submitting the query file) and ‘not in scheme’ requests (where the current administrator is advising that the responsibility for the administration of the scheme is being taken over by another provider).

The solution will also process a ‘buy out’ where an appropriate importing buy out SCON is provided.

The solution will only be successful if the start and end dates provided on the query file are within a tolerance of plus or minus one full tax year of the dates held on HMRC records and cover the full period of liability under the scheme.

The query template must contain:

• National Insurance number
• exporting SCON - add an additional column AS to the query template
• importing SCON - add an additional column AT to the query template
• surname (HMRC)
• start date (HMRC)
• end date (HMRC)

or the:

• surname (scheme)
• start date (scheme)
• end date (scheme)

The input file deadline is 27 July 2018

When downloading the input file into the e-Room please make it clear which automated solution it’s for, such as change of RPA.

Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) checker

Countdown bulletin 22 provided an overview of the GMP checker and the common questions often asked.

There still seems to be some confusion regarding what queries HMRC will accept through the GMP checker query database held in your Live Schemes shared workspace e-Room.

In particular the ‘event’ that has occurred in the scheme members life that has triggered your calculation request.

We’ll only accept queries where you’ve tried to obtain a GMP calculation via the checker service, we’ll not accept queries on GMP figures not supplied by the checker service.

You can use the on-line GMP checker service for your scheme members at any time, if you disagree with the GMP supplied or receive an error message and cannot obtain a GMP, a query should only be sent to HMRC if one of the following ‘life events’ is occurring for the scheme member:

• leaving your scheme
• transferring from your scheme
• reaching GMP payable age
• GMP payable date (for example if GMP deferred, date GMP put in payment)
• reaching State Pension age
• divorce
• death

Queries should not be referred to HMRC outside of the above ‘life events’.

The GMP checker query e-Room referral should not be used as a method of reconciling your scheme, this should be done by the SRS and you have until 31 October 2018 to do so.

e-Room query referrals

It is important you complete all the relevant fields on the e-Room query referral form and it should be clear what your query is.

If you disagree with the GMP details provided from the checker service you should also advise us in your comments where you think the difference lies. The checker service provides you with the information we’ve used in our calculation and it is your responsibility to highlight where the information you hold differs. If you do not supply this information we’ll not be able to resolve your query.

Useful links

Read HMRC: pension schemes reconciliation services for more information.

Earlier editions of the National Insurance Services to Pension industry: countdown bulletins are also available.

Contact details

Contact the contracted-out helpline for general queries.

You should continue to deal with your usual contracted-out pensions contact for your day to day enquiries.

Send any general queries about the SRS to the Customer Relationship Team at email: CRM.schemereconciliationservice@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk.