The Winter issue of Avon Pension News is now available to download from the website. Copies are posted to members who pay into the Fund during January accompanying a Pension Board Recruitment Letter.
One-to-one pension drop in sessions
The one-to-one pension drop in sessions at the One stop shop at Keynsham Library, Keynsham will not be running during the festive period. Consequently, the sessions on Tuesday 24 December (Christmas Eve) and Tuesday 31 December (New Year’s Eve) will not occur. The pension drop-in sessions will resume on Tuesday 7 January 2020.
The Avon Pension Fund office opening times over the festive period are as follows:
The Avon Pension Fund has published its Annual Report 2018/19. It provides information on the management and administration of the Avon Pension Fund during the year.The report includes a review of the year, audited accounts, the Actuarial Statement, investment performance, membership details and any changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme during the 2018/19 financial year.
The Avon Pension Fund has published its Annual Responsible Investing (RI) Report 2018/19. It provides information on all aspects of the Fund’s policies and activities that contribute to its responsible investing objectives. The report sets out the RI and Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) issues that have been taken into account and how these were addressed through strategic decision making.
The Committee will be reviewing the Fund’s current RI policy as part of the investment strategy review later this year.
The Government have announced changes to the late retirement factors for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). These changes came into effect from 1 September 2019 and will affect members who carry on working beyond their normal pension age (NPA). Members who retire after their NPA will see either no change to the increase they receive on their pension or a slight increase depending on how long after their NPA they are retiring.
If you are paying into the local government pension scheme (LGPS) you will receive an Annual Pension Benefit Statement from the Avon Pension Fund by the end of August.
It shows the pension you have built up to 31 March 2019 as well as a future projection of your benefits if you remain paying into the scheme to your Normal Pension Age (NPA). This is the age you would retire and take your benefits without any reduction to your pension.
The statements will be posted out to you from mid to late August.
The Summer issue of Avon Pension News is now available to download from the website. Copies are posted to members who pay into the Fund during August accompanying the Annual Pension Statement.
HMRC have received feedback that pension scheme members are not sure how to give them details if more than one pension scheme is paying an amount of their annual allowance charge or overseas transfer charge.
How to tell HMRC about pension tax charge
The ‘additional information’ box previously at box 21, page Ai4 on the 2018 version of the SA101 for 2019 has been removed. Instead for 2019, pension scheme members should provide the additional details in the ‘any other information’ box on page TR7 of the 2019 SA100 Tax Return.
Members can find more information about how to tell HMRC about pension tax charges on their Self Assessment return in the HS345 Self Assessment helpsheet for 2019.
All LGPS funds are required to publish an Investment Strategy Statement. This statement explains the Fund's investment strategy, how it manages all relevant investment risks and how it carries out its stewardship responsibilities. Unison commissioned a report to review and analyse the statements which can be accessed below. The report highlights the proactive strategy the Avon Pension Fund has for responsible investing.
UNISON / ShareAction - LGPS Responsible Investment Report 2019
The Spring issue of Avon Pension News is now available to download from the website. Copies are posted to members who pay into the Fund during April.
