Interactive specification document
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Use the search bar to highlight the key phrases or criteria you are interested in. This will allow you to identify which columns need to be completed on your monthly data return.
For example, if you are ready to report a leaver but you are unsure which columns to complete, you can search the word ‘Leavers’ in the search bar and it will show all of the relevant and mandatory columns that you need to complete.
Key phrases that can be searched: Leavers, Joiners, Mandatory, 50/50, APC, ARC, AVC, Additional Contributions, Employer contributions, Part-time Buy Back Contributions, Break, Change of Hours, Casual, Opt-Out, Reduction in pay, Early Retirement, Ill Health Retirement, Assumed Pensionable pay, Notes.
Once you’ve entered your keyword (eg ‘leaver‘ or ‘joiner), you may want to print out the table for reference.
To do this, simply click the print icon and follow the instructions on your computer.
You may not be familiar with some of the abbreviations or terminology in the table, so we’ve put together a breakdown of some of the terms that you may come across – along with the recognised titles, statuses and reasons that will be accepted.
| Column | Field name | Recognised terms | Code meanings |
| E | TITLE | Baroness, Cllr, Col, Coroner, Dr, Drs, Lady, Lord, M s, Mdm, Miss, Mr, Mrs, Ms, Mstr, Mx, Prof, Rev, Revd, Rvt, Sir, S | – |
| H | GENDER | – | M = Male, F = Female |
| J | MARITALSTATUS | Civil Partner, Divorced, Married, Partner, Same Sex Marriage, Separated, Single, Widowed, Unknown | – |
| X | SCHEMESECTION | – | 1 = Main Section, 2 = 50/50 section |
| AQ | BREAKREASON | – | S = Strike break, C = Career break, PL = Paternity leave, M = Maternity leave, A = Authorised absence |
| BA | EETYPE | – | EJ = Eligible Jobholder, NEJ = Non-Eligible Jobholder, EW = Entitled Worker, CO = Contractual Joiner |
| BF | OOREASON | – | AE = Auto Enrollment, C = Contractual |
| BH | JOINERFG | – | Y = Yes, N = No |
| BI | LEAVERFG | – | Y = Yes, N = No, T = Tupe transfer |
| BJ | REASONFORLEAVING | Deceased, Dismissed, Flexible Retirement aged 55 or over, Ill Health Retirement, Opt-out of Scheme, Redundancy or Business Efficiency aged 55 or over, Resignation aged 55 or over including voluntary retirement, Resignation aged under 55, TUPE/Academy Conversion/MAT Transfer. | – |
Please note
Where a file is submitted in an incorrect format, it will be invalid and you will be prompted to correct the data.
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| Column | Field Name | Description | Mandatory | Format example | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | EMPLOYER NO | UPM Pay Location Reference | Must be a recognised pay location reference in UPM | Yes | 00001 |
| 2 | B | EMPLOYEE MEMBERSHIP NO | UPM Folder Reference | Not in use by LPPA - Please enter "0" | Yes | 0 |
| 3 | C | EMPLOYEE PAYROLL NO | Employee payroll number | EMPLOYEEPAYROLLNO must be provided | Yes | 123456B |
| 4 | D | NINO | Member's National insurance number | Must be provided in correct format | Yes | NA123456A |
| 5 | E | TITLE | Member's Title | Must be provided and must be a recognised title in UPM | Yes | Mr, Mrs, Lady, Rev |
| 6 | F | FORENAMES | Members Fornames | Must be provided and must not contain numeric characters | Yes | Alan Edward |
| 7 | G | SURNAME | Members Surname | Must be provided and must not contain numeric characters | Yes | Smith |
| 8 | H | GENDER | Member Gender | Must be either M or F | Yes | M – Male, F - Female |
| 9 | I | DOB | Members Date of Birth | Must be provided and must be in a valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY - For joiners, DOB must not be greater than DOA and must not be 75 at DOA | Yes | 01/01/1960 |
| 10 | J | MARITAL STATUS | Members Marital Status | Must be provided for rows which are flagged as a Joiner or Leaver. Must be a recognised marital status in UPM. | CONDITIONAL - only required if the member is a joiner or a leaver | Married, Divorced |
| 11 | K | DATE OF MARRIAGE | Members Date of Marriage | Must be in valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY | No | 01/01/2017 |
| 12 | L | PHONE NUMBER | Members Mobile Phone Number | No | 01132441404 | |
| 13 | M | EMAIL HOME | Members Personal Email Address | Must be in a valid email address format | No | Clare@yahoo.com |
| 14 | N | EMAIL WORK | Members Work Email Address | Must be in a valid email address format | No | Clare@yahoo.com |
| 15 | O | ADDRESS LINE 1 | Members Address, Line 1 | Must only be provided for rows which are flagged as a Joiner | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member is a joiner | 1 Test Street |
| 16 | P | ADDRESS LINE 2 | Members Address, Line 2 | Must not contain commas | No | Test |
| 17 | Q | ADDRESS LINE 3 | Members Address, Line 3 | Must not contain commas | No | Morley |
| 18 | R | ADDRESS LINE 4 | Members Town/City | Must not contain commas | No | Preston |
| 19 | S | ADDRESS LINE 5 | Members County | Must not contain commas | No | West Yorkshire |
| 20 | T | POST CODE | Members Postal Code | Must only be provided for rows which are flagged as a Joiner | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member is a joiner | LE12 5HG |
| 21 | U | JOB TITLE | Members Job Title | No | Cleaner | |
| 22 | V | SCHOOL | Members School Name | Must not contain numeric characters | No | St Peters |
| 23 | W | EFFECTIVE DATE | This should be the last day of the pay period, or, for Leavers, this should be the date the member left the scheme. | Must be in a valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY | Yes | 31/01/2017 |
| 24 | X | SCHEME SECTION | Section of the scheme the employee was a member of at the end of the pay period. | Must be either: 1 for Main section or 2 for 50/50 section | Yes | "1" or "2" |
| 25 | Y | CONTRATE | Members contribution rate payable at the end of the pay period. The Standard contribution rate being deducted at the end of the period | Must be provided and a valid rate applicable to the SCHEMESECTION | Yes | "5.5" or "2.75" |
| 26 | Z | BASICPENSIONS CONTS | Member's pensions contributions | Error if BASICPENSIONCONTS has been provided but the SCHEMESECTION is not set as 1 (Main Section) Error if you have not provided a BASICPENSIONCONTS figure and the member is flagged as SCHEMESECTION = 1 and BREAKREASON is NULL or CASUAL is Y Error if BASICPENSIONCONTS have been provided but MAINSECTIONPENSIONABLEPAY has not | Yes - Only if column X has been completed with "1" | 950.23 or 0 if contributions not paid in this period |
| 27 | AA | MAINSECTION PENSIONABLE PAY | Actual pensionable pay received in main section on which LG contributions have been calculated in the main section of the scheme including any Assumed Pensionable Pay the member is treated as receiving during the period. | Error if MAINSECTIONPENSIONABLEPAY has been provided but the SCHEMESECTION is not set as 1 (Main Section) Error if you have not provided a MAINSECTIONPENSIONABLEPAY figure and the SCHEMESECTION = 1 and BREAKREASON is NULL or CASUAL is Y Error if MAINSECTIONPENSIONABLEPAY has been provided but BASICPENSIONCONTS has not | Yes - Only if column X has been completed with "1" | 2345.55 or 0 if contributions not paid in this period |
| 28 | AB | PENSIONABLE PAY | Annual Full Time Equivalent Final Pensionable Pay (as per 2008 regs). | Error if PENSIONABLEPAY <£7000.00 PENSIONABLEPAY is the full-time equivalent Pensionable Salary and cannot be <£7000.00 | Yes | 27666.85 |
| 29 | AC | FIFTY FIFTY SECT PENSIONABLE PAY | Actual pensionable pay received in the 50/50 section of the scheme including any Assumed Pensionable Pay the member is treated as receiving during the period. | Error if FIFTYFIFTYSECTPENSIONABLEPAY has been provided but the SCHEMESECTION is not set as 2 (50/50 Section) Error if you have not provided a FIFTYFIFTYSECTPENSIONABLEPAY figure and the SCHEMESECTION = 2 and BREAKREASON is NULL or CASUAL is Y Error if FIFTYFIFTYSECTPENSIONABLEPAY has been provided but FIFTYFIFTYPENSIONCONTS has not | Yes - Only if column X has been completed with "2" | 10000.25 or 0 if no pay received relating to 50/50 section |
| 30 | AD | FIFTY FIFTY PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS | Employee Contributions paid in the 50/50 section for the period excluding Part Time Buy Back (PTBB), APCS, ARCs, Reg 55 and AVCs to Equitable Life or Prudential. | Error if FIFTYFIFTYPENSIONCONTS have been provided but the SCHEMESECTION is not set as 2 (50/50 Section) Error if you have not provided a FIFTYFIFTYPENSIONCONTS figure and the member is flagged as SCHEMESECTION = 2 and BREAKREASON is NULL or CASUAL is Y Error if FIFTYFIFTYPENSIONCONTS have been provided but FIFTYFIFTYSECTPENSIONABLEPAY has not | Yes - Only if column X has been completed with "2" | 400.66 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period |
| 31 | AE | APCSEMPLOYEEREGULAR | Employee Additional Pension Contributions (APC's) - regular contribution | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 1000.37 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 32 | AF | APCSEMPLOYEELUMPSUM | Employee Additional Pension Contributions (APC's) - lump sum | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 500.48 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 33 | AG | AVCS | Employee AVC Contributions AVCs paid to Equitable Life or Prudential | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 750 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 34 | AH | ARCS | Employee ARC contributions paid (Reg 14 2008 regs) | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 150.55 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 35 | AI | ADDYRSCONTSUM | Employee Additional contributions paid (E.g. Reg 55 - Purchase of additional membership) | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 300.33 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 36 | AJ | EMPLOYERCONTS | Contributions made by employer in respect of employee's pensionable pay | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 1001.24 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 37 | AK | APCSEMPLOYERREGULAR | Employer Additional Pension Contributions (APC's) - regular contribution | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 835.48 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 38 | AL | APCSEMPLOYERLUMPSUM | Employer Additional Pension Contributions (APC's) - lump sum | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 5000 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 39 | AM | EMPLOYERAVCS | Employer AVC Contributions | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 205.2 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 40 | AN | PARTTIMEBUYBACKCONTS | Part time buy-back contributions | Only Mandatory if applicable for the member | 950.23 or 0 if contributions not paid in the period | |
| 41 | AO | BREAKSTARTDATEPM | Start Date of UNPAID Break in Pensionable Membership. Only required where a break in paid membership is being notified. | If present, BREAKSTARTDATEPM must be in valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY BREAKSTARTDATEPM cannot be in the future. | No | 01/11/2017 |
| 42 | AP | BREAKENDDATEPM | End Date of Break in UNPAID Pensionable Membership. Only required where a break in membership is being notified This field can be left blank in case of Sick Pay and paid Maternity | If present, BREAKENDDATEPM must be a valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY If BREAKENDDATEPM present, this must be greater than or equal to BREAKSTARTDATEPM. If BREAKENDDATEPM present, the BREAKSTARTDATEPM should not be null BREAKENDDATEPM cannot be in the future. | No | 15/11/2017 |
| 43 | AQ | BREAKREASON | Reason for Break (Only required where a break in membership is being notified) | If BREAKSTARTDATEPM is provided, BREAKREASON must be either S, C, PL, M or A and cannot be NULL | CONDITIONAL - Only if column AO has been completed | S, C, PL, M, A |
| 44 | AR | HOURSCHANGESTARTDATE | Date of Change of Hours or Change of Term-Time Weeks | Must be in valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY Error if HOURSCHANGESTARTDATE provided and NEWSTANDARDHOURS is NULL or = 0.00 | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member has had a contractual change to hours or term-time weeks | 10/11/2017 |
| 45 | AS | NEWCONTRACTEDHOURS | Current Weekly Contracted Hours | Current contractual hours for the pay period NEWCONTRACTEDHOURS must be present For joiners, where the casual flag is Y, NEWCONTRACTEDHOURS should be 0.01 NEWCONTRACTEDHOURS should not be greater than NEWSTANDARDHOURS | Yes | 18.50, Casual - 0.01, Full Time - 37.00, Part Time - actual weekly contracted hours (e.g. 18.50) |
| 46 | AT | NEWSTANDARDHOURS | New Weekly Standard Hours (Full time equivalent). | NEWSTANDARDHOURS must be present | Yes | 37 |
| 47 | AU | PREVCONTRACTEDHOURS | Previous Weekly Contracted Hours | For Joiners, PREVCONTRACTEDHOURS must be null | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column AR has been completed | 20 |
| 48 | AV | PREVSTANDARDHOURS | Previous Weekly Standard Hours (Full time equivalent). Required for new members except new joiners. | For Joiners, PREVSTANDARDHOURS must be null | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column AR has been completed | 37 |
| 49 | AW | DOA | Members date of admission to the scheme | DOA must be present for joiners For joiners, DOB must not be greater than DOA For joiners, DOA must be in valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY For joiners, DOA cannot be after EFFECTIVEDATE DOA must not be more than 3 months ago unless file period is Annual or Mid-year | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member is a joiner | 01/11/2017 |
| 50 | AX | CASUAL | Flag to indicate the member is casual or variable | If NEWCONTRACTEDHOURS = 0.01 then CASUAL should be Y | Yes - Only if column AT has been completed with "0.01" | Y |
| 51 | AY | PENPAY | Annual Pensionable Pay for new joiners based on hours worked. If annual pay is 20000 and they work 17.5/35 hours the PENPAY would be 10000 (prorata pay NOT scaled up for FTE). Based on the 2014 scheme definition. | For Joiners, must be provided PENPAY cannot be 0 | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member is a joiner | 20000 |
| 52 | AZ | AE (Auto Enrolled) | Flag to indicate this member has been Auto Enrolled | For joiners, AE must be either Y or N | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member is a joiner | Y, N |
| 53 | BA | EETYPE | Employee Type | For joiners, EETYPE must be provided if the AE = Y For joiners, EETYPE must be either EJ, NEJ, EW or CO | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member is a joiner | EJ, NEJ, EW, CO |
| 54 | BB | OORECDDATE | Date the ‘Declaration of Opt-out’ received by Employer | If present, OORECDDATE must be in a valid date format – DD/MM/YYYY | No | 05/11/2017 |
| 55 | BC | ERDEC | Declaration that the Employer has seen the Opt-out notice and provided enrolment information | For joiners, ERDEC should be populated with Y if OOFG = Y | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BD has been completed with a "Y" | Y, N |
| 56 | BD | OOFG | Opt-out flag Only set to Y if member opted-out within 3 months of joining & contributions have been refunded via the payroll | For joiners, OOFG should be Y or N and not NULL For joiners, if OOFG is Y, OODATE should be populated For joiners, if OOFG is Y, OOREASON should be populated For joiners, if OOFG is Y, ERDEC must be populated with Y | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if the member is a joiner | Y, N |
| 57 | BE | OODATE | Opt-out date | For joiners, OODATE must be in valid date format - DD/MM/YYYY For joiners, check that OODATE is not less than DOA For joiners, OODATE must not be greater than 3 months from DOA | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BD has been completed with a "Y" | 05/11/2017 |
| 58 | BF | OOREASON | Opt-out Reason | For joiners, if OOREASON is populated this should be either AE = Auto Enrolment or C = Contractual (i.e. LGPS regulation) | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BD has been completed with a "Y" | AE, C |
| 59 | BG | DISCFG | FIELD NOT IN USE BY LPPA | No | - | |
| 60 | BH | JOINERFG | Joiner indicator This will trigger the creation of a new joiner | JOINERFG must be either Y or N Y if member joined the scheme during the period, N if no. | Yes | Y, N |
| 61 | BI | LEAVERFG | Leaver indicator This will trigger the creation of a leaver case | LEAVERFG must be either Y, N or T Y if Yes - if member left the scheme during the period N if No T if TUPE transfer | Yes | Y, N, T |
| 62 | BJ | REASONFORLEAVING | Reason for leaving the pension scheme | If LEAVERFG = Y, REASONFORLEAVING must be provided | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BI has been completed with a "Y" | Deceased, Redundancy or Business Efficiency aged 55 or over, Resignation aged under 55 |
| 63 | BK | REDUCTIONINPAY | Has the member had a reduction in pay? | For leavers, REDUCTIONINPAY must be either Y or N | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BI has been completed with a "Y" | Y, N |
| 64 | BL | PIOVERRIDEDATE | If you are using previous years pay, you must confirm the effective date of the pay | If REDUCTIONINPAY = Y then PIOVERRIDEDATE must be provided | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BK has been completed with a "Y" | 12/04/2016 |
| 65 | BM | PRE2008FTEPAY | Annual Full Time Equivalent Final Pensionable Pay (as per 2008 regs). Annualised full time equivalent pay from the previous 365 days or grossed up to an annual figure if the period covered is less than 365 days. This should be pay for full year and not scaled down for term-time weeks | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BK has been completed with a "Y" | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column BK has been completed with a "Y" | 21000 |
| 66 | BN | REDUCTIONWAIVED | Is the employer waiving the early retirement reduction? | No | Y, N | |
| 67 | BO | TYPEOFILLHEALTHRET | Type of ill Health retirement - Tier 1, 2 or 3 | No | 1, 2, 3 | |
| 68 | BP | SERIOUSILLHEALTH | This should be Y if it is a Serious Ill Health | No | Y, N | |
| 69 | BQ | ASSUMEDPENPAY | This is the members actual annual pay figure to be used in the calculation of ill health enhancement | No | 20000 | |
| 70 | BR | NOTES | Free text field for any notes. Note this is for LPPA purposes and will not be updated on the member record | No | Free Text | |
| 71 | BS | CURRENTTFCON | The current contractual number of weeks that the member is paid for | Yes | 52.2 | |
| 72 | BT | CURRENTTTFFTE | The number of weeks of the year available for the member to work (Full time equivalent) | CURRENTTTFFTE cannot be less than CURRENTTFCON | Yes | 52.2 |
| 73 | BU | PREVTTFFTE | The previous number of weeks of the year available for the member to work (Full time equivalent) Required for all members except new joiners. | For Joiners, PREVTTFFTE must be null | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column AR has been completed | 43.33 |
| 74 | BV | PREVTTFCON | The previous contractual number of weeks of the year that the member was paid for. Required for all members except new joiners. | PREVTTFCON cannot be less than PREVTTFFTE For Joiners, PREVTTFCON must be null | CONDITIONAL - Only mandatory if column AR has been completed | 43.33 |
The data collection file should be prepared in accordance with the specification and formats below. Do not add columns or change header names. Format the columns as outlined. The data should only relate to participating members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS), do not include employees contributing to other schemes (eg Teachers) or include eligible LGPS members who are not participating in the Scheme.
It should include:
- All LGPS members including those who have left within the pay period. The individual must appear on the file for at least one month showing the date of leaving.
- All casuals that have been enrolled in the LGPS must be shown in every pay period even when they have not received any pay. A separate entry is required on the spreadsheet for each contract of employment. The details on each row must relate to an individual employment eg the date of admission (DOA) should be the admission date for the individual employment, not the date of admission with the employer.
Legal Responsibility
As Scheme Employer you have a legal responsibility to provide accurate and timely data to us. You must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the data provided to us is correct before you submit it to us. The data received via data files forms the basis of each Member’s pension pot which is accrued month on month until the Member leaves the Scheme. LPPA will only check the data provided to us for reasonableness against the data we already hold, and if appropriate will query inconsistencies with you.
However, LPPA will not undertake a detailed check of individual calculations or all entries on the data files. The responsibility for accurate and complete data submissions lies with you as the employing authority and you should therefore ensure that you have relevant controls in place to ensure the correct provision of data. If you provide incorrect data, we may quote or pay incorrect benefits, the consequences of which could lead to complaints, appeals and recalculations, reputational damage etc.
If you become aware that you have submitted incorrect data, you must inform us immediately. We would also expect you to investigate the cause of the error, take appropriate action to avoid recurrence, and provide an update to us. If it appears to us that any Employer is failing to take reasonable care in supplying data to us, The Fund reserves the right to recover from the Employer any resulting additional costs incurred.
Where an employer provides incorrect data, The Fund may be required to report the breach to the Pensions Regulator where the breach is assessed to be of material significance to the Regulator.
When assessing materiality, consideration will be given to the – - cause of the breach
- effect of the breach
- reaction to the breach
- wider implications of the breach
