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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 a timely manner.

37.10.   The Chair noted that the number of undecided leavers under “status 2” on Altair was listed as approximately 800 in the report but had been higher in the Internal Audit report of the PAT. He understood this was because the PAT had been contacting employers who had members in status 2 to confirm their status, and in some case contacting the members directly.

37.11.   NW agreed this represented progress but did not want to become complacent as many of those removed would have been easy wins, and 800 still remained in that status. Ultimately, the PAT would need to encourage a change in culture from employers so that they report data to the PAT in a more timely manner.

37.12.   Councillor Gerard Fox (GF) asked how standards of the PAT could be maintained.

37.13.   NW said that the SLA would help ensure standards are maintained across all six administering authorities.

37.14.   The Board RESOLVED to note the report.