This bulletin details the requirements for year-end pension information for 2025-2026.
Your year-end data must reach us by 30 April 2026. Please read this bulletin carefully.
As you or your payroll provider have submitted data in respect of pension contributions and CARE pay via i-Connect there is no need to complete a year end return spreadsheet, as the only additional data now required is the Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Final Pay figure that you have supplied in previous years.
- The FTE pay figure must be included within your month 12 (March) i-Connect submission and instructions explaining how to do this can be found alongside this bulletin.
The other documents that need completing for Year End are:
- Certification Document.
- Year End FTE Pay information spreadsheet (ONLY complete this if you have any members, for example casual staff, who are NOT included on the March submission). A calculation guide is attached.
The certification document must be signed by an authorised signatory e.g. Head of Finance or HR/Payroll, Internal or External Auditor, Bursar, Accountant. If you use a third-party payroll provider responsible for the accuracy of the data, you may ask them to sign the form on behalf of your employer.
Note that from this year onwards, a Year End Contributions Balancing Sheet will not be required and instead we will use the Investments Team’s monthly schedules that you have submitted throughout the year to balance against. Please continue to complete the Investments monthly schedule going forward.
To ensure that your year end information can be verified before being used for member Annual Benefit Statements, member Pension Saving Statements and closing annual accounts, it is imperative that the Pensions Section receives correct and verified information.
In order for the information to be checked by Investments and Pensions, and to allow for any queries that arise, your March 2026 submission MUST be processed and the Year End documents MUST be submitted to the Pensions Section by 30 April 2026, so that these checks can take place and you will have time to resolve any queries.
Initial Year End data checks ensure i-Connect totals balance to the Investments Team’s monthly schedules and payments received. If there are any discrepancies not yet clarified/resolved, please provide details as soon as possible. It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure all discrepancies are resolved by 19 May 2026.
As The Pension Regulator (TPR) now monitors the completion of Annual Benefit Statements by the statutory 31 August deadline, failure of employers in providing current data that leads to breaches of statutory regulations may result in us having to report the breaches to TPR, with potential fines or charges.
If you need to send any confidential information, advice is that this should be sent using the Council’s secure e-mail system Egress. Please send the completed Year End forms to pensionsyearend@leics.gov.uk
Should you have any questions or queries arising from this document, please email stuart.wells@leics.gov.uk or call 0116 305 6944. Given the deadlines, I would encourage you to make contact sooner rather than later if there are any issues that you need resolving.
