Notification of new starters

Contents

The new starter procedure

When a new member of staff is employed and you enrol them into the LGPS, there is certain information that you, as the employer, must provide to them:

  • Their individual contribution rate;
  • Date of joining the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS);
  • The right of appeal under the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP).

As the employer must decide if the member is eligible for the LGPS, and assess their contribution rate, the employee may appeal these decisions with the employer.

The information that you provide to the new member of staff must therefore include your right of appeal procedure (IDRP).

Our Brief Guide to the LGPS (PDF) can be sent to the new employee by you and provides details of the LGPS and where the member may obtain further information.

Information you need to give Surrey Pension Fund

Once the member starts, you should include their details in your next monthly data return. Depending on your organisation, this may be via iConnect or by sending us the new starter datafile via Egress Switch to pensions.technical@surreycc.gov.uk

We have a legal requirement to send the member a notification of joining the LGPS within two months of their start date.

Therefore, we need to have received your new starter information by the 15th of the following month (19th via iConnect) in order that we may send the member the LGPS details by the regulatory deadline.

Information we send to the member

Once we have received your new starter details, we send the member their new starter letter which includes information about:

  • How to opt out of the scheme;
  • How to move to the 50:50 scheme;
  • Increasing their retirement benefits;
  • How to transfer in previous pension rights;
  • Expression of wish;
  • Details of how to access the My Pension Portal.

We aim to send this via an email to the member, as it is more efficient and cost effective.

Please ensure that you complete the email address field with your new starter details, to enable us to communicate with the member in this way.

Useful links