HR and Payroll bulletin - February

AskHR Helpdesk Support

AskHR is our customer service helpdesk for all people-related matters, supporting employees, managers, former employees, future employees, and job candidates on queries including:

  • Salary payments, deductions, and tax issues
  • People policies, procedures, and entitlements, including absence management
  • Employee's benefits and entitlements such as pensions, benefit schemes and allowances

If you have a query, please raise this with your line manager in the first instance or submit a Service Request (SR) on Fusion. AskHR will respond to SRs within three working days. For further support and guidance please contact the AskHR Helpdesk on 01772 535355 (8am – 5pm).

Intranet guidance update – Maternity leave – Supporting an employee who is pregnant

We have updated our manager guide, the main changes are detailed below:
On notification from the employee of their pregnancy, the manager should:

  • Ensure that the Mat L form is submitted by the employee or manager via Document Records on Oracle Fusion
  • Ensure that the employee provides their MatB1, issued by the doctor at the 20-week scan, to their manager (NB., a copy of the MatB1 is not required by payroll)
  • Upon receipt of the MatB1, the manager should add the maternity absence onto Fusion without delay, confirming the expected due date, planned start and end dates for the leave and the OMP information. It Is important that both the planned start date and planned end dates are added at this stage, if planned end is unknown, the manager should enter it as 365 days.
  • When entering the OMP information on the absence, the manager will need to select either 12 weeks or 33 weeks, this is based on the option chosen by the employee on the Mat L form.
  • If the employee is not planning to return to work, the manager will need to ensure that the ‘Won’t return to work’ option is ticked.
  • The actual start date should be entered as soon as it is known, this can be updated later by the manager if the date changes, e.g., if the baby comes earlier than expected.

On commencement of the maternity leave manager should:

  • Check that the actual start date has been entered and is correct, amend if the date has changed for example, if baby has come earlier than expected.
  • Once the baby is born the Actual Date of Childbirth needs to be entered (the Actual start date should change to the day after the birth if the baby is early).

Please ensure any dates are entered or amended before the relevant payroll deadline where possible. You can find the payroll deadlines in the Payroll deadlines and pay dates guide on the intranet. 

PensionPoint – For LGPS Members

PensionPoint is the online portal where you can access your Local Government Pension Scheme details as often as you like.

By activating your account, you’ll be able to view and download your pension documents, update your personal details, and check your retirement benefits in just a few clicks.

What are the benefits?

  • An online account that puts you in control of your pension
  • Real time access to all your relevant pension information
  • Online calculators that provide an estimate of your pension benefits Annual benefit statements - providing a forecast of your benefits payable at your normal retirement age
  • A personal information page, where you can update your details in just a few clicks
  • New added features to help you manage your pension

How you can register

  1. Visit the PensionPoint homepage
  2. Enter your personal and security details (use your personal email address not your work one)
  3. Enter a one-time code (a new code will be sent to your email address every time you login)

For more information, visit LPPA’s dedicated PensionPoint resource page.

Annual leave

If your annual leave balance is incorrect on Fusion, please speak to your line manager, who will be able to make the necessary adjustments. This also applies to banked and carryover leave. For further assistance, please refer to the Oracle Guided Learning (OGL) guidance - Adjust Leave Balances for My Team.

If you have recently joined LCC and notice that your leave balance is not reflected on Fusion, please raise an incident with Digital Services. They will investigate the issue and update your balance accordingly.

 Managers - Please ensure all employees’ leave balances are correct before April 1st to guarantee accurate annual leave balances for the new leave year.

Guidance for inputting Retirements on Fusion

When searching for a leaver reason on Fusion, you may note that not all leaver reasons appear in the drop-down list that is immediately visible. However, if you start typing the reason, e.g., 'Retirement', all the relevant options will then appear.

Screen shot of Oracle with dropdown list

It is particularly important to input the correct retirement reason, as this drives the actions that Payroll and Lancashire Pensions Partnership (for LGPS) take following notification of the retirement and an incorrect retirement reason could delay payment of retirement benefits.

The full list of retirement options, in the order they appear on Fusion, is shown below:

 Retirement – Actuarially Reduced Retirement (Teacher PS only aged 55 to 59) – available to members of TPS only

  • Retirement – Age (Teachers' Pension Scheme) – available to members of TPS only
  • Retirement – Ill Health Retirement – available to TPS and LGPS members but only alongside a formal ill health retirement decision
  • Retirement – Phased – available to members of TPS only
  • Retirement – Voluntary Aged 60 or Over
  • Retirement – Voluntary/Early Retirement – Under 60

Retirement applications (for members of the Teachers Pension Scheme only)

Please ensure that retirement applications are submitted six months before your proposed retirement date, to allow those teachers affected by Transitional Protection to make and receive their choices.  

Don't submit applications before this, as there may be salary changes that could affect your benefits if submitted too early.   

Procedures for Actuarially Adjusted Benefits, Age Retirement, Phased Retirement, and Ill Health Retirement can all be found on the Schools Portal on the HR A-Z. It is also important that once you have submitted your retirement form the school terminates your employment on Oracle Fusion. 

Vacation rule set up for unplanned manager absence

A catalogue item form called Vacation Rule set up – Unplanned Manager Absence is available on the ICT helpdesk,  that enables a 'vacation rule' to be set up when a manager is unexpectedly absent. The vacation rule will re-route notifications for approval, e.g., leave requests and claims, to another manager for the duration of the absence. The form can only be completed by the absent manager's manager.

Amendments to Terminations submitted on Oracle Fusion

A form has been created for amendments to terminations. The Termination and Claims after leaving form (DOCX, 69KB) should only be used after a termination has been submitted on Fusion and an error has been made on the original submission. The corrections include: 

  • incorrect termination date
  • wrong post terminated
  • change of termination reason
  • request to reverse termination
  • PILON and Accrued Holiday Pay for Leavers, if not included in the original termination

Establishment Operations

We have updated our Establishment Operations intranet pages to provide you with more essential information and resources related to the Establishment Operations Team. The changes are detailed below:

  • Establishment Operations: Learn about the role of the Establishment Operations Team in maintaining LCC and service establishments/hierarchies within Fusion.
  • Business Case Process for Oracle Fusion Changes: Follow the guide on making establishment changes to the organisation structure within Fusion. For advice on employee changes, please contact AskHR.
  • Hierarchy Changes in Oracle Fusion: Understand how to move a position permanently within your management hierarchy.

Useful information, support and links

Payroll deadlines 2024-25

Please make sure all payment claims are completed in line with our published payroll deadlines to guarantee changes are made in time for payday. 

Payroll feedback 

If you would like to give any feedback to our Payroll team, email  payroll-feedback@lancashire.gov.uk.