We have identified an issue regarding term time only members, which may apply to you.

The issue is that some employers / payroll providers have been providing inaccurate full time equivalent (FTE) final salary pay figures to the pension fund on the i-Connect system, specifically for term time only members.

The data provided on i-Connect submissions feeds straight into our Pensions Administration System, which is then available in real time for members on our online service My Pension.

Using this service, members can see the value of their pension and can calculate how much pension and lump sum they will receive if they retire voluntarily at any given date beyond age 55 (including the amount of early retirement reductions that may apply). If the figures provided on the i-Connect submissions are incorrect, this could cause issues if a member decides to retire based on these figures.

We have recently dealt with a complaint from a term time only member who was retiring. The member carried out a retirement estimate on My Pension, using the pay figures shown on My Pension (which were provided by their employer on i-Connect). When the member received their actual retirement figures, they were shocked to find these were quite a lot lower than they expected.

The member’s pension figures were lower because the FTE pay figure submitted on i-Connect had been based on the full year, rather than term time only weeks, so was significantly higher than it should have been.

It is essential the FTE final salary pay figure is correct on the i-Connect files submitted:-

• The FTE final salary pay figure should be the amount the member would have received in the last 365 days if they had worked full time during the year.
• For term time only members, you must NOT equate the pay up to 52 weeks – the FTE pay needs to be the amount they would have received if they had worked full time during term time only.
• Similarly, for term time only members, their hours should NOT be equated to the full year. If a member works 18 hours out of 36 during term time only, their hours on the i-Connect file should be 18 out of 36.

If you have any members who work term time only and have been providing the FTE pay figures based on the full year, or calculated their hours over the full year, please let us know.

If this is the case, you will need to correct their FTE pay / hours on future i-Connect uploads and we may need to liaise with you to correct the data on the members’ records.

If you are sending us any member data outside of i-Connect to correct member records, please ensure you send this securely.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the team on 0161 301 7040 or iconnect@gmpf.org.uk.