ANNUAL INFORMATION

 

 

Dear NILGOSC Pensioner,

 

Welcome to this, the 2003 edition of “Pensioners’ News”. This leaflet was designed by the Pensions Payroll Team at NILGOSC to keep you up to date with any matters that might affect your occupational pension.

 

It outlines any changes that may have taken place since I last wrote to you a year ago and it lets you know the dates when your pension will be paid over the course of the forthcoming year.

 

I hope that it will prove to be a useful and informative document and I would urge you to retain it until the next edition of “Pensioners’ News” is published.

 

Over the past twelve months, the media spotlight has been trained upon occupational pensions, due to a number of different factors.

 

In spite of recent falls in stock markets around the globe, I would like to take this opportunity to re-assure you that the NILGOSC pension fund enjoys a healthy financial position at present and that your pension payment each month is safe and is guaranteed. If any shortfall was ever to arise this would be topped up by the employers in the scheme without affecting the benefits you currently receive.

 

With every best wish for 2004,

 

Terence Wells

 

Payroll Manager

 

NEW TELEPHONE SERVICE

 

We have now provided a direct telephone line that will connect you straight away with the Pension Payroll Team, doing away with the need to go through the main switchboard at NILGOSC.

 

The new direct line for Pensions Payroll:

 

028 9076 4196

 

We are always seeking to improve the service that we can offer to pensioners and we would welcome any suggestions or observations that you might have.

 

If you have any comments, questions or complaints, please feel free to contact us by means of any of the following methods:

 

By post or by visiting us at:

Pensions Payroll Team,

NILGOSC

Templeton House,

411, Holywood Road,

BELFAST BT4 2LP.

 

By telephone: 028 90 764196

 

By fax: 028 90 768790.

 

E-mail: info@nilgosc.org.uk

 

Website: www.nilgosc.org.uk

 

The office is open during normal business hours. You can also phone us outside of these hours and leave a message on our answer service.

 

 

PENSION INCREASE

 

This year, NILGOSC pensions have been increased by 1.7% with effect from 7 April 2003. Government determines this increase each year and this year’s figure reflected the annual increase in the Retail Prices Index for the year ending 30 September 2002.

 

NILGOSC does not have the power to amend any stipulated increase and it must comply with the provisions of the Pensions Increase (Review) Order (Northern Ireland), which is passed into law each year.

 

How the increase affects you

 

The increase is paid to all pensioners who are aged 55 or over. However, you will receive an increase each year if you retired on ill-health grounds or if you receive a spouse’s or child’s pension, irrespective of age.

 

If you are over the state pension age (currently 60 for women and 65 for men), you will not qualify for the full annual increase if you have accrued a pre-1988 guaranteed minimum pension during the course of your former employment. This element will be increased through your state pension and not by NILGOSC.

 

Please refer to pages 13-15 of the “Retirement Guide” that you received when you retired. This booklet gives an illustration of the effect of a guaranteed minimum pension upon the pension increase.

 

We are aware that the annual rate of inflation as at 30 September 2003 was 2.8%. While we cannot pre-empt the Government’s decision, we would expect next year’s increase, which will be due from 12 April 2004, to be based on this figure.

 

In April of next year, your monthly pension will consist of eleven days’ payment at your current rate of pension and nineteen days at the new rate of pension. You will not receive your first full monthly payment at the increased rate until May 2004.

 

If you are in receipt of any type of means-tested benefit from the Social Security Agency or from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, please make your April 2004 and May 2004 payslips available to officials from these bodies as quickly as possible.

 

 

PENSION PAYMENT DATES FOR 2003-2004

 

Pension payment dates will normally fall on the last banking/working day of each month, with the main exception of December. The expected payment dates for the rest of this year and for 2004 are as follows:

 

Payment Date

Cheques/Payslips Posted

 

2003

31 October (Friday)

28 October

28 November (Friday)

25 November

23 December (Tuesday)

19 December

2004

30 January (Friday)

27 January

27 February (Friday)

24 February

31 March (Wednesday)

29 March

30 April (Friday)

27 April

28 May (Friday)

25 May

30 June (Wednesday)

28 June

30 July (Friday)

27 July

31 August (Tuesday)

27 August

30 September (Thursday)

27 September

29 October (Friday)

26 October

30 November (Tuesday)

26 November

23 December (Thursday)

20 December

 

All cheques and payslips will be posted out three working days before the due pay date, using the second-class mail service.

 

Every pensioner will receive a payslip from us in the months of April and May of each year. Unless you have specifically requested a payslip in the other months, you will only receive a payslip in the other 10 months if your pension varies by more than £1.00 net, when compared to the net amount in the previous month.

 

FRAUD

 

Last year in Pensioners’ News, we referred to NILGOSC’s participation in the National Fraud Initiative exercise of 2002. We will continue to send the details of all of our current pensioners to the Audit Commission every two years, as part of this anti-fraud drive.

The Commission will check our data, in order to identify pensioners who are now deceased and we will vigorously pursue the next of kin to recover any overpayments. Other public bodies may also want to use our data, in order to identify other types of fraud.

 

Thankfully the number of fraud cases perpetrated against NILGOSC remains low and this issue does not affect the majority of our pensioners. However the Pension Payroll Team is required to remain vigilant and must use all means available to deter those who defraud the fund. Where fraud is suspected, we will ask the P.S.N.I. to investigate and a prosecution may follow. In the past year, one prosecution led to a jail sentence being served by the perpetrator.

 

Additional action may also be taken. We lodge Small Claims Court proceedings against the relatives of deceased pensioners who have received a pension they are not entitled to and we will lodge further proceedings with the Enforcement of Judgments Office in order to recover any sums awarded by the courts.

 

In order to avoid this unpleasant scenario, we would ask each of our pensioners to ensure that a designated relative be charged with the task of contacting NILGOSC immediately in the event of your death.

 

The Pension Payroll Team is co-operating very closely with personnel in the Social Security Agency’s Benefit Investigation Unit and with officials of the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to clamp down on fraud.

 

We will continue to provide details of NILGOSC pensions to these bodies, when requested. It is vitally important that our pensioners should always remember to declare the value of their NILGOSC pension income at the outset when they lodge a claim for any means-tested Social Security Agency benefits or for housing benefits.

 

 

CHEQUE PAYMENTS

 

At present, less than 600 pensioners are being paid by cheque, out of 20,500 pensioners.

We have already renewed our supplies of stationery and our cheques will have a brand new layout. If you are being paid by cheque, we intend to introduce the following changes from October 2003:

 

(1). The words “Pay to the Order Of” will now simply read, “Pay”.

 

(2). The word “Pay” will be followed by the name of the payee and the word “Only” will follow the pensioner’s name.

 

(3). Cheques will be crossed “A/C Payee” and “Not Transferable”.

 

(4). Our cheques will only be valid for one calendar month from the date of issue.

 

These security features will mean that a cheque that has been lost or stolen cannot be cashed.

 

You will find that you will not be able to obtain cash for a non-transferable cheque. We strongly believe that it would be to the benefit of all cheque payees to have their pensions credited directly into a bank or building society account.

 

The great advantage of having your pension credited into a bank account is that you will have access to cleared funds on payday itself, without having to wait until a cheque clears.

 

Any pensioner who wishes to change from cheque payment to direct payment into a bank or building society account should contact us in writing, giving us their account details. Please ensure that your notification is signed.

 

The account should be held solely in your own name or, it may be a joint account with another person. We will not make payments into the account of any third party.

You will be aware that the government also intends to pay all benefits directly into a bank or building society account in the near future.

 

The Social Security Agency’s information line for direct payments is

 

0800 107 5000

 

 

INLAND REVENUE

 

The Inland Revenue has also changed its telephone number for its customers. If you need to contact the Tax Office, you should quote reference number 916/G82576. Written queries should be addressed to:

 

Inspector of Taxes,

Inland Revenue,

Northern Ireland Counties Area

Foyle House

Duncreggan House

DERRY

BT48 0AA

 

The new telephone number for the Inland Revenue:

 

0845 3021481

 

 

KEEPING US INFORMED

 

Please inform us immediately of changes to any of the following details:

 

·         Address

·         Bank or building society account

·         Name or marital status

 

We need to know of any changes as far as possible in advance of the next payment date. Usually we would stop inputting changes onto our payroll system approximately two weeks before the stated paydays.

 

We can only accept changes of bank or building society details in writing and your normal signature will be required to authenticate the change.

 

Please quote your pension reference number or your national insurance number on all correspondence, to enable us to trace you on our payroll system.

 

Each year, Royal Mail returns a number of documents to us, owing to the fact that pensioners have forgotten to tell us of a change of address.

 

If this happens, your pension will be suspended immediately. Payments will not be resumed until you re-establish contact with us and any arrears due will not be paid until the next available payment date.

 

 

ALTERNATIVE METHODS OF COMMUNICATION

 

NILGOSC has now linked up with the Royal National Institute for the Blind and we can now supply talking payslips on audiotape or we can forward copies of our documents to you in the Braille format.

 

If you have any problems with your eyesight and you wish to avail of these services, then please let a member of the Payroll Team know. Suitable arrangements will then be made with the RNIB.

 

 

RE-EMPLOYMENT

 

Many of our pensioners now take up other employment after their retirement. This may be with the same employer, or with a different company or body. It is important that you should contact us before doing so, as re-employment may affect your pension.

If your new employment is with an employer who is not a member of the NILGOSC scheme, this will not affect the rate of your pension.

 

However, if you are thinking of taking up other employment with an employer who is a member of NILGOSC, you must inform the Committee immediately, even if you opt not to re-join the Scheme.

 

In certain circumstances, a part of your pension or your entire pension may have to be withheld until you come to retire again.

 

 

P60s

 

We are often asked about form P60. This is the document in which we give details of your gross pension payments and income tax for the previous tax year between April – March.

 

We must complete an annual return for the Inland Revenue after the March payroll is finalised each year. It is only when this return has been checked and balanced that we can print your P60.

 

NILGOSC has a statutory duty to provide you with a P60 by the end of May each year, although we will endeavour to post it out to you before this deadline.

 

We would request that you do not telephone us before 31 May to ask when your P60 will be sent out

 

 

STUDENT AWARDS

 

Please note that, if your son or daughter is applying for a student award, it is your responsibility to forward your P60 directly to the Student Grants’ Section of your local Education and Library Board. It will not be necessary to send any forms for completion by NILGOSC if you take this step.

 

 

 

PENSION CREDITS

 

The new Government pension credits will come into payment at the beginning of October. These are not associated with NILGOSC so all enquiries concerning the new system of credits should be directed to:

 

Social Security Agency,

Pension Service,

PO Box 205,

Carlisle House,

Hawkin Street,

DERRY,

BT48 6YB.

 

Telephone number: 0808 100 6165

 

You will need to declare your NILGOSC income to the Pension Service when you first claim a pension credit. Please retain all payslips and P60s for inspection by the authorised officers.

 

 

OVERSEAS RESIDENTS

 

It is our intention to put in place a system whereby we will write out to any NILGOSC pensioner who resides outside the United Kingdom on an annual basis.

 

Other United Kingdom pension funds employ this method of communication and we are following well-established best practice within the pensions industry.

 

You will be sent a letter, which you will be required to sign and to return to the Committee, in order to verify that you are still living at the address that we are holding on our payroll system.

 

We will allow sufficient time to permit the return of your reply. However, we will suspend any overseas pension if you fail to contact us within a two-month period after we have sent a letter to you.

 

This step will be implemented in the near future and we ask for your co-operation in this matter.

 

 

 

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2002/2003 SUMMARY

 

The following is a summary of the Annual Report 2002/2003, a copy of which is available on request from NILGOSC or can be viewed at the NILGOSC website (www.nilgosc.org.uk).

 

Key Highlights

 

·         New Local Government pension scheme regulations were made which provide more options for members on how they take their pension on retirement.

 

·         The Committee revised the investment performance benchmarks and restructured the investment fund management arrangements.

 

 

 

Investment Performance

 

The overall return on the total assets of the fund was –21.9%, as compared to the CAPS Total Fund Median return of –22.7% for 2002/2003, which shows that the Fund managed to outperform the CAPS comparator by 0.8% despite the difficult trading conditions.

Text Box: % Return

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Membership

 

The number of employing authorities increased to 209, highlighting the continuing importance of the Northern Ireland Local Government Pension Scheme to employers as a means of attracting and retaining skilled employees.

The Scheme administered 38,967 contributing members during the year ended 31 March 2003 and paid over £71m in retirement benefits to 20,127 pensioners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Equality Scheme

 

During the year NILGOSC undertook an equality impact assessment of the administration of The Local Government Pension Scheme.

 

As a result of the assessment an exercise was undertaken to determine the alternative communication needs of all members and pensioners.

 

Further research is underway on the scheme membership to determine if any group is under or over represented. NILGOSC is also undertaking a feasibility study on the use of a lo-call telephone system.

 

No equality complaints were received in 2002/2003. To raise any equality issue with NILGOSC please contact Jennifer Campbell, the Equality Officer.

 

Fund Account