Agenda item

The Board considered a report from the Corporate Director of Resources regarding the Fund’s pension administration and service provision to members, as well as providing an update on Key Performance information (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Head of Pensions (LGPS) noted that all Annual Benefit Statements had been issued by the 31 August deadline, with the Pensions Team Leader, Ashleigh Phillips noting that there had been a low number of queries, with both acknowledging the hard work that had been carried out by the Team.

The Head of Pensions (LGPS) noted that in respect of AVCs, there was no change from the last update, with historic issues having been improved, and he thanked the Pensions Team Leader for her work in this regard. 

The Pensions Team Leader noted there had been a lot of work by the provider in terms of updating their ICT systems and new processes whereby employers could upload their own data, this meaning that errors could be flagged and sent back to employers for correction automatically. 

She noted that additional benefits included an improved ability to pull data together for the Annual Benefit Statement and Statement of Accounts. 

She explained there had been a lot of employer engagement and training provided as regards AVCs and noted the AVC Forum was being reinstated and would meeting every six months.

A Hopgood asked as regards the amount of people in the Fund that utilised AVCs, noting rumoured tax changes may lead to less incentive for people to invest in that way. The Head of Pensions (LGPS) concurred that changes to the pensions tax regime would likely have an impact on uptake, with one of the major draws of AVCs being that they could be taken as tax free cash (up to certain HMRC limits).  He noted that the details would be important in order for people to determine whether AVCs remained attractive, however there was a legal obligation to provide AVCs in any case.  He noted there were current two providers, thus offering choice for scheme members.

The Head of Pensions provided an update in relation to McCloud, noting he was awaiting a software update from the provider.  He reiterated previous comments in terms of the amount of work involved and that it was likely there would be limited Fund beneficiaries that would receive an uplift.  He reminded the Board of the issues in terms having to obtain data that had not been required to be collected in the past, due to GDPR regulations, in order to carry out the process.

The Head of Pensions (LGPS) referred the Board to Appendix 5 which set out KPIs relating to the administration of the Pension Fund.  He noted that around £12million was paid out to pensioners every month, on time, and added that when reported to the Pension Fund Committee earlier in the day, the Fund ‘s Advisor had remarked they had been the best set of KPIs he had seen at any meeting of an LGPS Fund.  He noted KPIs in relation to communications and engagement, including the number of logins to the Pensions Portal.  He reminded the Board that the SAB had introduced standardised KPIs for the LGPS, those standardised measures replacing the local measures over time.  He noted only one of the standardised KPIs that was notable in terms of performance, albeit still performing well.  He explained that KPI B1 “Communication issued with acknowledgement of death of active, deferred, pensioner and dependent Member” was at 90.76 percent.  He explained that in some cases there was a deliberate delay at the request of family members to wait until after funeral arrangements before contacting them, however, he noted that the reported the figures were accurate to the KPI of five days. 

The Chair noted that the measure was not being manipulated, to strip out this sensitivity towards bereaved families. In terms of reporting and Councillor A Hopgood asked as regards the ability to put a pause in the system, should it be known the family had made such a request for a delay.  The Pensions Team Leader noted she would look at the system and see if that was possible.  Councillor A Hopgood noted that it may be better for Team morale, with a measure ‘net’ of any pause giving a more accurate representation of the Team’s actual performance. The Chair noted that one method could be to retain the target of five days, then with an aim to then capture all within 10 days as a useful secondary measure for reporting. Officers would consider the KPI approach in this area.

The Head of Pensions (LGPS) noted performance in terms of retirements, transfers and refunds – commenting that there was a priority in terms of dealing with deaths and retirements, with refunds being a lower priority.  Councillor A Hopgood asked if those were national targets, with the Head of Pensions (LGPS) confirming that they were, and reported on accordingly.  He added that work was ongoing in terms of new KPIs, reminding the Board that guidance was for Pension Funds to adopt new measures on a ‘best endeavours’ basis in this first year of the new reporting regime.  He noted the report concluded with reference to information that would be contained within the Annual Report, demonstrating pooling progress and cumulative savings up to 2022.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.