Issue - meetings

33.1     The Committee considered a report on the outcome of the Annual Benefit Statement 2018 exercise.

33.2     The Committee RESOLVED to:

1) note the report;

2) express regret that the statutory deadline for Annual Benefits Statements had been breached;

3) request a report at the next meeting on the outcome of reporting the breach to the Pensions Regulator; and

4) note that it may recommend the withdrawal from the Orbis partnership in the event of the failure to meet the Annual Benefit Statement in 2019.

6.         

7.         

8.         

9.         

9.1.        The Board considered a report about the outcome of the Annual Benefit Statement exercise following the statutory deadline for completion of 31 August 2018.

9.2.        Brian Smith (BS), Head of Operations, said that Gildredge House Free School had now provided its end of year return allowing for the processing of its employees’ annual benefit statements.

9.3.        The Chair said that it was regrettable that a breach that effects the administering authority’s compliance with regulations had occurred. He was surprised that it seemed sufficient pressure at all levels was not applied to the school to get it to comply, particularly as the school’s belated compliance in the last 10 days showed it did have the ability to do so. He expressed disappointment that this incident meant that the ESPF had not achieved 100% compliance with the statutory deadline despite additional effort this year.

9.4.        Councillor Richard Stogdon (RS), Chair of the Pension Committee, asked what penalties could be applied to employers that fail to meet the deadline for end of year returns. RW explained that the powers of administering authorities are limited at the moment but the Pensions Regulator is lobbying Government to introduce legislation that would enable administering authorities to penalise employers.

9.5.        WN and RW explained that it was clear in legislation that it was the Administering Authorities’ responsibility not the employers’ responsibility to make sure Annual Benefit Statements are sent out in time. In previous years, with regard to the specific issue with Gildredge House,  the Fund has mitigated against the risk of breaching the annual benefit statement deadline by agreeing  with the employer  before the statutory deadline to issue a joint cover letter to their employees  with the reasons as to why the statement has been issued with last year’s data, and that an updated statement would be sent once the end of year data had been received and processed.  This meant that the Fund did not breach the deadline by failing to send out Annual Benefits Statements to the particular employer who failed to send in an end of year return. BS confirmed that the Gildredge House Free School employees had been contacted prior to the deadline informing them that they could view their previous year’s statement online. 

9.6.        BS explained that since the publication of the Board’s report it was discovered that an administrative error had occurred resulting in 2,500 active members not receiving their annual benefit statements. The Business Operations team is now investigating why this error occurred and has reported the breach to the Section 151 officer and Monitoring Officer who will decide whether to report it to the Pensions Regulator. BS added that the issue was being rectified and the employees will receive their annual benefit statements by the end of September.

9.7.        The Board members agreed that they were all very disappointed to hear that an admin error had occurred resulting in a failure to meet the statutory deadline despite regular assurance throughout the year that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9