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Report to: |
Pension Committee |
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Date of meeting: |
27 February 2025 |
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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 Committee on matters relating to Pensions Administration activities.
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RECOMMENDATION The Committee is
recommended to note the report. |
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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 Reports for the months of October,
November and December 2024 can be found at Appendix 1 to 3. The
report now includes all tasks performed by the PAT and is reported
directly from the Altair Insights system. A summary is included in
the table below:
|
Month |
o/s at start |
Post received |
Post completed |
Completed in SLA |
% within SLA |
Outside SLA |
Total o/s at end |
Open tasks at end |
|
Apr 24 |
2,100 |
1,790 |
1,828 |
1,422 |
77.8% |
406 |
2,042 |
580 |
|
May 24 |
1,846 |
2,021 |
1,755 |
1,472 |
83.9% |
283 |
2,082 |
556 |
|
1,905 |
1,857 |
1,763 |
1,531 |
86.8% |
232 |
1,975 |
345 |
|
|
Q2, 24 |
|
5,668 |
5,346 |
4,425 |
82.8% |
921 |
|
|
|
Jul 24 |
1,810 |
2,612 |
1,984 |
1,743 |
87.9% |
241 |
2,404 |
882 |
|
Aug 24 |
2,215 |
3,024 |
2,326 |
1,991 |
85.6% |
335 |
2,891 |
1,253 |
|
Sep 24 |
2,059 |
2,040 |
1,761 |
1,458 |
82.8% |
303 |
2,904 |
1,252 |
|
Q3, 24 |
|
7,676 |
6,071 |
5,192 |
85.5% |
879 |
|
|
|
Oct 24 |
2,549 |
2,347 |
2,518 |
2,015 |
80.0% |
503 |
2,341 |
707 |
|
Nov 24 |
2,090 |
2,015 |
1,963 |
1,596 |
81.3% |
367 |
2,080 |
423 |
|
Dec 24 |
1,919 |
1,541 |
1,522 |
1,360 |
89.4% |
162 |
1,892 |
398 |
|
Q4, 24 |
|
5,903 |
6,003 |
4,971 |
82.8% |
1,032 |
|
|
The volume numbers of tasks received being reported are very high
compared to the historical position:
|
2022 = 9,629 |
2023 = 15,411 |
2024 = 23,898 |
The main reasons for the increase in tasks include a move from reporting on just KPIs to reporting on all PAT tasks. In addition, fully utilisingthe i-Connect system results in many more recalculations (both due to late payments of pay [overtime/holiday] and late pay awards) plus the BHCC bulk data files.
We are pleased to report the Admin Working Group met on 02/12/24 and went through the October 24 Admin Performance in detail. Full explanations were provided about the longest number of days taken cases and where the average number of days were high. The attendees were appropriately reassured the data was accurate and being reported correctly and most importantly that the PAT were working tirelessly and effectively to clear the backlog and improve the reported team performance. The impact of uneven spikes in post received (like following the issue of ABS) were much better understood.
2.2
The Fund aims to achieve a gold standard service provision for the
Pensions Helpdesk and the results for October to December 24 are
included in Appendix 5. From April 2024 the Helpdesk has been
delivered by an in-house team within PAT. Due to the transition
into an in-house team the reportable information relating to
service delivery has reduced. The
roll out of the telephony upgrade is expected in May 25.
3.
Pension Administration
StaffingUpdate
3.1 An Employer Engagement Manager will be commencing maternity leave this month; the role will be covered by an internal appointment. In addition, we had a resignation from an Administrator and role has been advertised.
4. Projects update
4.1 McCloud remedy
The
data collection aspect for the 140 active employers is complete and
the data has been uploaded into the Altair test system. The final
data validation has revealed a number of new issues and errors, and
these are being investigated. Once resolved the data will be moved
into the live system. The BHCC data has now also been imported to
the Altair test system.
The data for the 37 non-active employers has been through the
Heywood validation tool and is back with officers to manage and
resolve the queries found.
Officers have implemented a semi-manual process to be able to
calculate both McCloud Club and non-Club transfer values. Heywood
are working closely with the users CLASS Group to prioritize the
McCloud functionality, which could take up to two years to fully
implement.
4.2
Pensions
Dashboards
Officers continue
to focus on getting the data ready using a Heywood Altair Insights
dashboard report to identify gaps.
Heywood are our Integrated Service Provider, and a project plan has
been created, with a two-phase approach penciled in:
Phase 1 – completed in January 2025 saw the ISP data console
built and data transfer tested. Additional testing of the
“find” data methodology will happen during February
when some additional functionality will be added.
Phase 2 – starting in August 2025 for 5 weeks to implement
and onboard.
Onboarding date
– all schemes must onboard by 31 October 2026, but the LGPS
formal staging date is 31 October 2025. It is not yet known when
the pension dashboards will go live to the public.
4.3
i-Connect onboarding
Officers had targeted the last
10 employers (who had historically had data issues or where there
had been less engagement) to be onboarded by 31 March 2025. All
have had their initial meetings and discussions about our
specifications and requirements. They need to work with their
payroll software providers to create the initial tests files for
our review:
|
Employer |
No. of active members |
Test File received |
Project RAG Status |
|
Aquinas Trust |
42 |
29/10/24 |
|
|
Bexhill College |
95 |
25/07/24 |
|
|
Beacon Academy |
82 |
|
|
|
Uplands |
37 |
|
|
|
SABDEN |
117 |
20/12/24 |
|
|
Vardean College |
98 |
05/11/24 |
|
|
UoBAT |
476 |
17/01/25 |
|
|
Uni of Brighton |
1,363 |
06/12/24 |
|
|
Hailsham Academy |
86 |
13/01/25 |
|
|
DCAT |
382 |
|
EOY Return |
4.5 Robotics
(automation) & Digital Assistant
Officers are involved
in an ongoing project to integrate robotics with our pension
administration tasks to carry out straight-forward repetitive
actions. In November 2024 a robot called Drusillas went live. This
robot processes the refund of member pension contributions. The
checking stage of each case continues to be authorized by a
pensions Officer.
The Digital Assistant is a Chatbot designed to sit on the ESPF
website and answer FAQ. The project is well underway, and Officers
are working with an external provider ICS.AI who have created a
draft set of 298 questions and answers. These will be reviewed in
February 2025 and then the Digital Assistant can be integrated on
some key pages of the website.
4.6
Pension Administration Software contract
A paper on
the PAS tender was presented to the Pensions Committee on 21
November 2024 advising Officers had evaluated the LGPS Framework
bids and were happy with the quality of the submissions. Officers
recommended that Heywood Limited would continue to provide a robust
and comprehensive service to the Fund and further system
enhancements should be taken on as part of a new contract.
The Pensions Committee authorized the Chief Finance Officer to
complete the appropriate due diligence to award the contract. The
award was made on 23 January 2025 subject to finalizing terms and
conditions of the necessary contract.
The contract will commence on 28 April 2026 for a five year term,
with an option to extend up to 26 April 2034.
5
Conclusion and reasons for
recommendation.
5.1
The Pension Committee is asked to note the
report.
IAN
GUTSELL
Chief Finance Officer
Contact Officer:
Paul Punter, Head of Pensions Administration
Email:
paul.punter@eastsussex.gov.uk