I have been to PLSA events in the Cotswold Water Parks in years gone by but this year’s has switched to Wybsoton Lakes north of Luton. This choice of location seems to benefit those with access to a car, sadly I am not one!
But I am a fan of the PLSA app which allows me to contact everyone to contact them and put a question to them, everyone that is but for those speaking ( a glitch PLSA!).
I am going as a freelance blogger and for me , that means asking questions of the delegates as part of getting in touch with them. Here is my question this year…
I am told that when people join LGPS they can in their first year transfer any DC pots they might have into the LGPS and the transfer value can buy extra pension, is that right and can you tell me how well it is working in terms of take-up, value for money of the rate offered and ease to administer?
I don’t know much of the rate of conversion and how often it is reviewed, how it is compared with current annuities and how deferment is treated. What,if anything, is taken into account in making an offer (thinking sex, health, postcode and age) and how well publicised is this feature to employers for whom this should be a benefit.
In short, is this feature working?
If the conversion rates are poor, working against conversion , is this deliberate or accidental? I have had reports from my initial research that they have not been reviewed since early 2022 meaning they would have been overtaken by annuitant rates which have doubled because of gilts and inflation rates increasing (they haven’t come back since the surge that led to Liz Truss gate).
Can LGPS afford to take on extra liabilities at the current rate or is it happy to – wanting members to make the most of their DC pots by getting the fantastic quality LGPS pensions?
Is Britain’s largest funded pension hiding one of its greatest features or is it promoting it, are people aware of the offer, do they understand the difference between a pot and a pension, can they take decisions easily or do they have to talk with experts? Are experts available or do they need to speak to IFAs? Are people using IFAs?
All of these thoughts are swilling around my head as I consider the opportunity on offer and the potential solution the LGPS could be to tens of thousands of members who are reaching retirement with freedom but no pension.
I cannot expect this to be a matter for Government but I think that Government should be aware that it is not their biggest funded scheme but their biggest unfunded DB scheme that offers a swap pot for pension facility – the NHS offers it!
In a wider context, if private DB schemes are in surplus, would it be possible for other schemes to offer a transfer in. I know that the minnow UKAS DB scheme is considering do so, are there others who offer the facility and are similar questions being asked when they do?
So my three days at LGPS will be full of questions and not just the usual ones about the Pension Schemes Bill and its LGPS section (which I have re-read). I hope that the hundreds of officers from all around the UK (but mainly England and Wales) will see how my questions link to the desire of the DWP and its pension minister, to ensure members get the value they could and I hope do offer. Hear is an unconsidered option – so far as the Roadmap is concerned.
I will not playing golf but I do hope to go on a nature walk which I hope will be led by the PLSA’s James Walsh. I will – happily for me- not have to worry about hangovers being now 7 months off the booze. I am staying on site at a hotel from which I will be blogging early in the morning and I look forward to going to serious sessions about helping employers and members to get value from the scheme.
It is a great privilege to go as an independent blogger and I am determined to give my fair view – it may not be yours but that is what the comment box is for!
I can’t see that you would expect any link at all between annuity rates and the extra pension that you can buy from the LGPS. Annuity rates seem to be based on a “Mark to Market” philosophy and will vary wildly over what could be short periods of time, despite annuities being expected to be paid for decades.
The LGPS is likely to take a long-term view backed by a long-term income stream and with assets that could be held for a long time, over which the rates of return on them will vary.
It will obviously possible for some people to game the system, much as happened when CETV values from DB schemes went incredibly high due to interesting valuation calculations.
Use of gilt yield relatives is also a form of mark-to-market.
http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/basis-for-setting-the-discount-rates-for-calculating-cash-equivalent-transfer-values-payable-by-public-service-pension-schemes/basis-for-setting-the-discount-rates-for-calculating-cash-equivalent-transfer-values-payable-by-public-service-pension-schemes
Participating employers in LGPS will have experience of discount rates re-based relative to changing gilt yields being used, but not necessarily evenly, ie perhaps a tendency to stay lower when yields are rising and to assume lower still when yields are falling.
LGPS actuaries may be singing from the same hymn sheet as their colleagues who advise on private sector DB funding.
In the private sector, it is suggested that transfer in factors should reflect solvency valuation factors. The argument being that if the scheme is forced to buy out its liabilities there should be no profit or loss arising from the transfer.
(Gilts flat in a gilts based valuation model)
I am not sure the same will apply in the LGPS where the concept of a transfer club would probably still apply – so that the individual’s pension rights continue to accrue on movement between one public sector employer and another. This therefore links the transfer in factors to the transfer out factors.
(Best estimate, typically gilts + 4% pre-retirement in a gilt based valuation model)
The 2022 valuation bases for England & Wales are summarised here
lgpsboard.org/index.php/fund-valuations-2022
and there are links to the individual LGPS valuation reports in the appendix.