Agenda item

5a Officers’ Report: Business Operations

5a.1     Jason Bailey (JB) told the Board that the Business Operations report included information intended to contextualise the data. He would be interested to know if members found this helpful. JB also noted that it was not currently possible to report benchmarking information on scheme administration costs as this information has not yet been released by CIPFA.

5a.2     In response to a query from DZ on vacancies, JB told members that he has hopeful that the imminent move from Uckfield to Lewes would increase the recruitment pool. Two new staff members have recently been recruited, but there are still two vacancies; and it may well be that they team, even with its full complement of staff, is slightly understaffed.

5a.3     JB told the Board that there was a significant backlog of deferred benefits to be calculated. There was a resource issue here, and the team would struggle to make up this backlog with current staffing levels.

5a.4     JB stated that providing prompt responses was a priority – it was not acceptable that people should be left waiting for information, particularly as people may be under significant stress when they contact the team. It should be noted that the team does prioritise the most urgent requests. Also the planned introduction of member self-service will give members more flexibility in accessing their pension information.

5a.5     In response to a question on complaints from TW, JB told members that the team received very few complaints. It may be that many members are in fact quite relaxed about the time taken in answering queries, or are unaware of service targets.

5a.6     JB told the Board that there has been positive feedback from employers following the launch of Pensions Web, although more work needs doing  within ESCC Business Operations Management  to start processing in this way. Wendy Neller (WN) commented  Pensions Web is up and running, feedback from employers to the Fund has been good, as an example B&HCC are utilising Pensions Web well.  WN commented that it was important that ESCC, as one of the largest employers in the Fund start utilising the system as soon as possible in order to realise efficiencies. This in-turn would reduce the need for additional recruitment and improve processes.  WN commented in addition that it was important to realise other efficiency savings which could be made within the administration such as  Pensions to  Payroll  interface and barcoding.

5a.7     KA commented that it seemed as if some slightly more realistic service targets were required. JB agreed, and noted that the targets used were probably based on industry-wide benchmarks identified some time ago . However, given current financial pressures, it did make sense to challenge whether the targets accurately reflect key performance areas.

5a.8     JB told members that the annual benefit statement had been produced to a challenging (statutory) timescale. The initial deadline had been missed, but this was not something likely to impact upon scheme members.

5a.9     The Chair commented that, despite the best efforts taken to make the annual benefit statement comprehensible, it was still an extremely complex document. DZ agreed, but noted the inherent complexity of the information that had to be presented.