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Report to: |
Pension
Board |
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Date of meeting: |
6 September
2023 |
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By: |
Chief Finance
Officer |
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Title: |
Pension
Administration – updates |
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Purpose: |
To provide an update to the Pension Board on matters relating to Pensions Administration activities. |
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RECOMMENDATION The Board is
recommended to note the updates and make any comments for feedback
to the Pension Committee. |
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1. Background
1.1 The in-house Pensions Administration Team (PAT) carries out the operational, day-to-day tasks on behalf of the members and employers of the East Sussex Pension Fund (the Fund, ESPF) and for the Administering Authority. They also lead on topical administration activities, projects and improvements that may have an impact on members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
2. Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
2.1 The Performance Report, for the period July 2022 to June 2023 can be found at Appendix 1. The PAT saw performance numbers during quarter two 2023, average at 94.67% (volume completed 3,515) which were similar to the previous quarter (96.30% with a volume of 3,768).
2.2 The Fund have a gold standard service provision for the Pensions Helpdesk and the results are included in Appendix 2. The Helpdesk is currently supported by Surrey County Council, however this service will not be supported after March 2024, so the ESPF Pensions Helpdesk service will be brought in-house on 1 April 2024. A project is underway to ensure a smooth transfer for this service, with staff TUPE transferring to ESCC, where applicable.
3. Pension Administration Staffing Update
3.1 The new Projects Manager started on 26 June 2023. The vacant Project Officer post has been filled by an internal candidate. The Fund is currently advertising for two new Pension Administration Apprentices. One of the existing Apprentices has passed his exams and has been made permanent. One Pensions Administrator left in August 2023.
4. Projects update
4.1 Annual Benefits
Statements – 2023
The majority of employers are
using i-Connect which provides data of the Annual Benefit Statement
(ABS) production, with only a handful completing manual end of year
returns. All employer data has been submitted and validated. Some
resulting queries remain outstanding, but we are making good
progress with the production of ABS. As of 18 August 2023, the Fund
have issued ABS to 23,711 Deferred members and 11,703 Active
members.
4.2 Process
Reviews
The PAT have now completed a number of process reviews of the major
activities carried out by the team to ensure the Fund is providing
best practice service and has clearly documented robust processes,
with a few ongoing. The reviews included revisions to member
letters. The project has been closely linked to the Robotics
projects, where the first robot is now complete and being used to
coordinate the deferred to normal retirement quotations and
associated letters ready for checking with seven further proposals
for automation with the robotics team.
4.3 Pensions
Dashboards
Pension Dashboards are digital services (websites, apps or
other tools) which individuals will be able to use to see all their
pension information in one place, including their State
Pension.
The Pensions Dashboard Programme (PDP) has been set up by Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) who are responsible for developing the dashboard ecosystem which enables individuals to view their pension data online. MaPS will host its own dashboard on the MoneyHelper website and other organisations will host their own dashboards, subject to approval and regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Pension Funds scheme-specific staging dates have been removed and all schemes now have to connect by October 2026, but further guidance is expected. The date dashboards will be launched to the public (known as the “Dashboards Available Point”) will be advised by DWP.
Heywood are preparing a Dashboard data cleansing report for the Fund and this is expected in September 2023.
4.4 Printing & Postage services
With effect from 1 September 2023 elements of the printing and postage service for the Fund will be transferred to the East Sussex Digital Postal Hub. The function will allow letters and documents to be placed in a central hub for processing, then the Post Hub will automatically print, envelope and frank in the post room and send via Royal Mail the same or next day. This will reduce costs, increase efficiency, and facilitate new working styles.
The service requires the documents to be placed in a window envelope rather that a printed envelope so the exact positioning of the address on all existing documents have to be manually reviewed. Officers are also using the project as an opportunity to update the bank of 500+ letter templates to incorporate the Fund branding, include electronic signatures and checked for compliance with accessibility requirements and plain English.
PAT are on target to get the high volume use letters completed in August and further work will continue post go live. Solutions are being considered for sizing of the margins to support the need for bar coding.
4.5 Guaranteed Minimum Pension – Reconciliation & Rectification
The data was provided to Mercers to recommence the project in May 23 and their project plan suggests it should be completed by February 2024.
Due to a change in the Mercer business ownership officers have been asked to complete a deed of novation. This is being considered by Procurement and Legal.
6 Conclusion and reasons for recommendation
6.1
The Pension Board is asked to note the report and make any comments
for feedback to the Pension Committee.
IAN
GUTSELL
Chief Finance Officer
Contact Officer:
Paul Punter, Head of Pensions Administration
Email:
paul.punter@eastsussex.gov.uk