Pension Provider examples

The example on this page shows how the JSON message schema can be used by an employer to report their pensions contributions electronically to their Pension Provider, by using "PensionProvider" purpose. They otherwise differ minimally from the format required for Secondary Pensions compliance.

Pension Providers may support this specification in order to receive contributions data. Files in this format should be sent by the Employer to the Pension Provider directly, and not to the States of Guernsey. The States of Guernsey SPCM system will reject files which specify the "PensionProvider" purpose.

This documentation only specifies a JSON file format for these transmissions, and not a mechanism of transmission. Please refer to your Pension Provider to find out whether they support this specification and, if so, how you should transmit files to them.

Example return

This return contains the February 2022 monthly payroll pension contributions for an employer which has one pension scheme, and a single employee making contributions to the pension scheme. 

{
  "$schema": "https://spcm.gov.gg/schemas/0.3/message.schema.json",
  "effective": "2022-03-22T15:19:02Z",
  "spcmMessageVersion": "0.3",
  "senderEmail": "joseph@acme.gg",
  "senderName": "Joseph Administrator",
  "softwareAgent": "Acme Payroll v1.44",
  "type": "Revenue_EmployerReturn",
  "test": true,
  "purposes": [
    "PensionProvider"
  ],
  "coverage": [
    {
      "year": 2022,
      "frequency": "Monthly",
      "period": 2
    }
  ],
  "employers": [
    {
      "id": "5363",
      "name": "Acme Widgets",
      "pensionSchemeProviderRef": "ACME/123",
      "employees": [
        {
          "id": "12345",
          "payrollNumber": "2468",
          "dateOfBirth": "1980-01-01",
          "socialSecurityNo": "GY123456",
          "firstName": "Fred",
          "lastName": "Bloggs",
          "purposes": [
            "PensionProvider"
          ],
          "pay": [
            {
              "year": 2022,
              "frequency": "Monthly",
              "period": 2,
              "pensionEmployerAmount": 123.45,
              "pensionEmployeeRegularAmount": 23.00,
              "pensionEmployeeAdditionalAmount": 0.00
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Please note this documentation assumes you are familiar with the concepts explained in the example files for Secondary Pensions compliance.

"employers"

This employers array contains one employer.

When sending data to a Pension Provider, each employer has a pensionSchemeProviderRef which identifies the employer and pension scheme to the provider. If the Pension Provider requires different references for different employees (e.g. because you have employees in different schemes) then you must include a separate employer object for each scheme, even if they represent the same employer.

"id"

minLength: 1; maxLength: 200

This is an identifier for the employer which is generated by the sender. It is a defined as a string, and it does not matter what identifier you use, but you should use the same Id to refer to the same employer when sending successive messages. When sending data to a Pension Provider, it may be appropriate to use the same value for this Id as the pensionSchemeProviderRef below, though Pension Providers must not rely on this.

"name"

minLength: 1; maxLength: 160

The name of the employer, which may be used by the Pension Provider to help validate the data in the return.

"pensionSchemeProviderRef"

minLength: 1; maxLength: 200

A reference or code issued by the Pension Provider to the employer during the provider's on-boarding process, which the provider will use to identify the employer and pension scheme being reported. Every employer in the file must have a unique reference in the exact form provided by the Pension Provider, otherwise the provider may reject the submission.

"employees"

This array must list all the employees in respect of whom pension contributions were made to this pension scheme during the period (or any of the periods) covered by this return.

The fields required are illustrated in the example above, and are a subset of those required for compliance with Secondary Pensions requirements, plus one extra payrollNumber field for employee identification. Please see the relevant Secondary Pensions example files for further information.

"payrollNumber"

minLength: 1; maxLength: 8

The employer's payroll number or reference for this employee. The payroll number must be unique to all the employees in this scheme, and must be in the exact form provided to the Pension Provider by the employer during employee enrolment. Pension Providers may reject a file which contains duplicate payroll numbers within a scheme.

The employer must notify the Pension Provider about any new employee and await confirmation that they have been enrolled before sending any contributions data for them, otherwise the Pension Provider may not be able to process the contributions correctly.