Agenda item

26.1     The Board considered a report providing an update on matters relating to Pensions Administration activities and Paul Punter (PP) drew the Board’s attention to the following points:

KPIs

1)    The format of the Performance reports has changed in line with the discussion at the Pension Board and Pension Committee meetings in June 2024 where a draft of the new format was presented.

2)    Two new columns will be added to future performance reports to show the average time taken, and the longest time taken in relation to tasks completed outside of the SLA time. These additional details will be included from August 2024.
 

3)    It was discovered some members of the team had not been setting tasks to “reply due” correctly. Where the task is awaiting an external response (e.g. from a member or their adviser who need to say complete a form) the SLA clock should be paused. As a result of this finding and work carried out to resolve and ensure the system is being used correctly in the future the SLA performance could be understated and it is hoped that the data will show an improvement.

4)    The PAT saw similar performance numbers during quarter one 2024, average at 82.50% (volume completed 4,651).

Helpdesk

5)    Due to the transition into an inhouse team the reportable information relating to service delivery has reduced. The Fund can no longer determine the Call Answer Time or the Abandoned Call Rate. While members can still dial both the Main Helpline and Website Helpline numbers, they now both feed into a single Hunt Group so we can no longer differentiate between the call types. The roll out of the telephony upgrade is awaited.

6)    A full team now in place with expanded duties now that many tasks have been digitalised.
 

7)    Customer email feedback is now provided from the survey link available on each communication, officers would welcome call feedback from Board members .

Projects

8)    Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) have been issued with just over 99% for both active and deferred members achieved. BHCC statements totalled just under 7.5k and of these only 48 could not be completed. The University of Brighton is not on iConnect however only 1 could not be completed.

9)    iConnect: only 10 employers have not yet been onboarded and this will be an area of focus for officers however only 1 large employer is included in this group.

10)McCloud: data relating to employers (except BHCC) with active members has gone through the Heywoods data validation tool. All data received by Heywoods will go into the test system and then officers can start to look at calculations. Some inactive employers have not been reached so the LGPS framework will be used for calculations. PP confirmed that is unlikely that many members will require an adjustment.

            Pensions Dashboard

11) Heywood Altair Insights dashboard report has been used to identify gaps. Heywood are the Integrated Service Provider and a project plan has been created, with a two phase approach proposed to conclude by 31.10.25.

Mortality checks

12) There circa 600 overseas pensioners to check with about two-thirds contacted by email and the remainder by post. Overseas pensioners are required to complete a form, appropriately witnessed and returned within a few months. In late August 2024, chasers we issued to the outstanding 46 members which advised if the completed form is not returned by end of September their pensions will be suspended.

26.2     The Board agreed that the success of the ABS project meant that a report to the Regulator is not required this year and thanked officers for their hard work.

26.3     The Board RESOLVED to note the report.