In this issue 2019 Pensions increase - Spring 2019 - The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead
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Spring 2019
In this issue
2019 Pensions increase
Your payslip explained
Pension pay dates 2019/20
The newsletter for retired members of the Local Government
Pension Scheme in Berkshire and their dependants
Welcome
Welcome to your Spring 2019 edition of The Scribe, the Finally we invite you to take part in a survey to seek
newsletter for retired members of the Royal County of your views and comments on the service provided by
Berkshire Pension Fund and their dependants. the pension team. Your feedback is valuable to us so
turn to page 17 to find out more.
Your Berkshire Pension increases from Monday, 8 April
2019 in line with the Consumer Prices Index. Confirmation We hope you enjoy reading this edition of The Scribe
of your new annual pension value is provided in your and as always please feel free to contact us if you have
personalised Pensions Increase booklet enclosed with any questions about your LGPS pension. Our contact
this newsletter. details are on the reverse of this newsletter.
Your P60 for the tax year 2018/2019 will be issued to
you by 31 May 2019, and we have provided explanatory
notes on pages 8 and 9 to accompany this document.
Your pay dates for the next twelve months can be found
on page 5 and a useful Questions and Answers section Councillor John Lenton
is on page 18. Chairman, Berkshire Pension Fund and Berkshire
Pension Fund Advisory Panels
Don’t forget to enter our Spring Sodoku competition to
be in with a chance to win a £25 Marks and Spencer gift
card.
The Scribe page 2
Contents
2019 Pensions Increase 4
Pension pay dates 2019/2020 5
Your payslip explained 6
Your 2019 P60 8
Tax office information 10
Be ‘ScamSmart’ - protect your pensions 12
Retired member survey 17
‘my pension ONLINE’ 19
Spring Sudoku 21
Quick Q&A 22
Contact us 24
The Scribe page 3
The Scribe page 3
2019 Pensions increase
Your Berkshire Pension is increased annually in Pensions increase booklet 2019
line with the Pensions Increase Order which is
Your personalised 2019 pensions increase booklet is
currently linked to the Consumer Prices Index
enclosed with this newsletter.
(CPI). The increase is calculated in line with the CPI
index based on the 12 months to September 2018. If your pension commenced after 23 March 2019 you
will not be due an increase to your pension this year,
The 2019 increase is 2.4% and will be applied to your
however your pension will increase in line with CPI from
pension from Monday 8 April 2019. The total value of
your annual pension from 8 April 2019 is detailed on Monday 6 April 2020.
page 3 of your personalised pensions increase booklet
enclosed with this newsletter.
Date Percentage increase
8 April 2019 2.4%
9 April 2018 3%
10 April 2017 1%
11 April 2016 0%
6 April 2015 1.2%
7 April 2014 2.7%
The Scribe page 4
Pension pay dates 2019/2020
Your Berkshire Pension is paid into your chosen December 2019 payday - Your December
bank or building society account on the last 2019 pension payment will be credited to your bank
working day of each month. We have detailed account on Monday 23 December 2019 in time for
below your pension payment dates for the next 12 Christmas.
months for your convenience. Please note these
dates apply to UK bank accounts. Pension payslips
A payslip will be issued to you if your net monthly pension
payment has changed by more than 50 pence from the
Tuesday 30 April 2019 previous month. However you will automatically receive
Friday 31 May 2019 a payslip in April and May to reflect the pensions increase
Friday 28 June 2019 applied from 8 April 2019.
Wednesday 31 July 2019 Turn to page 6 for more payslip information
Friday 30 August 2019
Monday 30 September 2019
Thursday 31 October 2019
Friday 29 November 2019
Monday 23 December 2019
Friday 31 January 2020
Friday 28 February 2020
Tuesday 31 March 2020
The Scribe page 5
Your payslip explained
A payslip is issued to you if your net monthly pension payment changes by more than 50 pence from the
previous month. However you will automatically receive a payslip in April and May to reflect the pensions increase
applied from 8 April 2019.
Payments Value Deductions Value
1 3
Net Pay
Gross Pay 2
Total Deductions 4
Pay Details
Year to Date 8
Pension Number 5
Gross Pay
NI Number
Taxable Pay
Tax Code 6 Tax
Pay Date / Pay Period 7 GAYE
P.A.Y.E Ref.
Other Deductions
Tax District
Sort Code
P45 Pay
Account Number P45 Tax
B.Society Ref.
The Scribe page 6
Your payslip explained
1 Payments - The elements which make up your Berkshire Pension are displayed here. Please note: the
pensions increase figure is a cumulative total of all your pension increases from the start of your pension.
2 Gross Pay - This is the total pension value (before tax) due to you in the current month.
3 Deductions - This is the total amount of tax you have had deducted from your gross pension in the
current month. If the letter ‘R’ is displayed after the amount quoted this means you have been paid a tax
refund. Any other deduction will also be shown here e.g Give As You Earn (GAYE).
4 Net Pay - This is your pay after deductions which will be credited to your bank account on your payment
date.
5 Pension Number -This is your pension reference number and is made up of five numbers and a letter e.g.
12345A. Please quote this reference if you contact the Berkshire Pensions Team.
6 Tax Code - This will be the tax code we are currently operating for you. If M1 appears after your tax code,
your tax code has been operated on an emergency basis. If you have a query on your tax code please
contact the tax office directly on 0300 200 3300.
7 Pay Date - This is the date your pension credits your bank account. Normally the last working day of the
month (see page 5).
8 Year to Date - These are the pay figures you have received to date within this tax year.
If you would like further clarification on the contents of your payslip please do not hesitate to contact us.
The Scribe page 7
Your 2019 P60
Your P60 for the tax year 2018/2019 will be issued in advance of the HMRC deadline of 31 May 2019. We
hope to post your P60 to you in April 2019.
Pension fund name and address End of year certificate P60
Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund Tax tear to 5 April 2019
Minster Court
22-30 York Road HM Revenue & Customs Office Name
Maidenhead Devon Area
Berkshire Tel: 0300 200 3300 2
SL6 1SF PAYE Reference: 070/R5200
Pension and income tax details
Pensioner’s details Pay £ p Tax deducted £ p
Previous
National employment(s) 3
insurance
number Pension * Tax deducted* R=net refund
Pension
Surname paid 4 5
First two Pension Tax deducted
forenames Total
for year
Pension payroll
number 1 * Figures shown here should be Final tax code
used for your tax return if you
get one. 6
The Scribe page 8
Your 2019 P60 explained
1 Pension payroll no - This is your pension reference number and is made up of five numbers and a letter
e.g. 12345A. Please quote this reference if you contact the Berkshire Pensions Team.
2 PAYE Reference - 070/R5200 - This is the tax reference number for the Berkshire Pension Fund and
should be quoted if you contact HMRC. Full contact details for HMRC can be found on page 10.
3 Previous employment – pay / tax deducted - These two boxes will show any pay and tax from previous
employment in the same tax year as you left your previous job.
4 Pension paid - This is the total pension you have received in the current financial year before tax is
deducted.
5 Tax deducted - This is the total amount of tax you have had deducted from your pension in the current
financial year.
6 Final tax code - This will be the last tax code we have operated for you in 2018/2019 financial year. If M1
appears after your tax code, your tax code has been operated on a non-cumulative basis. If you have a query
on this tax code please contact the tax office directly on 0300 200 3300.
You can view your previous years’ P60 documents via your online account. Turn to page 19 for
more information
Please keep your P60 in a safe place for future reference
The Scribe page 9
Tax Office information
If there is a change to your tax code, the Tax Office will Your 2019/2020 personal allowance
issue an electronic notification to our Pension Payroll Most people in the UK get a personal allowance of tax-
Department to confirm details of the change. free income. This is the amount of income you can have
before you pay tax. The amount of income tax you pay
If you wish to query your tax code you must contact
in each tax year depends on:
the Tax Office directly. The tax affairs of the Berkshire
Pension Fund’s retired and dependant members are • how much of your income is above your personal
dealt with at the Tax Office in Liverpool. allowance
• how much of this falls within each tax band
Postal address HM Revenue & Customs
Pay As You Earn The standard personal allowance from 6 April 2019 to 5
PO Box 1970 April 2020 is £12,500 (the 2018/2019 personal allowance
Liverpool L75 1WX was £11,850).
Telephone 0300 200 3300
Website www.hmrc.gov.uk Do you live in Scotland? If you live in Scotland you will
receive the same personal allowance for 2019/2020,
but your tax bandwidths will be different. HMRC will
determine if you are a Scottish tax payer.
Did you know you can notify the tax office of a change
in your address online? Visit gov.uk at:
https://www.gov.uk/tell-hmrc-change-address
Please note that the income tax you pay is calculated based on all your taxable income from all sources
(including your State Pension).
The Scribe page 102019 is valuation year...
Pension Fund health check
Every three years the Berkshire Pension Fund
is required to appoint an independent actuary
to carry out a valuation of the Fund.
The valuation is a health check to see if the
Fund’s assets are sufficient to meet its liabilities.
It is carried out by the actuary to the Fund,
Barnett Waddingham.
Employer contribution rates for the
forthcoming three year period (1 April 2020 to
31 March 2023) are set as part of the valuation
process which takes place in April 2019.
Once the valuation has been completed the full
report will be published on our website. The
2017-2020 valuation report is available within
the Publications section of our website:
www.berkshirepensions.org.uk
The Scribe page 11Be ‘ScamSmart’
National campaign launched by FCA Pension scam tactics include:
to combat pension scams.
• contact out of the blue
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the
Pensions Regulator have joined forces to launch
a new campaign aimed at raising awareness of
• promises of high / guaranteed
the increase in pension scams. The latest figures returns
reveal that victims of pension scammers lost an
average of £91,000 each in 2017. • free pension reviews
As part of the campaign the FCA have a range of • access to your pension before age
literature, factsheets and posters
https://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart
55
The Berkshire Pension Fund have dedicated a • pressure to act quickly
section of our website to Pension Scams and what
to look out for: http://www.berkshirepensions.
org.uk/info/1/members/99/pension_scams
The Scribe page 12If you suspect a scam, Ban on pensions cold
report it calling becomes law
Report to the FCA by contacting their As part of the
P Consumer Helpline on 0800 111 6768 or using
the reporting form at www.fca.org.uk
Government’s crackdown
on pension fraud, it is
now illegal for companies
Report to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or to make unsolicited calls
P at www.actionfraud.police.uk to people about their
pensions.
If you’re in the middle of a transfer, contact
your pension provider immediately and then This new law should go
P get in touch with The Pensions Advisory
Service (TPAS) at
towards stopping cold-
calling resulting in people
www.thepensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk being scammed out of
their pension savings.
Companies that break
the rules can face fines of
up to £500,000. This law
came into effect from 9
January 2019.
The Scribe page 13Updating your personal details
Have you changed your address, name or partnership
status?
If so please let us know as soon as possible so that we
can continue to send you important information about
Changing your bank details
your pension, e.g. pensions increase notifications,
If you change your bank details we require
P60s etc.
confirmation in writing for security
Please note that changes of address can be accepted purposes. We have provided a form on
over the telephone or by e-mail. We have also page 16 for you to complete and sign, or
provided a change of address form on page 15 for your alternatively you can write to us directly:
convenience.
Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund
Don’t forget you Minster Court
can also update 22-30 York Road
your address Maidenhead
SL6 1SF
using ‘my pension
ONLINE’ Please provide your 6 digit sort code and 8
digit account number and Building Society
Reference number (if applicable).
The Scribe page 14Change of address notification
Please complete the form below with your new address details and return to: Royal County of Berkshire
Pension Fund, Minster Court, 22-30 York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 1SF
Your Personal Details
Surname Effective date of change
Forenames Your telephone no.
National Insurance no. E-mail
Pension no.
Old address Your signature
Postcode Date
New address Please ensure you have signed and dated this
form before returning it to the address below:
Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund, Minster
Court, 22-30 York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire,
Postcode SL6 1SF
"
The Scribe page 15Change of bank details notification
For security reasons, we are unable to accept notifications of bank changes over the telephone or by e-mail. Therefore please
confirm the new details in writing to: Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund, Minster Court, 22-30 York Road, Maidenhead,
Berkshire, SL6 1SF. Alternatively you can complete the form below to confirm any changes.
Your personal details
Surname Effective date of Change
Forenames
Building society reference no. (if applicable)
National insurance no.
Pension no.
Your signature
Your telephone no.
E-mail
Date
New Bank Details Please ensure you have signed and dated this form
before returning it to the Royal County of Berkshire
Account name Pension Fund at the address below:
Sort code (6 digits) Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund, Minster
Court, 22-30 York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire,
Account no. (8 digits)
SL6 1SF
"
The Scribe page 16Retired member survey
The purpose of this survey is to seek your views
Strongly disagree
and comments, as retired members, on the service
The Berkshire Pensions
Strongly agree
provided by the pensions team at the Royal County of
Berkshire Pension Fund.
team are...
Disagree
Agree
In an effort to improve the services we provide we
welcome your feedback so please take a few minutes
...clear in their written communication
to complete the questions below and feel free to make
any additional comments in the spaces provided. ...clear in their verbal communication
Please send your completed survey to Berkshire ...inform me of the information/
Pension Fund, Minster Court, 22-30 York Road, services that they can provide
Maidenhead, SL6 1SF or e-mail a scanned copy to ...provide high quality information/
info@berkshirepensions.org.uk services
If you prefer to complete this survey online please ...are able to answer my questions
visit: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/NG653YG ...are knowledgeable and approach-
able
Question 1 ...are courteous
Have you ever contacted the pensions administration
...are helpful
team in Maidenhead (either by telephone, e-mail, post
or in person)? Yes / No (please circle) Question 3
Do you believe you are kept up to date and informed
Question 2
about issues and updates surrounding the LGPS?
If yes, how would you rate the service you received?
Please rate the following statements: Yes / No (please circle)
The Scribe page 17Retired member survey
Question 4 Question 6
How do you rate the communications offered by the How do you rate the overall service provided by the
Berkshire Pension Fund? Please score the following Berkshire Pension Fund? Please score on a scale of 1-5
areas of communication on a scale of 1-4 (4 being the (5 being the highest).
highest).
Please place a tick in the boxes 1 2 3 4 5
Please place a tick in the boxes provided
1 2 3 4
provided
Paper communications
(including the Scribe newsletter
Question 7
and pensions increase booklet) Please feel free to add any other comments below?
Berkshire Pension Fund website
‘my pension ONLINE’
Other pension events (Annual
Meeting, Seminars, presentations)
Thank you for taking the time to complete our survey
Question 5
Please comment on any areas of our pension service
where you feel we could improve?
The Scribe page 18‘my pension ONLINE’
‘my pension ONLINE’ is an internet based application
which enables you to securely access and update As a Retired or Dependant member of
your own pension details online via the Royal County the scheme you can:
of Berkshire Pension Fund website from the comfort
of your own home or workplace using a desktop PC,
laptop, smartphone or tablet. • View/update your personal details
• View your P60 and payment history
• Access all publications to calculate
the value of your dependant benefits
To register for ‘my pension ONLINE’ please
Take charge of your
visit www.berkshirepensions.org.uk
Newsletters and payslips
We will continue to issue The Scribe newsletter,
Pension Increase booklet and P60 to your home
address in hard copy format.
A hard copy payslip will be issued to you if your
monthly pension payment has changed by more
than 50 pence from the previous month.
The Scribe page 19State pension directory
Do you have a question about your State pension or
require further pensions advice?
We have provided some contacts below which you may
find helpful:
Future pension 0800 7310175
centre Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm
Check your
state pension www.gov.uk/state-pension-age
age
Winter fuel
0800 7310160
payment centre
International
+44 (0) 191 218 7777
pension centre
Pension credit 0800 991234
Claiming your
state pension
0800 7317898
for the first
time
The Scribe page 20Spring Sudoku competition
In our Autumn 2018 edition of The Scribe we invited Fill in the squares in the grid, so that each row, each
our readers to try our word search competition. column and each 3 x 3 contains all the digits from 1 - 9.
Thank you to everyone who entered.
For another chance to win a £25 Marks & Spencer gift
voucher, kindly donated by our in-house printers, why
6 8 9
not have a go at our Spring Sudoku competition?
Please send your entry to Joanne Brazier, Royal
9 1 8
County of Berkshire Pension Fund, Minster Court, 22-
30 York Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1SF to reach us by 31
2 8 1 4
July 2019. The winner will be drawn at random from
the correct entries received. Good luck! 5 1 9 8
Please note this competition is not open to members of
the administration or investments pension teams. 3 6 5 9
Name 4 6 3 5
Address
7 6
Postcode
6
Tel. Number 7 2
"
The Scribe page 21Quick Q and A
Q What happens if I move abroad?
Q What happens if I become re-
employed after I have claimed my
Berkshire Pension?
A If you move abroad you can request
your Berkshire Pension to paid into an
account in the country of your residence.
This service is provided by Western Union through the
A If you become re-employed following
your retirement there will be no change
to the gross amount of your Berkshire
Pension. You may pay more income tax if you have
Overseas Payment Service (OPS). If you choose to have more than one income.
your pension paid via OPS, your pension will be credited
to your personal bank account in your local currency.
However, please note that not all countries are able to
offer the OPS facility.
Q Can I choose to have my pension paid
annually or quarterly?
A
All administration charges for this service will be met by Your pension can only be paid to you in
the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund. monthly instalments. You will receive a
Q Is my monthly pension taxed?
payment into your nominated bank account
on the last working day of the month. Please see page 5
for your monthly payment dates.
A The pension we pay you from the Berkshire
Pension Fund is a taxable income. We will
be advised of your tax code information
directly from HMRC. Turn to page 10 to find out more.
The Scribe page 22Contacts directory
We have provided some contacts below which you may
find helpful:
Pension Wise
www.pensionwise.gov.uk
0800 138 3944
Citizens Advice Bureau
www.citizensadvice.org.uk
Age Uk
www.ageuk.org.uk
0800 678 1602
Find an advisor
www.unbiased.co.uk
0800 0236868
The Money Advice Service
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
0800 1387777
The Scribe page 23Contact us
Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund
Minster Court, 22-30 York Road, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 1SF
Pensions Helpdesk: 0845 602 7237
lines are open Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 5pm and Friday 8.30am to 4.30pm
Reception desk:
Tel: 01628 796 668
Fax: 01628 796 700
info@berkshirepensions.org.uk
www.berkshirepensions.org.uk
If you would like this newsletter in large print or audio please contact us on 01628 796754
or e-mail info@berkshirepensions.org.uk
The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead is the administering authority to the Royal County of Berkshire Pension FundYou can also read
