Multiple Employers Process
What is the Multiple Employers process?
i-Connect is a service that helps to manage the transfer of employee information from payroll administrators to pensions administrators. You can upload employee data using a report spreadsheet via the i-Connect system. i-Connect then automatically identifies and sends information about new joiners, opt-outs and leavers, together with pay and contributions, to your pension fund. You can also submit leaver forms and information via the i-Connect system.
Why use the Multiple Payroll Provider (MPP) report?
This allows payroll providers to submit data for multiple employers on one i-Connect report instead of doing several single employer uploads. The i-Connect report has only one extra column of data in column A where the File Reference or employer code is extracted.
What do I need to do?
The first step is to complete the i-Connect Report Upload template (MPP) and send to iconnect@leics.gov.uk. The document i-Connect Leicestershire Specifications (MPP) will provide details to complete the template:
The pension section will then carry out detailed data and format checks to ensure record data matches the i-Connect report. Feedback and queries will be returned which may require amendments to the i-Connect report; this may happen several times. Once all format issues and data discrepancies are resolved the pension section onboard the employer to the i-Connect system and will be in touch to arrange a handover meeting and go through the i-Connect upload process.
What are the key points for the i-Connect report?
Date joined fund / New starters
Please ensure only genuine new starters have a date joined fund on the report the first month of earning. This is to prevent duplicate records being created in error. Any old dates prior to the move should be investigated and amended. Please extract the date the member joined the fund, not the employment or hire date. (NB: If your employer has a closed agreement, there will be no starters, therefore a date joined fund should not be applied to the report).
Assumed Pensionable Pay (APP)
Where applicable ensure APP is applied to the i-Connect report for both the Pen Pay period & Pen Pay YTD columns. Employer contributions should reflect the full amount paid over for APP. This is to prevent the pension being negatively impacted. Further information regarding APP can be found on our page.
Balance figures
Ensure the EE Contributions, ER Contributions and additional contributions on the i-Connect report balance with amounts paid over. Ensure the i-Connect total figure balance with the monthly contribution schedule sent to the Investment Department. Also, check the ER rate is correct using the Pen Pay total and ER conts total. Please be aware any and all discrepancies must be resolved by Year End at the latest before the employer can be signed off. If there are any discrepancies please clarify the amount, the reason and who it relates to.
Full-time equivalent pay (FTE)
FTE / Final pay is only required in month 12, all other months this should be blank as we are unable to check and verify figures each month.
Hours information
This is not required, these columns must be blank.
How do I gain access to i-Connect?
Access to the i-Connect system will be granted when the handover meeting is arranged. Once you have been set-up with an i-Connect user account an email should arrive to complete the registration; please do this on the same day while the link is valid.
Should anyone else require a user account now or in the future, let the pension section know. Do not allow anyone to use your account, this is for data protection and accountability reasons.
When do I need to submit the report each month?
The pension section require i-Connect submissions to be carried out by the 10th of the following month.
Upload process
Validation Error / Tolerance Failure: Before the data is completed check the validation errors, a validation error occurs when a member is on the i-Connect report but cannot link to an active record and no data will post to a record. If there are a large amount there will be an issue with the report which will need to be investigated. If a validation error relates to an active member please investigate and resolve where possible or raise as an issue. Leavers are ok to error as the record has already been processed.
Should you have a validation error/s or tolerance failure/s please email to confirm the reason for this, we will then allow the submission to proceed. This is to flag any potential issues with the report.
Omitted Member list: Before the data is completed check the omitted members list for leavers and delete where needed. If a leaver will no longer appear on the i-Connect report with arrears, they can be deleted. However if a member is an active causal allow them to remain on the list. If a member appears on the list but you believe they are on the i-Connect report they may have different key details. Let us know if a DOL had not been extracted to the report as we will be unaware a member has left.
Suppressed Events / Error Events: After the data is completed check the suppressed events and error events for active members or flexible retirement members. Let us know of any issues or queries where data is not posting for active records.
How do I report leavers or inactive posts in the scheme?
The date of leaving / opt out date should be provided via the i-Connect submission, however we may require further information to be submitted. Please provide an ePen3 form for leavers over age 55 (normal retirement, flexible retirement or redundancy retirement), ill health retirement at any age or death in service at any age. Please note other leaver documents may be required e.g. ill health, redundancy or flexible retirement documents. We may also need to ask for a Pen3 form for members who have final salary membership (pre-14 service) and this will be requested when needed. See further details: Leaver process
What else do I need to know?
See the ‘Official i-Connect File Upload Guide’ and ‘Leicestershire i-Connect Upload Checklist & Guide’ for further information. Also please go to the previous i-Connect information page for full details of the Leicestershire processes.
Contact
Should you have any issues or queries regarding i-Connect, please email iconnect@leics.gov.uk
For any payment or adjustment issues / queries, please email the Investments Department: LGPSContributions@leics.gov.uk
