Operational updates
For action
Annual member statements: Batch two
The second batch of annual member statements are expected to be delivered from Friday 22 November for employers who have members who didn’t receive their statement in September. Statements for over 99% of active members have been produced as part of the 2019 annual member statement exercise.
Every effort has been made to include as many members as possible. However, there remains a very small number of members for whom it has not been possible to automatically produce a statement, these members will receive a letter explaining the reason that they will not be receiving a statement. Members with USS Investment Builder (DC) benefits will receive an SMPI statement in the new year, in line with the statutory deadline of 31 March 2020.
We have emailed employers who will be receiving statements or letters for their members. Further information will be available from the AMS 2019 page of the employer portal.
Statements for members who have flexibly retired will be sent directly to members as part of a separate exercise.
Keep members’ details up to date
Please use the HR interface to keep your member’s details up to date. You should be using it to tell us about any changes to personal details, including home address, permanent National Insurance number and date of birth verification. Please only tell us about changes, we don’t need a full update for all your members each month.
SFS distribution: December 2019
In December we will issue a combined 2018/2019 Summary Funding Statement (SFS) for your active members. Dispatch is expected during week commencing 9 December and we’ll provide further information, including confirmed dates, in advance.
To assist with distribution, they will be provided in sealed envelopes with members’ names and either an employer reference (e.g. departmental/home address) or a unique reference number. A data file with details of the members that will receive an SFS will be available from the Download a file page of employer portal.
There will be an electronic version available for any new joiners.
For information
Strike action
Members striking between 25 November and 4 December will retain their death in service and ill health cover, regardless of whether member and employer contributions are maintained during their absence. Pension benefits will only accrue where full contributions are maintained. We sent full guidance to affected employers on 12 November, which you can read here.
Information will be made available for members from the USS website.
Annual Allowance taper letters
Towards the end of October we sent Annual Allowance taper letters to those employers who had requested more detailed carry forward information for their members.
In future this exercise won’t be completed. AA figures for the past three years have been provided on annual member statements. The AA usage for each year will continue to be provided on the statements in future.
There’s lots of useful information in the Pensions tax section of the USS website.
No Employer Update in December!
There won’t be an employer update in December. We’ll keep you up to date with any important updates via the employer portal, so please make sure that you check regularly to stay informed.