Data compliance

You need to provide TPR data to comply with The Pension Regulator’s (TPR) regulations. This information helps the Avon Pension Fund calculate the correct pension benefits for your employees.

As an employer, it’s your responsibility to respond to TPR queries and ensure compliance.

Common and Scheme Specific data

Avon Pension Fund collects two types of data, both common and scheme specific, which are equal in importance. The data can be used to identify individual members, calculate and pay member benefits. As long as this data remains relevant and enables the fund to operate, Avon Pension Fund are compliant with The Pension Regulator’s regulations.

Common data

Common data is unique data that can identify a member. Avon Pension Fund is required to hold this data for all members. If any common data is missing from pension records, it may be impossible to identify or trace the member, or their benefits.

Common data consists of:

National Insurance number.
surname and either forename or initials.
sex.
date of birth.
date pensionable service started, membership/policy start date or first contribution date.
expected retirement/maturity date (target retirement age).
membership status.
last status event – the date at which the membership status last changed (from active to deferred – where appropriate, you should also capture the reason for the change in status (retired or opted out)).
address including postcode.

Scheme-specific data

Avon Pension Fund is also required to hold other data relating to members and their participation in the LGPS. This is known as scheme-specific data.

The data collected will depend on factors such as a member’s status (for example, the data we need for deferred members may differ to the data for active members) and events that have taken place during their membership.

Examples of the scheme-specific data we require at Avon Pension Fund:

member's salary.
employee and employer contribution history.
employment records.
Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) pay.
Full Time Equivalent (FTE).

It is the employer's responsibility to provide this data to Avon Pension Fund in each monthly i-Connect return.

Monitoring your data

The Data Control team will regularly send you a TPR query spreadsheet throughout the year. This spreadsheet will highlight any identified data issues.

We will also notify the Lead Officer when we upload a file to GlobalScape, including the deadline for your response.

Please remember, the Avon Pension Fund will always upload the spreadsheet to your GlobalScape file. If you need to share this data with a third-party payroll provider, it’s your responsibility to take action.

Data request explanations

LGPS eligibility issue - Age 75 exceeded

Employees over 75 cannot contribute to the Avon Pension Fund according to the scheme regulations. The last day an employee can be part of the scheme is when they are 74 years and 363 days old. After this date, we cannot take contributions from them, and the Avon Pension Fund needs a Leaver form from the employer to process their pension.

If we don’t receive the Leaver form and the employee has reached the age limit, we will raise a query using the TPR spreadsheet. To avoid errors and delays in processing your employees’ pensions, please submit the Leaver form promptly.

Note: If an employee falls into this category, double-check the Date of Birth provided.

CARE pay required

In a CARE scheme, we calculate the pension amount for each year based on the pensionable pay for that year. If your employee’s record is missing this data for any specific period or if the amount needs verification, we will raise this issue on the TPR spreadsheet, specifying the required dates.

If you need to provide CARE pay for multiple years for a member, please ensure that the recorded joining date for their position is correct.

More information about CARE pay.

Casual hours data required

If your employee has service before April 2014, the Avon Pension Fund will ask for the hours they worked. This information is needed to calculate the Final Salary benefits of their pension. Please make sure to include this data as part of their Service History. We will specify the required dates if necessary.

Please check we hold the correct Date Joined Fund. If this date is incorrect, we may not need this data.

Correct address required

Avon Pension fund will ask you to confirm a member’s address if any mail has been returned by Royal Mail. In this case, please reach out to your employee and request their updated address.

We need the member's full current postal address, which must include:

House name/number
Street name
Town/city
Post code

Keep in mind that if the address in your system matches what the employee has provided, it might still be incorrect. That’s why we ask you to confirm it with your employee before making any changes in the system.

Correct National Insurance Number (NINO) required

If your employee has been given a Temporary National Insurance number, we will ask you to obtain and provide their permanent number. It’s important to get the correct number before your employee leaves their job, as using a Temporary number can cause problems when processing their benefits.

Date joined Fund required

Issues can arise when a backdated Date Joined Fund is provided. This may happen due to late starter notifications or re-enrolment in the scheme, where the original Date Joined Fund is given instead of the date when contributions were reinstated.

In this case, please verify that the Date Joined Fund is correct. If we request information about CARE, contributions, or an FTE figure, please provide that information as well.

Leaver form required

We will request a Leaver Form if the Employer or Payroll informs us that an employee has left the scheme. This information can come from year-end data, TPR updates, or if the employee contacts the fund.

Full Time Equivalent (FTE) required

An FTE salary represents your employee’s salary adjusted to reflect a full-time equivalent for a full year, regardless of whether they work full-time or part-time. You should provide this data through the i-Connect monthly extract or at year-end if manual updates are needed.

If your employee has service before April 1, 2014, this figure is essential for calculating the Final Salary section of their pension, so it’s important to include it in the records.

If we need a specific period of FTE or need to verify an amount, the Avon Pension Fund will confirm the relevant dates. Find out about FTE and how it affects pension benefits.

Forename correction

This type of query will occur where data has been provided that does not appear correct. For example, this can be where we have only been given details of the members first initial and not the full Forename.

Surname correction

This type of query will occur where data has been provided that seems incorrect. For example, this could happen if we only receive the first letter of the surname or if the employee’s forename is listed twice.

Date of Birth required

If your employee has previous service with us, we may have a different Date of Birth on their record. In this case, we will raise the TPR and ask you to double-check the correct date. It’s important for Avon Pension Fund to have the accurate Date of Birth to ensure that the member’s pension benefits are calculated correctly.

Example data request

Download an Example data query and response guidance (XLSX, 15.21KB)

This provides an overview regarding the layout of the TPR query spreadsheet, and some examples of the type of comments the Fund will request. It also gives the type of response needed from Employer’s to resolve the outstanding data issue.

Reporting non-compliance and escalation

Please note that if data is not submitted in a timely manner, and prior notification has not been received then the following fee structure will be implemented:

Number of Active Members	Penalty charge for 1st late return in tax year	Penalty charge for 2nd late return in tax year	Penalty charge for further late returns in tax year
0-10	Warning	£250	£250 and report TPR
11-99	Warning	£500	£500 and report TPR
100-999	Warning	£750	£750 and report TPR
1000+	Warning	£1,000	£1,000 and report TPR