Submitting your Data Return

If you're looking for help and support with your monthly data return, you'll find all the information you need on this page.

Deadline for submitting monthly data returns

10th of the month (or 6th of the month for Lancashire County Pension Fund).

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In order to submit your data returns, you’ll need to download the appropriate data returns template.

You’ll also need the pension specification document, as it provides a complete list of all the data requirements, along with formats and examples.

Make sure you share these documents with any relevant colleagues (including third party payroll providers).

You may find these guides useful – all are useful for submitting your data returns to the UPM employer portal.

Five ways to avoid file errors

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Check your employer code is a five-digit number (and include some leading zeroes if it isn’t one).
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Check the header row on your file is deleted (so your data begins on row 1).
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Check the date is in the correct format (so it reads DD/MM/YYYY).
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Check there are no commas in the data (so the columns don’t misalign).
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If you’ve recently sent us your final annual data return, check you’ve received a notification from us to say it has been processed (you can’t send us another data return until processing is complete).

For more information on these tips and others, see the FAQs tab

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Use separate lines if employees have more than one role

If an employee has two positions in your company, remember to put each role on a separate line alongside their unique employee payroll number (column C on the data return). If you don’t, the contribution information we hold will be incorrect, which will create a query that you need to resolve.

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Don’t flag switching roles as joiners or leavers

If an employee is moving from one role to another, don’t flag them as a joiner and/or leaver. This will result in scheme joiner or leaver documentation being sent to them. Instead, just provide their contribution information on one line and ensure that the contribution rate is correct (for the end of that month).

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Use the right column when adding contributions

When adding employer and employee contributions, make sure that you add them to the correct column. If they are the wrong way round, your data return will be rejected and you’ll need to resubmit it.

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Add additional contributions to the correct column

If a member is paying additional pension contributions (APCs), additional regular contributions (ARCs), additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) or added years – make sure you add them to the correct column. If they’re added to the incorrect column, this will generate a query that will be sent to your workfeed to resolve.

For example, if you add AVC contributions to the APC column, you would receive an AVC query in your workfeed (as the system would be expecting AVC contributions when there aren’t any). In this instance, the system would also create an APC query for LPPA to review, even though we don’t hold an APC contract for the member.

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Don’t submit a joiner form if you’ve added data for new joiners

If you have included someone as a new joiner on your monthly data return, there’s no need to submit a separate joiner form for them. This would create a duplicate record for the member (and create additional work for you)!

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Only add addresses for new joiners

Make sure you only provide address information for new joiners. If you add an address for someone not flagged as a new joiner, it will fail our data validation checks and you’ll need to remove it before you can submit your data return.

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The ‘reasons for leaving’ you submit must match one of those in the pension specification document

The reasons for leaving you add to your data return must exactly match one of the recognised options listed in the pension specification document – or it will be flagged as an error in your monthly return, and will need to be corrected.

View pensions specification document

Download your errors report

Remember, if you receive any errors when trying to submit your data return, you can now download an errors report. This lists any errors you need to correct before submitting. This report can be downloaded at ‘stage two’, under the SSRS report tab, from the UPM employer portal Dashboard. 

Specification & Template

Receiving errors when submitting your data returns

CSV (comma-separated values) file queries

Submitting your data returns file

Submitting your data returns file

What’s changed in how you send your data to LPPA

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