To comply with the requirements of the regulations, a national database has been developed that will enable funds to check if their members have Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) pension records in other pension funds.
What is the National Insurance database?
All LGPS funds in England, Wales and Scotland participate in a data sharing project. This is undertaken in order to comply with legal requirements contained in the LGPS's governing regulations.
Provisions contained in the LGPS Regulations 2013 mean that, if a member of the LGPS dies, it is necessary for the scheme's administrators to know if the individual also had other periods of LGPS membership elsewhere in the country so that the right death benefits can be paid to the deceased member's dependants.
As the LGPS is locally administered, each pension fund has its own membership records and it can be difficult to tell if an individual has other LGPS records and where these are held. To comply with the requirements of the regulations, a national database has been developed that will enable funds to check if their members have LGPS pension records in other pension funds.
For each member of the LGPS, the database includes a short entry containing:
- The member's National Insurance number,
- A number to denote their membership status – whether they are receiving a LGPS pension or a dependant's pension, are currently paying in to the scheme or were previously paying in,
- The last calendar year that the membership status changed,
- A four digit number confirming the LGPS pension fund where that member's record is held.
The Database is hosted at the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, a LGPS pension fund.
The data held on the Database will be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and other relevant legislation.
An extract of the membership information contained in the Database will periodically be shared with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) so that the LGPS can join the Tell Us Once service.
Tell Us Once is a service offered in most parts of the country when an individual registers a death. When the LGPS joins Tell Us Once and the death of an LGPS member is registered, the DWP systems will ensure that the LGPS pension fund is informed of the death, meaning that the member's records can be processed more quickly and simply than would otherwise be the case.
Other LGPS pension funds. These are all public bodies named in legislation as administering authorities of the LGPS. For the Tell Us Once service, an extract of the Database containing individuals' National Insurance numbers will be securely shared with DWP every month so that they may maintain an up to date record of the LGPS membership.
For as long as:
a) the relevant regulatory requirements remain, and
b) the LGPS participates in the Tell Us Once service.
In the event that neither of the above apply, the data sharing will cease to be undertaken.
No. As this data sharing is partly being undertaken to comply with a legal requirement, it is not possible for scheme members to opt out of the data sharing.