Issue - meetings

10.1     The Board considered a report by the Chief Finance Officer introduced by Paul Punter, Head of Pensions Administration.

10.2     The following points were highlighted to the Board:

1)      The performance for quarter 1 has improved slightly from quarter 4 however most tasks are rated red for the quarter which is likely due to the bulk upload from Brighton & Hove City Council in January which has taken a number of months to process.

2)      The performance figures for April 2025 and forecast May 2025 show improvement to the figures shown within the report for quarter 1.

3)      Turnover in staff within pension administration team has slowed the rate of recovery in terms of performance.

4)      Resource allocated to i-Connect onboarding has seen recent change seeing a decrease in one member of staff from the i-Connect administration team.

5)      The administration team are aware of potential spikes in workload which will be brought about by backdated pay awards meaning adjustment of annual benefit statements, work around McCloud and work following legislation updates.

6)      The bulk i-Connect data file for the period June to December 2024 was successfully uploaded on 9 January 2025 with a small number of omitted members.

7)      More work is ongoing to combine data from McCloud with employer data to be able produce the Annual Benefit Statements. As this is a valuation year, data from McCloud will need to be sent to the actuaries as soon as possible.

10.3     The Board discussed the risk relating to turnover of pension administration staff and its potential inclusion on the Pension Risk Register. It was noted that should there be challenges to appoint to vacancies in the administration team arise, it would be considered for inclusion in the Risk Register however the Board were reassured that recruitment to administration vacancies continues to be successful.

10.4     The Board RESOLVED to note the updates within the report.