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Officers' Report (Pension Board and Pension Committee)

Meeting: 16/03/2020 - Pension Committee (Item 69)

69 Pension Administration updates pdf icon PDF 82 KB

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Minutes:

69.1     The Committee considered a report providing an update to the Pension Committee on matters relating to Pensions Administration activities.

69.2     The Committee discussion included the following key issues:

·         Orbis is in the process of readying the Pensions Administration Team (PAT) to be able to retain business continuity during the Covid-19 outbreak. The Council has the infrastructure in place to enable agile working for staff, but whether or not staff have this infrastructure, e.g., a laptop, depends on whether they are classified as agile or fixed desk workers. Some payroll software requires, for security reasons, that it be accessed from a fixed desk, therefore, emergency planning work with ICT is being undertaken to allow access to this software via Citrix at home – either via a Council laptop or a home device.

·         The capacity of the PAT to respond to all queries in the time period set out in its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) may be reduced during the next few months. The focus of efforts, therefore, will be on those queries that require a more urgent response, such as death of a relative. The PAT is confident that responses to these queries can be maintained even if there is an increase in volume due to Covid-19.

69.3     The Committee RESOLVED to note the report.

 


Meeting: 02/03/2020 - Pension Board (Item 37)

37 Pension Administration updates pdf icon PDF 138 KB

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37.1.      The Board considered a report on matters relating to Pension Administration activities.

37.2.      Nick Weaver (NW) provided an overview of the priority plan for the Pensions Administration Team (PAT) for 2020. He explained that a major aim was to standardise, in line with CIPFA standards, the pension administration service provided by Orbis to the six administering authorities it provides services to. This included developing standardised Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in the short term and eventually Service Level Agreements (SLAs) across the six authorities, although that would take time. He emphasised the importance of ensuring staff had the correct training and that sufficient in-house technical knowledge and expertise was available.

37.3.      NW said that improving a pensions administration service and the data it holds takes time but is achievable. Daniel Kanaris (DK) added that the volume and complexity of work of PATs had increased considerably since the introduction of the career average earning pension and was an issue all 89 Local Government Pension Schemes (LGPS) are facing.

37.4.      The Chair asked how data quality would be improved across the six funds Orbis supports.

37.5.      NW explained that a data quality team was being established that would aim to improve data quality. The projects initiated by his predecessors were also helping, including the Data Improvement Programme, the work on Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) Reconciliation, and engagement with employers. The need to re-procure a pension administration system was also approaching and Altair, provided by Aquila Heywood, had increasing competition from other providers.

37.6.      The Chair asked what the PAT could do in future to improve employer engagement and the quality of data they provide, for example, publishing a rating and rankings table of employers to ‘name and shame’ those performing poorly. 

37.7.      NW agreed that this would be a good idea. In other authorities he had worked for, he had introduced initiatives such as offering training to employers that was free for those who turned up, but those who did not turn up were charged for it; and writing to school governors if there were concerns about a school’s provision of employer data.

37.8.      The Chair said KPIs did not show whether activities were completed in good time or rushed at the last minute to hit the KPI target. He asked whether the PAT could demonstrate whether this was occurring in its reporting to the Board.

37.9.      NW explained that he planned to implement different internal and external KPIs, for example, an internal KPI of 15 days and an external KPI for 20. This way if the internal KPI is missed it can be escalated internally to ensure it is resolved in time for the external KPI deadline. The external deadline is then met, and the customer is satisfied that they received their service in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37