Scheme member data quality - DB and hybrid schemes

This section was named 'record keeping' in previous scheme returns. The questions have been updated to reflect our expectations that schemes should have processes to monitor members' data quality on an ongoing basis and assess the need for a data review exercise at least every year.

Common data

These questions relate to the quality of your common data. Common data is data all schemes should hold for all members:

National Insurance number
Surname and either forename or initials
Gender
Date of birth
Date pensionable service started, membership or policy start date or first contribution date
Expected retirement or maturity date, also known as target retirement age
Membership status, such as active, deferred or pensioner - this can be mixed where part but not all of the benefits are being taken.
Last status event: the date at which the membership status last changed, for example from active to deferred - where appropriate, you should also capture the reason for the change in status, such as retired or opted out
Address including postcode

Further information about common data can be found in our Record-keeping guidance for trustees and public service schemes.

Have you measured the scheme's common data in the last 12 months?

You should confirm whether you have measured the scheme's common data in the last 12 months. The last 12 months is defined as the calendar year prior to the completion date of this current scheme return. This can be found on the Scheme Options page when selecting 'Complete scheme return'.

If you answer 'No' to this question, you will be asked a follow-up question about whether you have assessed the need to review the common data or not.

If you answer 'Yes' to this question, you will be asked to input the common data score and the date the common data was last measured.

Have you assessed the need for a data review exercise on the scheme's common data within the last 12 months?

If you answer 'No' to the above question you will be asked a follow-up question regarding whether you have gone through an exercise to assess whether the scheme specific data needs to be reviewed within the last 12 months.

This includes where you've considered the need to review this data as part of a wider exercise, for example as part of a derisking project, or while preparing for a change in administrator. You can answer 'Yes' or 'No' to this question.

How frequently do you review the scheme's common data?

Regardless of whether you answer 'Yes' or 'No' to the above, we will ask a follow-up question about how often you conduct a data review exercise of your common data. The frequency options are provided for you. Answer 'On an infrequent basis when needed' if any of the following statements are true:

you only conduct a review exercise if you feel there is a need - this could be triggered by other events, for example a change in administrator
you never conduct a data review exercise

When did you last measure the scheme's common data?

You should provide us with the month and year when common data was last measured for your scheme. This information may be in administration reports or can be provided by your scheme administrator. You can find out more about measuring your data in the section of our record-keeping guidance on reviewing scheme data.

What is the scheme's common data score?

You should provide us with the percentage of members in your scheme for whom you have assessed the common data to be both complete and accurate for at the date provided above. You may exclude DB AVC benefits for the purpose of this question.

This information may be in administration reports or can be provided by your scheme administrator. In most cases you should be able to report based on your current processes.

Example calculation

A data review of a scheme with 100 members shows that 40 addresses are missing but the rest of the data is present and accurate. The common data score is 60% as 60 members have full and accurate common data.

If a data review of the same scheme shows that 40 members have at least one common data item missing, the common data score is also 60%.

If your scheme is a hybrid scheme, you may have measured the data score for each benefit type separately. If this is the case, you should provide a combined score weighted to represent the memberships in the relevant DB and DC parts. Where individual members have both benefit types, they can be measured twice, for each benefit part they belong to.

Example calculation for hybrid schemes

Scenario one: a hybrid scheme has 100 members, of which 60 members have defined benefits and 40 members have money purchase benefits. The data score for members with defined benefits is 50% and the data score for members with money purchase benefits is 75%. 50%*[60/(40+60)] + 75%*[40/(40+60)] = 60%. The overall scheme score would therefore be 60%.

Scenario two: a hybrid scheme has 100 members, of which 60 members have defined benefits and 80 members have money purchase benefits. The data score for members with defined benefits is 50% and the data score for members with money purchase benefits is 75%. 50%*[60/(80+60)] + 75%*[80/(80+60)] = 64%. The overall scheme score would therefore be 64%.

Scheme specific data

In addition to common data, you will need to hold other data in order to operate your pension scheme. The nature of this data will vary from scheme to scheme, and will depend on many factors including scheme type, structure and the administration system in use. We have standardised the breakdown of data into common and scheme specific data to make it easier to compare all pension schemes.

You should work with your administrator to identify the content of your key scheme specific data but depending on the type of scheme this may include:

employment records such as employer name, salary records, service history
employee and employer contribution history
information on the value of the member’s pension, such as the last estimated value, the date of the estimate and how the pension benefit was calculated
any benefit specifics like GMP entitlement, HMRC protections or cash entitlements
investment decisions, units purchased, sold and held
specific data items set out in legislation such as the transaction records set out for public service pension schemes.

You can find out more about defining your scheme specific data in our record-keeping guidance for trustees and public service schemes that covers what records to keep.

Have you measured the scheme specific data in the last 12 months?

You should confirm whether you have measured the scheme specific data in the last 12 months. The last 12 months is defined as the calendar year prior to the completion date of this current scheme return, which can be found on the Scheme Options page when selecting 'Complete scheme return'.

If you answer 'No' to this question you will be asked a follow-up question about whether you have assessed the need to review the common data or not.

If you answer 'Yes' to this question you will be asked to input the scheme specific data score and the date the scheme specific data was last measured.

Have you assessed the need for a data review exercise on the scheme specific data in the last 12 months?

This includes where you've considered the need to review this data as part of a wider data exercise, for example as part of a derisking project or while preparing for a change in administrator. You can answer 'Yes' or 'No' to this question.

How frequently do you review the scheme specific data?

Regardless of whether you answer 'Yes' or 'No' to the above, we will ask a follow-up question about how often you conduct a data review exercise of your scheme specific data. The frequency options are provided for you. Answer 'On an infrequent basis when needed' if any of the following statements are true:

you only conduct a review exercise if you feel there is a need - this could be triggered by other events, for example a change in administrator
you never conduct a data review exercise

When did you last measure the scheme specific data?

You should provide us with the month and year when scheme specific data was last measured for your scheme. This information may be in administration reports or can be provided by your scheme administrator. You can find out more about measuring your data in the section of our record-keeping guidance on reviewing scheme data.

What is the scheme specific data score?

You should provide us with the percentage of members in your scheme for whom you have assessed the scheme specific data to be both complete and accurate for at the date provided above. You may exclude DB AVC benefits for the purpose of this question.

This information may be in administration reports or can be provided by your scheme administrator. In most cases you should be able to report based on your current processes.

Example calculation

A data review of a scheme with 100 members shows that 40 employer records are not up to date, but the rest of the data is present and accurate. The scheme specific data score is 60% as 60 members have full and accurate scheme specific data.

If a data review of the same scheme shows that 40 members have at least one scheme specific data item missing, the scheme specific data score is also 60%.