Hello Please consider the following request under the Freedom of Information Act. I’m seeking the following information with regards to all your defined benefit pension scheme(s): • The number of pensions scheme members that have exceeded the annual allowance in each of the last 10 tax years (08/09-18/19). Please disclose the number for each tax year separately, not a cumulative total for the ten year period. • How many scheme pays applications the pension scheme has received and how many it has accepted in respect of annual allowance tax charges, in each of the last 10 tax years When responding, please specify the name of the scheme(s) to which the figures relate.

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TfL Ref: FOI-2682-1920

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 3^rd December 2019 asking for information about defined benefit pension allowances.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

Specifically you asked to know:

“The number of pensions scheme members that have exceeded the annual allowance in each of the last 10 tax years (08/09-18/19). Please disclose the number for each tax year separately, not a cumulative total for the ten year period.

How many scheme pays applications the pension scheme has received and how many it has accepted in respect of annual allowance tax charges, in each of the last 10 tax years.”

I can confirm that we hold the information you require which is shown in the table below, in respect of the TfL Pension Fund:

Year	Exceeded Annual Allowance	Scheme pays in respect of excess input for this year
2008/09	15	N/a
2009/10	1	N/a
2010/11	14	N/a
2011/12	11	1
2012/13	6	1
2013/14	19	0
2014/15	41	7
2015/16	61	2
2016/17	298	10
2017/18	299	16
2018/19	247	19

For awareness, the Annual Allowance was reduced to £40,000 from April 2014. However, for 2014/15 and 2015/16, the impact of this reduction was cushioned by the allowance for Consumer Price Index (CPI), when calculating the level of a member’s savings against the Annual Allowance. Since 2016/17 the allowance for CPI has been much lower - leading to more members having pension savings for the year in excess of the Annual Allowance.

If this is not the information you are looking for please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

Yours sincerely,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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