Terms, Privacy and Cookies
Terms and conditions
South Yorkshire Pensions Authority ‘mypension' member web portal
South Yorkshire Pensions Authority are responsible for administering the Local Government Pension Scheme in South Yorkshire. The Authority formally consists of 12 Elected Members nominated by the four South Yorkshire district councils. They act as quasi-trustees and have ultimate legal responsibility for the Fund and the services that we provide. Their priorities are to maximise pension fund investments, focus on the service we provide to fund members and to have a close relationship with the fund employers.
By registering or logging into this site, you are agreeing to do so under the terms of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and prevailing Data Protection legislation. Unauthorised access to online accounts contravenes the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and may incur criminal penalties as well as damages.
References to "you" or "your" are references to any person accessing this website (site). References to "we", "us" or "our" are references to South Yorkshire Pensions Authority.
These terms and conditions govern your use of this site and by accessing this site you agree to be bound by them. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you must not use this site.
We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time without notice by updating this posting and your continued access to or use of this site will constitute your acceptance of any such changes.
We may update or change the content of this site from time to time. Please note that any of the content on this site may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update it.
We do not guarantee that our site, or any content on it, will always be available or be uninterrupted. We will not be liable to you if for any reason our site is unavailable at any time or for any period. We may in our sole discretion suspend, withdraw, terminate or change your access to or use of this site for any reason, including without limitation where we believe that you have not acted in accordance with the terms and conditions of this site.
Any information chosen by or allocated to you as part of our security procedures, must be treated as confidential. You must not disclose it to any third party.
We have the right to disable your user account at any time, if in our reasonable opinion, you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these terms and conditions.
If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your security credentials, you must promptly notify us at mypension support or call us on 0300 303 6160.
This site contains details of the benefits you may receive from the Scheme. The actual benefits you will receive will be calculated in accordance with the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations and associated legislation.
Nothing contained on the site constitutes financial, investment, legal, tax or other advice and is not to be relied on in making a financial, investment or other decision. You should obtain relevant and specific professional advice before making any financial or investment decision.
Although we have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the information provided on this site is accurate, we give no warranties, undertakings or representations of any kind, either express or implied, to the full extent permitted under applicable law with regard to all or any part of the content or materials, the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of any such information.
Where our site contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources.
Privacy Notice
For the members and beneficiaries of the South Yorkshire Pension Fund
This notice is for members and beneficiaries of the South Yorkshire Pension Fund (the “Fund”). It has been prepared by South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (the “Administering Authority”, or “we”) in its capacity as the administering authority of the Fund.
Why we are providing this notice to you
As the Administering Authority of the Fund we hold certain information about you (“personal data”) which we use to administer the Fund and to pay benefits from it. This notice is designed to give you information about the data we hold about you, how we use it, your rights in relation to it and the safeguards that are in place to protect it.
The technical
The Administering Authority holds personal data about you in its capacity as the data controller responsible for the proper handling of all matters relating to the Fund, including its administration and management. This includes the need to process your data to contact you, to calculate, secure and pay your benefits, for statistical and financial modelling and for reference purposes (for example, when we assess how much money is needed to provide members' benefits and how that money should be invested), and to manage liabilities and administer the Fund generally. Further information about how we use your personal data is provided below.
The legal basis for our use of your personal data will generally be one or more of the following:
• we need to process your personal data to satisfy our legal obligations as the Administering Authority of the Fund; and/or
• we need to process your personal data for the legitimate interests of administering and managing the Fund and liabilities under it, calculating, securing and paying benefits and performing our obligations and exercising any rights, duties and discretions the Administering Authority has in relation to the Fund ; and/or
• we need to process your personal data to meet our contractual obligations to you in relation to the Fund (for example, under an agreement that you will pay additional voluntary contributions to the Fund), or to take certain steps or actions, at your request, before entering into a contract.
What personal data we hold, and how we obtain it
The types of personal data we hold and process about you can include:
• Contact details, including name, address, telephone numbers and email address
• Identifying details, including date of birth, national insurance number and employee and membership numbers
• Information that is used to calculate and assess eligibility for benefits, for example, length of service or membership and salary information
• Financial information relevant to the calculation or payment of benefits, for example, bank account and tax details
• Information about your family, dependents or personal circumstances, for example, marital status and information relevant to the distribution and allocation of benefits payable on death
• Information about your health, for example, to assess eligibility for benefits payable on ill health, or where your health is relevant to a claim for benefits following the death of a member of the Fund.
• Information about a criminal conviction if this has resulted in you owing money to your employer or the Fund and the employer or Fund may be reimbursed from your benefits.
We obtain some of this personal data directly from you. We may also obtain data (for example, salary information) from your current or past employer(s) or companies that succeeded them in business, from a member of the Fund (where you are, or could be, a beneficiary of the Fund as a consequence of that person's membership of the Fund) and from a variety of other sources including public databases (such as the Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages), our advisers and government or regulatory bodies, including those in the list of organisations that we may share your personal data with set out below.
Where we obtain information concerning certain “special categories” of particularly sensitive data, such as health information, extra protections apply under the data protection legislation. We will only process your personal data falling within one of the special categories with your explicit consent, unless we can lawfully process this data for another reason permitted by that legislation. You have the right to withdraw your consent to the processing at any time by notifying the Administering Authority in writing. However, if you do not give consent, or subsequently withdraw it, the Administering Authority may not be able to process the relevant information to make decisions based on it, including decisions regarding the payment of your benefits.
Where you have provided us with personal data about other individuals, such as family members, dependants or potential beneficiaries under the Fund, please ensure that those individuals are aware of the information contained within this notice.
How we will use your personal data
We will use this data to deal with all matters relating to the Fund, including its administration and management. This can include the processing of your personal data for all or any of the following purposes:
• to contact you.
• to assess eligibility for, calculate and provide you (and, if you are a member of the Fund, your beneficiaries upon your death) with benefits.
• to identify your potential or actual benefit options.
• to allow for the provision of additional benefits through the use of AVCs with external providers
• for statistical and financial modelling and reference purposes (for example, when we assess how much money is needed to provide members' benefits and how that money should be invested).
• to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations as the administering authority of the Fund.
• to address queries from members and other beneficiaries and to respond to any actual or potential disputes concerning the Fund.
• the management of the Fund's liabilities, including the entering into of insurance arrangements and selection of Fund investments.
• in connection with the sale, merger or corporate reorganisation of or transfer of a business by the employers that participate in the Fund and their group companies.
Organisations that we may share your personal data with
From time to time we will share your personal data with advisers and service providers so that they can help us carry out our duties, rights and discretions in relation to the Fund. Some of those organisations will simply process your personal data on our behalf and in accordance with our instructions. Other organisations will be responsible to you directly for their use of personal data that we share with them. They are referred to as data controllers and they are named in the table below. You will be able to find out about their own data protection policies (which will apply to their use of your data) on their websites.
These organisations include the Fund's:
Data processors • Administrator – South Yorkshire Pensions Authority • Accountants – South Yorkshire Pensions Authority • Tracing bureaus for mortality screening and locating members – (currently non-contracted but used on an ad-hoc basis as necessary in individual cases • Overseas payments provider to transmit payments to scheme member with non-UK accounts – (currently Western Union • Printing companies – (currently Adare) • Pensions software provider – (currently Civica) • Suppliers of IT, document production and distribution services • Providers of mailing services (Currently UK mail) |
Data controllers • Actuarial consultant – (currently Mercer) • [Additional Voluntary Contribution Providers – (currently Equitable Life (Historical), Scottish Widows (Active) and Prudential (Active))] • Legal adviser – (currently Barnsley MBC) • Fund Actuary – (currently Mercer) • External auditor – (currently KPMG but to be allocated by National Audit Office) • Internal auditor – (currently Barnsley MBC) • LGPS National Insurance database – (South Yorkshire Pensions Authority) • The Department for Work and Pensions • The Government Actuary's Department • The Cabinet Office – for the purposes of the National Fraud Initiative • HMRC • The Courts of England and Wales – for the purpose of processing pension sharing orders on divorce |
In each case we will only do this to the extent that we consider the information is reasonably required for these purposes.
In addition, where we make Fund investments or seek to provide benefits for Fund members in other ways, such as through the use of insurance, then we may need to share personal data with providers of investments, insurers and other pension scheme operators. In each case we will only do this to the extent that we consider the information is reasonably required for these purposes.
From time to time we may provide some of your data to your employer and their relevant subsidiaries (and potential purchasers of their businesses) and advisers for the purposes of enabling your employer to understand its liabilities to the Scheme. Your employer would generally be a controller of the personal data shared with it in those circumstances. For example, where your employment is engaged in providing services subject to an outsourcing arrangement, the Administering Authority may provide information about your pension benefits to your employer and to potential bidders for that contract when it ends or is renewed.
Where requested or if we consider that it is reasonably required, we may also provide your data to government bodies and dispute resolution and law enforcement organisations, including those listed above, the Pensions Regulator, the Pensions Ombudsman and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC). They may then use the data to carry out their legal functions.
The organisations referred to in the paragraphs above may use the personal data to perform their functions in relation to the Fund as well as for statistical and financial modelling (such as calculating expected average benefit costs and mortality rates) and planning, business administration and regulatory purposes. They may also pass the data to other third parties (for example, insurers may pass personal data to other insurance companies for the purpose of obtaining reinsurance), to the extent they consider the information is reasonably required for a legitimate purpose.
In some cases these recipients may be outside the UK. This means your personal data may be transferred outside the EEA to a jurisdiction that may not offer an equivalent level of protection as is required by EEA countries. If this occurs, we are obliged to verify that appropriate safeguards are implemented with a view to protecting your data in accordance with applicable laws. Please use the contact details below if you want more information about the safeguards that are currently in place.
We do not use your personal data for marketing purposes and will not share this data with anyone for the purpose of marketing to you or any beneficiary.
How long we keep your personal data
We will only keep your personal data for as long as we need to in order to fulfil the purpose(s) for which it was collected and for so long afterwards as we consider may be required to deal with any questions or complaints that we may receive about our administration of the Fund, unless we elect to retain your data for a longer period to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations. In practice, this means that your personal data will be retained for such period as you (or any beneficiary who receives benefits after your death) are entitled to benefits from the Fund and for a period of 15 years after those benefits stop being paid. For the same reason, your personal data may also need to be retained where you have received a transfer, or refund, from the Fund in respect of your benefit entitlement.
Your rights
You have a right to access and obtain a copy of the personal data that the Administering Authority holds about you and to ask the Administering Authority to correct your personal data if there are any errors or it is out of date. In some circumstances you may also have a right to ask the Administering Authority to restrict the processing of your personal data until any errors are corrected, to object to processing or to transfer or (in very limited circumstances) erase your personal data. You can obtain further information about these rights from the Information Commissioner's Office at: www.ico.org.uk or via their telephone helpline (0303 123 1113).
If you wish to exercise any of these rights or have any queries or concerns regarding the processing of your personal data, please contact the Fund Administrator as indicated below. You also have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to this privacy notice or the Administering Authority's processing activities with the Information Commissioner's Office which you can do through the website above or their telephone helpline.
The personal data we hold about you is used to administer your Fund benefits and we may from time to time ask for further information from you for this purpose. If you do not provide such information, or ask that the personal data we already hold is deleted or restricted this may affect the payment of benefits to you (or your beneficiaries) under the Fund. In some cases it could mean the Administering Authority is unable to put your pension into payment or has to stop your pension (if already in payment).
Updates
We may update this notice periodically. Where we do this we will inform members of the changes and the date on which the changes take effect.
Contacting us
Please contact the Fund administrator at admin@sypa.org.uk for further information.
Data Protection Officer
You may also contact our data protection officer at DPO@barnsley.gov.uk for further information.
Data Protection Register
Registration Number: Z4920231
Cookies
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External links
The member portal may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Changes to the statement
The Fund may change this statement from time to time by updating this page. You should occasionally check this page to ensure that you are happy with any changes.