This countdown bulletin provides important guidance and information to pension scheme administrators about the ending of contracting-out - part of the New State Pension which was brought in on 6 April 2016.
The bulletin’s main topics are:
Reconciliation of active member’s closure scan -HMRC intend to automatically close all open periods of contracted out employment held on their records. The scan will run over the Christmas period (December 2016) and details of all the members identified by the scan, will be shared to enable administrators to reconcile active members. Scheme reconciliation service – Pension Scheme Administrators (PSAs) highlighted that the readiness templates may not be getting to the right decision makers within their organisations. The customer relations manager will be clarifying this with the PSAs when he makes telephone contact with them. Financials - From November 2016 HMRC will introduce a process to reconcile scheme financial information. Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) checker – useful advice for those experiencing problems in accessing the service.