Request

In order to help me not to misrepresent the data, I would like you to provide further details under the Freedom of Information Act.

Please provide: a) Divided by total pensionable pay by salary bands, and by the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23, the number of members who have returned into the scheme, having opted out, in the same financial year b) Divided by total pensionable pay and by salary bands, and by the financial years 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, and 2022/23, the total number of all members in the scheme at the start of the year before considering considering any opt-outs

I would also like to clarify for certainty, when you say "Members have been counted once for each financial year (01/04 – 31/03) in which they opted out", does this mean if a member opted out of the scheme in 2018, they would be counted in every year since? Must that member decide at the start of each financial year that they are opting out?

I understand it is not a reflection of the members' annual salary. Please provide them in these categories: Under £20,000, £20,000 - £29,999, £30,000 - £39,999, £40,000 - £49,999, £50,000 - £59,999, £60,000 - £69,999, £70,000 - £79,999, £80,000 - £89,999, £90,000 - £99,999 £100,000 and Over

On the second point, I am trying to understand the number of members eligible for the scheme at the start of each financial year. If this is not possible, just the number of active members in the scheme in total at the start of each financial year please.

Response

A copy of the information is attached. Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

The scheme year is 1 April to 31 March. Although financial years are mentioned, records are held in Scheme year and have been provided based on 1 April.

For part a, the total TPP bracket is not a reflection of the members annual salary. The volumes are of the members that have opted out and returned to the service again during the same scheme year. In case a member opts out multiple times and returns to a post during the same year, it is still considered only once for the count (unless they return in the next year).

Part b relates to members who were active at the start of the Scheme year (1st April). This does not represent the members eligible to join (or opt-out) of the scheme. We have no visibility of those members who opt-out of auto-enrolment and have no idea if members who opted out previously are still opted out (and therefore eligible to opt-in and be considered in any calculated 'opt out rate') or have since left NHS employment completely.

Not all pension records will be updated; on the event of us not holding annual contributions the member will be grouped as Not Data Held

Please note that members can opt out multiple times in the same year. In the event of them doing this they will only be counted once in each year they opt out. It does not mean they are then counted as opted out in every year after that. For instance, if a member opted out 3 times in 2008, and twice in 2009, they would be counted once in 2008 and once in 2009. The members don’t have to decide anything at the start of the year, they can opt in and out of the scheme at will. They may also opt out of auto-enrolment when commencing a new post; we have no visibility of this, as no post would be set up for them to opt out of on our systems.