i-connect Data Management Portal
To ensure that SPPA are able to provide scheme members with the best possible service and to help the agency meet the requirements laid out by The Pensions Regulator, we are currently undertaking a project for the introduction of the i-Connect Data Management Portal.
i-Connect is a cloud-based service which will facilitate a smoother exchange of employee information monthly between your payroll systems and the SPPA. The i-Connect platform offers a range of benefits, including more efficient business processes and enhanced automation that will minimise administrative time. It will serve as a unified platform for interactions between employers and SPPA, enabling secure straight-through processing. This advancement is crucial for SPPA to achieve the necessary efficiency improvements.
The onboarding process has the following key milestones that need to be achieved over the coming months. We have to progress through all of these steps in our test system first before we can move on to the live system.
Onboard to test:
- Payroll Creation
- Member Matching
- File upload x 2 test months
Onboard to live:
- Payroll Creation
- Member Matching
- File upload
The first step is the payroll creation where we create a payroll relevant to the payment cycle within your employment.
Following Payroll Creation we move onto the member matching exercise, a one-off process that creates a direct link between each post on your payroll system and the corresponding active record in our administration system. This ensures both SPPA and the employer are working from the same set of active members. We are unable to progress to the next milestone until there is a 100% match. To make this smoother, please ensure your actives list, issued by our Data Team through EDM as part of the annual return exercise, is fully completed.
Following member matching we move onto File Upload which is the process of uploading the monthly data. During the initial onboard to test phase there will be a two month testing period to allow you to familiarise yourselves with the system, validate your data, and receive training and support to achieve this. During the onboard to live phase we will use one months data which upon completion will mean you will then be live in i-Connect and will be expected to provide all future monthly data submissions through the portal. Please be assured that support will continue to be available to assist with any issues that may arise.
Payroll Extract File Specification
The final specification is detailed below and will provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the i-Connect payroll extract file specification, including each of the data items that must be submitted to Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) each pay period.
Should you have any queries that have not been covered under our FAQ’s please contact us by email at sppaiconnect@gov.scot
Find out more in the Payroll Extract File Specification Guide
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the procedure for reporting long term unpaid leave?
For example, an employee commences unpaid leave on 23/04/26 and we report this on the extract for that period. If the unpaid leave continues throughout June and July can you advise what we would return on those extracts in terms of data and break in service start date?
In this scenario, you should keep the employee on the extract with the service break start date populated until the break ends. At that point you should input an end date and then thereafter remove both dates. For example, employee has service break from 23/04/2026, the end date is unknown until they return on 10/08/2026. In April, May, June & July, include the break start date, add the end date in August and remove them both from September onwards.
Which Break in Service Indicator should be used for unpaid sickness leave?
The option used should be ‘Ill Health Break’
The specification states that the unique payroll identifier should be a 10 digit pay number for each post, is there a minimum number of digits required?
No, there is no minimum number of digits as long as it is a unique number for each post and does not begin with leading zeroes.
Will hyphens and slashes be allowed in the address fields?
Yes, i-Connect will accept hyphens and slashes in the address field.
As all members are now in CARE why do I still need to provide days and hours?
Although all members are now in the CARE scheme many of them still have final salary linking, this means that members will still have their final salary pension benefits calculated based on current salary details and hours and days are required to calculate this.