Employers' Guide

Section 1 - Introduction

1. About this Guide

This guide provides important information for employers of members and potential members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) in England and Wales. It covers all sectors and types of establishments which come within the scope of the TPS.

References to teachers in this guide cover all academic staff, i.e. lecturers, teachers, instructors, heads of department, deputy heads, head teachers and principals who are eligible to be members of the Scheme.

Information and guidance about employers’ roles and responsibility is also available in a series of training modules and throughout this guide you will find links to Web TV. By clicking on these links you will be directed to the specific Web TV module that covers the topic(s) relevant to that particular section of the Employers' Guide.

TP will notify you of any changes to the administrative arrangements of the scheme through communications such as TP News and will revise the relevant sections of the guide.

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2. Employers responsibilities

TP administers the TPS on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE). However, it cannot be emphasised too much how important your role is in the scheme’s administration.  This guide is designed to inform you about your responsibilities, provide you with guidance about typical events and contacts within TP should you require further assistance.

If you do not carry out your responsibilities in a timely and accurate manner, it can have a detrimental effect on your employees. It is not always possible for TP to remedy a situation that has had a detrimental effect on a member’s pension position and may result in financial penalties for the employer. Cases of member dissatisfaction can result in referrals to the Pensions Ombudsman.

Administering the Scheme

Your responsibilities in the administration of the TPS are set out at the beginning of each of the following sections but broadly they are as follows:

  • Provide information to new appointees, both full and part-time by providing appointees with a link to the Member Guide, and informing them that they are automatically members of the scheme unless they opt out; this also includes retired members who are re-employed.  The exception to this is those covered in the Appendix to the Member Guide and in Appendix 4 of this guide. TP must be notified promptly of ALL new appointments by submitting form TR6 using the Secure Transfer Utility (STU).
  • Check if new starters have opted out of the scheme.
  • Check if new starters are paying additional scheme contributions.
  • Submit via STU information about leavers as they occur and provide the leaver with a copy of the fact sheet Leaving Pensionable Employment.
  • Collect and submit the contributions due in a prompt and accurate manner by 7th of the month following their deduction, where the 7th is a weekend or bank holiday payment must be submitted to arrive before the weekend or holiday, (statutory interest is charged for late payment).
  • Complete and submit via STU details of the components of the contribution payment.
  • Complete the contribution “End of Year Certificate (EOYC)” by no later than 30 April each year.
  • Submit Annual Return of service and salary details via STU by no later than 31 August in 2011 and 5 July in 2012.
  • Provide an audited TR17/17a certificate by no later than 30 September each year.
  • Pay short term death benefits to dependants of deceased members.
  • In addition to the Annual Return provide service and salary information promptly when requested by TP.
  • Complete and authorise application forms on behalf of members.
  • Consider with members suitable alternative employment and the provision of appropriate medical evidence in connection with potential requests for ill-health retirement.
  • Inform TP when a retired member takes up employment; these employees will automatically be members of the scheme again unless they opt out.   This includes people who have retired on ill-health grounds.

 

Raising Awareness of the TPS

Employers have a crucial role to play in raising members’ awareness of the benefits of the TPS throughout their careers. A summary of the benefits in the TPS are:

  • The TPS not only provides the member with a regular income after retirement, but the pension is index-linked, to protect its value against the effects of inflation
  • The TPS provides members’ families or other dependants with financial protection after the member dies.
  • If the member becomes too ill to work, they may receive their pension early.
  • The member can increase their pension credit by buying extra pension. They may also be able to transfer in pension credit from another scheme.
  • The member can choose to have part of their pension paid as a lump sum if they joined the scheme on or after 1 January 2007.
  • If a member joined the TPS before 1 January 2007 they will automatically receive a lump sum.

Employers have a crucial role to play in helping members understand their pension provision. This includes:

  • Ensuring members are kept informed of any changes to the scheme that may affect them.
  • Providing access to information for new appointees such as the Member Guide, relevant fact sheets and by encouraging members to access information on the TP website.
  • Ensuring new appointees are aware that previous pension provision may be transferred into the TPS within one year of taking up their appointment.
  • Educating members on options for planning how and when to retire.
  • Making members aware of options to increase their pension such as by buying AVCs or purchasing additional pension in the TPS.
  • Encouraging members to periodically review their pension position by, for example, making them aware of the pension modellers on the TP website.
  • Promoting the value and benefits of the scheme by, for example, showing the value of employer contributions on payslips.
  • Ensuring members choosing to opt out of the TPS are aware of the benefits that they are giving up.
  • Ensuring members are aware of the need to register their unmarried partner with TP, if they want benefits to be paid to that partner after their death.
  • Making members aware of what happens to their pension when they are on leave of absence.
  • Informing leavers of their options by providing a copy of the Leaving pensionable employment fact sheet.

 

Statutory requirements

The administration of TPS is subject to statutory regulations and employers have a crucial role to play in adhering to these requirements. The Disclosure Regulations require TP to:

  • Pay pension benefits within 30 days of entitlement. It is therefore imperative that employers ensure application forms are completed and forwarded to TP promptly, if possible as much as 4 months before the date of retirement;
  • Provide estimates of retirement benefits to teachers within 2 months of request; and
  • TP also provide benefit statements to all active members on an annual basis following the completion of the annual return.

The Transfer Regulations require TP to calculate a guaranteed transfer value within three months of request. It is therefore essential that you provide up-to-date and accurate information promptly on request. Overriding legislation requires TP to provide leavers with less than two years service with a quotation of a transfer value and the amount of contributions and interest they would receive if they took a repayment. This must be done within three months of leaving. It is vitally important, therefore, for you to give the Leaving pensionable employment fact sheet to staff leaving your employment and submit leaver returns to TP promptly (Form TR8).

The Pensions Regulator supervises the pensions industry and ensures that pension schemes and employers meet the regulatory requirements. The Pensions Regulator has the power to impose fines on schemes and employers (and their individual managers).

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3. Communicating with TP

Using the Secure Transfer Utility

STU allows TP and employers to send and receive data using a secure electronic facility. STU has been developed as a means of securely exchanging data about pension scheme members between TP and data holders (e.g. employers, payroll/HR providers). It also provides a facility for online applications from members to be authorised by employers.

Before data can be sent you must register to use STU. TP will issue you with a confidential password and PIN. Requests to register for STU should be emailed to tpstu@teacherspensions.co.uk.

Once you have received your password and PIN details you will be able to log in and select to either upload a file from your local machine or to retrieve a file that is waiting for you. You must not share your passwords with colleagues.  When a staff member no longer requires access to STU, you must inform TP immediately so that their details can be cancelled.  New login details should be requested for any replacement.

Where multiple accesses are required, you may wish to create a global email address for web form notifications to be issued. This approach has the advantage of providing a central contact point which multiple users within the employer can be given permission to access, thereby removing the problem of work remaining untouched if the owner of a single name personal email address is absent from work. Should you wish to operate in this way please confirm the global email address to tpstu@teacherspensions.co.uk.

Having subscribed to STU it is good practice to access your account each day to check for incoming information/ applications from TP or teaching staff employed by you.

In the case of a partnership type agreement between a Local Authority and an outsourced payroll provider which covers the whole of the Local Authority, there is no issue with the outsourced payroll provider having full access to the STU facility and being able to sign forms (e.g. retirement forms, additional pensions forms) that are sent directly to TP.

Where more individual arrangements are in place, perhaps, a school, or group of schools within a Local Authority use the same outsourced payroll provider, it would be expected that all forms are authorised by the Local Authority. Access to STU for the payroll provider would be granted, with the permission of the Local Authority. However only access to the service related templates will be allowed and not access to the Web Forms section of the website.

Other methods of contact
You can also contact TP in the following ways:

E-mail us at tpdata@capita.co.uk.

Call the Employer Helpline 0845 3003756
If you contact TP regarding a teacher, it will be helpful if you could provide the following information:

  • the teacher’s reference number (such as RP99/99999);
  • full name;
  • date of birth; and
  • National Insurance number.

This information will help to identify the record and to deal with your enquiry.

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4. Record Keeping

All computerised records are registered under the Data Protection Act. This means that TP will keep all the information they hold in the strictest confidence.

TP will store securely, maintain and update the information on individual teachers which is necessary to calculate their entitlement under the Teachers’ Pensions Regulations. TP also collects certain information in respect of individual teachers who are not members of the TPS, some of which is required for statistical purposes.

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