Summary of Responsibilities - Employer Guide

  • The employer guide sets out key responsibilities for scheme employers. This document should be read in conjunction with Fund policies and relevant LGPS regulations.
  • LGPS HR & payroll Guides are available here. We ask that you share them with the appropriate teams within your organisation

Employer - Key Information

  • Employer contribution rates - following the last valuation in 2022, employers were notified of their employer contributions rate for the next three financial years commencing 2023/24.
  • Employee contribution bandings and rates - the bandings for employees change each year in line with the Consumer Prices Index rate. Please ensure your payroll teams are using the correct employee rates to deduct contributions at the correct rate.
  • i-Connect - this online system is used to facilitate safe data collection between employer payroll teams and the fund and to notify us of starters and leavers, returns & payments deadlines, and monthly BACS payments.
  • Employee notifications of change of contribution banding - when you have a member who changes contribution bandings you must notify your employee to make them aware of the new contribution rate that is payable and the date from which it is to be applied. It is good practice to notify the member before the new rate is applied to avoid complaints from those whose contribution rate increases
  • Pension Form spreadsheet (notification of leavers & service breaks) - inform us of details of leavers or service breaks using the attached template; Pension Forms 2025.  If you have members who have unpaid periods of absence, either voluntary or following a period of maternity, then please contact us and we will send you the relevant absence form.
  • Monthly Contribution Returns - please use the i-Connect portal to upload your monthly contribution data (pension form spread sheet). There are a number of resource guides available for administering different aspects of the i-Connect portal.  You would have been provided with copies when you first went live with i-Connect. Updated versions are available from us on request. 

LGPS Employer Resources / Training

The resources section of the LGPS Regulations website has information covering the following topics:

  • Employer Role Training: scheme overview, CARE vs final salary, staff absences, additional contributions, legal requirements, retirement, early leavers, and other considerations.  You can book a place by following the available date links shown on the page.

  • Employer bite-size training – mini training sessions covering Assumed Pensionable Pay (APP):

    • Ill health retirements for active and deferred members

    • Assumed Pension Pay

    • Final Pay

  • Employer guides and documents – list of current technical guides & example letters covering the following subjects:

    • Automatic enrolment

    • AVCs

    • Backdated pay award

    • Discretions

    • HR & payroll (copies of v4.5 guides included with this email)

Click here for more information: https://lgpsregs.org/employer-resources/index.php

Employer strain costs for early release of pension

Strain costs apply if an employer is looking at flexible retirements, redundancy, or business efficiency retirements for scheme members.  The total cost is chargeable once the member record has been processed into payment.

Employers guide for ill-health retirement

A copy of the current guide is attached for your information. 

Member Forms 

We maintain a library of member forms, guides and leaflets on the Resources page on our website; https://www.isleofwightpensionfund.org/resources/. 

We want members to receive the most up to date information, so please direct members to this page for the current version of any document they are looking for. 

Useful website links

Member Self-Service (MSS) - https://www.iwcpensions.co.uk/

LGPS Regulations & Guidance - https://www.lgpsregs.org/index.php

LGPS Members - https://www.lgpsmember.org/