Agenda item

67.1       The Board considered a report providing an update on matters relating to Pensions Administration activities for the period June 2022 to June 2023.

67.2     Paul Punter (PP) drew the Board’s attention to the following points:

·      New board members were provided with an explanation of how the administration team works and recent changes.

·      PAT performance numbers are on target at 95%, the helpdesk has seen increased volume in traffic with lots of data now received monthly rather than annually.

·      Appendix 1 gives annual breakdown of the KPI targets and achievement. PAT recently started reporting a KPI for aggregation where the KPIs are below target levels due to the volume of aggregations in this period. Projects have resulted in significant resource deployment and therefore performance numbers are expected to be lower for next few months as staff are stretched to deal with the multiple requests. The work to resolve the data issues with the B&H member details continues to present significant resource issues. Further, Actuarial factors have been delayed by central government and this has impacted the ability to meet the JPI target dates.

·      Appendix 2 data highlights how things have improved with regards to the Helpdesk since the administration has been brought in house. The helpdesk is currently provided by Surrey County Council, however will  be transferred to ESCC from April.

·      Staffing levels are in an improved position with some key appointments made and advertising undertaken for apprenticeship roles.

·      With regard to annual benefit statements to be issued by 31 August 2023, PP provided a verbal update on the issuance which were not available in time for the publication of the written report to the Board. 99.76% of Annual benefit statements were produced for deferred members. 95.9% of Annual Benefit Statements were produced for active Fund members which is considered a real achievement in the context of the volume of B&H data issues and the transition to iConnect. 125 of the 141 employers’ data was collected through iConnect. RM noted that the Board will need to consider at the November meeting if the failure to provide 100% of the Annual Benefits Statement is a material breach of legislation that would require a report to the Pensions Regulator to be made.

·      Process reviews have been delivered over the past year with some work still outstanding.

·      The Pension Dashboard implementation date has been pushed back by Government.

·      The reconciliation and rectification of Guaranteed Minimum Pensions was back on track and the Board were advised the contractor carrying out this work was going through a management buyout.

67.3     RM highlighted the slippage on notification of death benefits to members’ dependents.

67.4     PP confirmed that the number of cases is low so any missed notifications will impact the percentage figure significantly and that the reason for delays this quarter had been down to holiday of the senior officers who approve payments. These cases are prioritised and cases can be complex.

67.5     RM requested that in future the Helpdesk KPI figures should be presented as a one page document for the Board.

67.6     TO raised a query about some of the University of Brighton data not being picked up which had led to a number of unnecessary queries.

67.7     PP confirmed that next year’s return would be completed through iConnect which will resolve this issue.

67.8     The Board RESOLVED to note the report and requested that Paul Punter circulate the headline numbers for the Annual Benefit Statements by email after the meeting.