Pensions for seconded staff

The request was successful.

Dear Liverpool City Council,

Please answer the following questions under Freedom of Information :

1.For LCC staff seconded to LDL, will years of service in LDL count towards their Council pension entitlement? For example, a person who worked directly for LCC for 15 years and then worked for LDL for 15 years - would they accrue 30 years of pension entitlement under the LCC pension scheme?

2. What financial contribution does BT make towards these final salary pensions? In the example above, when that person retires with a final salary pension, how much of the pension will be paid by BT and how much by the LCC pension scheme?

Yours faithfully,

Jenny Griffin

Jawahier Sharif Ali, Liverpool City Council

Dear Ms Griffin,

Acknowledgement of your request for information.
Thank you for your recent correspondence requesting information from the
City Council.  Your request was received in our offices on
05^th October 2011 and, is being processed in accordance with the Freedom
of Information Act 2000.

The information you have requested can be summarised as follows:

1. For LCC staff seconded to LDL, will years of service in LDL count
towards their Council pension entitlement? For example, a person who
worked directly for LCC for 15 years and then worked for LDL for 15 years
- would they accrue 30 years of pension entitlement under the LCC pension
scheme?

2. What financial contribution does BT make towards these final salary
pensions? In the example above, when that person retires with a final
salary pension, how much of the pension will be paid by BT and how much by
the LCC pension scheme?

If the above summary is incorrect or you wish to change any details, let
me know at the earliest opportunity.

A response will be sent to you as soon as possible and in any case within
the statutory deadline which is 20 working days from the working day after
your request was received.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent the release of information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and, if any of the exemption categories apply, the information
will not be provided to you.  You will be informed if this is the case

Please quote the above reference number in all future communications.

Regards 
Jawahier Sharif Ali (Fatima)
Information Officer
Legal Service
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street,
Liverpool
L2 2DH
Tel: 0151 225 3132
Email: [1][email address].uk 
Website: [2]www.liverpool.gov.uk

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you.  

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Kevin Symm, Liverpool City Council

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Please find attached response
 
Regards,

Kevin Symm
Senior Information Officer
Legal Services
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH
TEL: 0151 225 3132
[1][email address].uk 

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Dear Mr Symm,

Thank you for your speedy response.

I have submitted a follow-up response, as there are some important questions remaining.

Just to be absolutely clear, you say that employers pension contributions are made by both LCC and LDL.

1. What is the percentage split?
2. Why does LCC make any contribution towards employers pension contributions?

Your response wasn't very clear on these points,and I would like to be sure that I understand the flow of money.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Griffin

Kevin Symm, Liverpool City Council

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Please find attached acknowledgement letter
 
Regards,

Kevin Symm
Senior Information Officer
Legal Services
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH
TEL: 0151 225 3132
[1][email address].uk 

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Kevin Symm, Liverpool City Council

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Please find attached response
Regards,

Kevin Symm
Senior Information Officer
Legal Services
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH
TEL: 0151 225 3132
[1][email address]

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Dear Mr Symm,

This remains unclear. Most notably, you have not answered one of my questions : "Why does LCC make any contribution towards employers pension contributions?"

For the benefit of visitors, here is your initial response :

"Thank you for your recent request received 5 October 2011. Your request was actioned under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in which you requested the following information:

1. For LCC staff seconded to LDL, will years of service in LDL count towards their Council pension entitlement? For example, a person who worked directly for LCC for 15 years and then worked for LDL for 15 years - would they accrue 30 years of pension entitlement under the LCC pension scheme?

2. What financial contribution does BT make towards these final salary pensions? In the example above, when that person retires with a final salary pension, how much of the pension will be paid by BT and how much by the LCC pension scheme?

Response:

1. Yes, an officer working for LCC for 15 years and then 15 for LDL would accrue 30 years of pension entitlement.

2. For LCC staff seconded to LDL, the employee and employer (LCC/LDL) both contribute towards the final pension scheme but BT does not make any contribution."

I then asked :

"Just to be absolutely clear, you say that employers pension contributions are made by both LCC and LDL.

1. What is the percentage split?
2. Why does LCC make any contribution towards employers pension contributions?"

And here is your clarification :

"1. What is the percentage split?

2. Why does LCC make any contribution towards employer’s pension contributions?

Response:

I can confirm that, after re-visiting our previous response that they may have been some confusion regarding our inclusion of the word ‘both’

The word ‘both’ in our response relates to the employee and the employer, it is not intended to suggest that Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Direct Limited make some sort of combined contribution.

The LCC/LDL in brackets is just clarifying that the employer for Liverpool Direct Limited staff is still Liverpool City Council."

This still leaves the matter unclear. What I think you are saying is that every member of staff employed by LDL has their employer's pension contributions paid by LCC rather than LDL. In order to understand this, can you explain where, in the audited accounts for LCC and LDL, these payments are shown?

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Griffin

Symm, Kevin, Liverpool City Council

I am currently out of the office until the 17 November 2011

If your email is urgent, or you are submitting a request for information
under either the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Data Protection Act
1998 please forward it to: [email address]

Please note, the request will only be considered received when it is sent
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Jawahier Sharif Ali, Liverpool City Council

Dear Ms Griffin,

Acknowledgement of your request for information.
Thank you for your recent correspondence requesting information from the
City Council.  Your request was received in our offices on
17^th November 2011 and, is being processed in accordance with the Freedom
of Information Act 2000.

The information you have requested can be summarised as follows:

- This still leaves the matter unclear. What I think you are saying is
that every member of staff employed by LDL has their employer's pension
contributions paid by LCC rather than LDL. In order to understand this,
can you explain where, in the audited accounts for LCC and LDL, these
payments are shown?

If the above summary is incorrect or you wish to change any details, let
me know at the earliest opportunity.

A response will be sent to you as soon as possible and in any case within
the statutory deadline which is 20 working days from the working day after
your request was received.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent the release of information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and, if any of the exemption categories apply, the information
will not be provided to you.  You will be informed if this is the case

Please quote the above reference number in all future communications.

Regards 
Jawahier Sharif Ali (Fatima)
Information Officer
Legal Service
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street,
Liverpool
L2 2DH
Tel: 0151 225 3132
Email: [1][email address].uk 
Website: [2]www.liverpool.gov.uk

P  Please consider the environment before printing this email. Thank
you.  

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Karen Hellon, Liverpool City Council

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Dear Ms Griffin,
 
Please find attached our response to your FOI request.
 
Yours sincerely

K. A. Hellon

Information Team
Legal Services
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street,
Liverpool
L2 2DH
Tel: 0151 225 3132

Email: [1][email address].uk 

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Dear Ms Hellon,

Thank you for your response, which I copy below :

Please find below a response to your FOI request:-

The costs of the seconded employees (and associated reimbursement income from LDL) are accounted for in the LCC Statement of Accounts within “Non Distributed Costs” in the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Statement. Where LCC employees are seconded to LDL, their salaries and associated employer on costs (NI and superannuation contributions) are paid initially by LCC. LCC then bills LDL for the total costs incurred.

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny Griffin