Finance Brief February 2016

1. Finance BriefFebruary 2016

2. National Insurance rise for NHS Pension Scheme members The introduction of the new state pension in April 2016 means the end of current reductions to National Insurance contributions for members of the NHS Pension Scheme.  This means that from April 2016 those in the Scheme will pay the standard rate of NI contributions.  The impact of this is a reduction in take home pay from April 2016. For more information read the employee factsheet produced by NHS Employers or go to the Government website .

3. Reduction in standard Lifetime Tax Allowance (LTA) for pension savings The Standard Lifetime Allowance (LTA) is reducing Since 6 April 2006 there has been no absolute limit on the level of benefits that a member of a registered pension scheme, such as the NHS Pension Scheme, can be provided with. Instead every member has a Lifetime Tax Allowance (LTA) in respect of all their pension savings before they become subject to a tax charge at the point of taking benefits. Any benefit above the LTA will be subject to a LTA tax charge. The rate of tax charged will depend on whether the excess is taken as a pension or lump sum. From the 6 April 2016 the LTA is reduced from £1.25 million to £1 million. Members with long service and high earnings planning to retire on or after 6 April 2016 may be at risk of exceeding the lifetime allowance. Members who are retiring prior to 6 April 2016 may be affected if their benefits are authorised by NHS Pensions on or after 6 April 2016. The LTA benefits crystallise on the date the member had an actual right to receive their benefits. This date is the later of: The payable date or The date benefits are actually authorised by NHS Pensions. For more information goto;- NHS Pensions - http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/Pensions/4103.aspx HM Revenue and Customs - https://www.gov.uk/tax-on-your-private-pension

4. Pay It’s Easy to view your payslip • From March, you will only be able to access your payslips online through Easy • What can you do? • If you have never used Easy before, you need to: • confirm you have an NHSBT email account (Contact Service Desk on 58777 for support) • go to (https://nhsbt.easy.giltbyte.com/user/login/) on Google. • Then click here to register to use Easy with your NHSBT email address while logged in to the NHSBT network. • Once registered, you can access your Easy account anytime/anywhere without being logged into the NHSBT network. • Contact Pay Support on 0121 202 4455 (internal 54455) with any queries.

5. Payroll Errors – December 15 In December 2015 there were 23 overpayments: 6 current month changes which due to payroll timings were too late for December payroll 4 errors caused by Pay Support due to incorrect processing 2 errors caused by SBS due to incorrect processing 3 overpayments relating to leavers who had overtaken annual leave. 1 overpayment relating to a leaver who did not have enough salary to cover the outstanding balance on a season ticket loan. 7 manager errors due to forms being submitted more than 4 weeks after the effective date Please remember to notify Pay Support of leavers as soon as you receive a resignation and any contract changes as soon as they have been agreed. Thank you for your help and support in reducing the number of overpayments.

6. Recovery of non-NHS debt The overdue debt owed to NHSBT is £18.112m (as at 31st January 2016) this is higher than last years debt and so we are introducing new approaches to reduce all categories of debt. The majority of our debt is NHS but we do have a volume of non-nhs debt which can prove very time consuming to chase. To collect this more efficiently, from February 2016, we will be working with Weightmans Solicitors to recover overdue/outstanding non-NHS debt, focussing initially on persistent late payers. Direct approaches from Weightmans Solicitors will only be used as a last resort and when all other attempts to collect the debt, including at least 3 formal letters from NHBST, have failed. We will let Directorates with customers in this category know before these are referred to Weightmans so that you have an opportunity to contact the customer direct should you wish. Please contact Maxine Spivey, Financial Services Manager, on 0113 820 5937 (internal 55937) with any queries.

7. Expenses Christmas £10 towards a team meal • Please remember that all claims for reimbursement where your own function has been arranged must be approved by 4th March 2016. • There are strict tax rules so please read the:- Christmas contributions guidelines- the process- the Q&A .......before claiming. (Group Services/ Finance /Pay Support / Expenses) • Questions? - Pay Support team 0191 202 4455 or 54455.

8. Banking arrangements From January 2016 most government bodies are changing their bank account details. This is because the Government Banking Service has re-contracted and now all Central Government and NHS accounts will be operated by Royal Bank of Scotland (previously Citibank operated Government income accounts) NHSBT have transitioned and the vast majority of income is being received into the correct accounts following a full communications exercise with customers. There is a transition period where the old bank accounts will still be in use. We are experiencing some delays in our NHS suppliers (largely in ODT) telling us their new accounts details. We are proactively chasing these details. We will update you on progress via your Business Partners. If you have any questions or concerns please contact your business partner or Syma Yasin on x 55952

9. Message to budget holders and I procurement requisitioners with open Purchase Orders We aim to get the majority of our purchases made using a Purchase Order within I-procurement. If you have raised a Purchase Order for good or services it is important you record accurately on i-procurement when the goods or services have been received. The ‘receipt’ within i-procurement tells the system when to record the expenditure. Its is important that expenditure is recorded in the correct accounting period. If you don't receipt within i-procurement we may not record the expenditure in the correct period. If you receipt the full purchase order value when only some of the goods have been received again the expenditure will be recorded incorrectly but there is also a chance we could pay the supplier too soon or too much. It is even more important to receipt promptly as we approach year end (31st March). If you need any help with receipting please contact Ronnie Stothard x 55934 or Wendy Thorne x 27231.