Pensions - Articles - PASA launches latest round of GMP guidance

 The guidance focusses on cases which were unable to be rectified during a reconciliation exercise and thus reach “stalemate” status, in terms of seeking to resolve them with HMRC.

 Geraldine Brassett, Chair of PASA’s GMP working group, commented: “The deadline for schemes to submit queries to HMRC is fast approaching and most trustees and administrators will be grappling with cases that could not be brought to conclusion during the standard GMP reconciliation process. In each scenario, there will be three possible options available to schemes:

 Accepting that HMRC is correct: This may mean accepting a liability or that the figures held by the administrator may need to be corrected

 Taking no action: This option only applies if trustees are confident the GMP figure they hold is correct

 Undertaking further investigative work

 “For each case the appropriate solution will depend on several different factors, for example the cost effectiveness of undertaking more work and the impact on members. Our guidance seeks to ease the process by providing clear guidelines on the queries that can arise in stalemate situations and, in each instance, the action that could be taken. We designed it to be a practical document that would help facilitate discussion between trustees and administrators – allowing them to resolve stalemate cases in an efficient manner and bring the overall reconciliation process to an end.”

 To view PASA’s guidance in full, click here.