Issue - meetings

Vicky Jenks, Pensions Admin Delivery Lead, presented this report which provided an update on the key developments affecting pensions administration and the performance of the Pensions Administration Service, including the issue of Annual Benefit Statements, the implementation of Member Self Service, achievement of key performance indicators, workloads in the team, management of breaches, the continuation of the McCloud project, new employers seeking admission to the Fund, and the internal dispute resolution procedure.

Regarding the small number of statements not sent out due to outstanding queries, Keith Francis asked if this related to a small number of employers and was advised that there were a couple of employers where further information had been sought and it had been identified that the issue was that they were not registered on the iConnect system but once they had been onboarded the problem would cease. 

With regard to a query from Mike Snow, Vicky Jenks noted that an issue had been identified whereby some employers did not collect marital status through their payroll and, upon transfer of the data, the system recorded a blank marital status as ‘single’.  Whilst this had not been anticipated, it was not a material breach and could be easily rectified for the future to ensure that information on spousal benefits was included.  There had been no bearing on the content of the annual benefit statements.  Vicky Jenks also confirmed that the issue of the annual benefit statements generally resulted in an influx of queries; whilst there were notes that sat alongside the statements, generally people did not want a lot of complicated information.  Nationally there was some discussion about the level of information being included in the statements and about increasing awareness.  The key factor was to make members aware of their pensions and the introduction of a pensions dashboard in 2023 would be beneficial as this would allow people to see all their pension pots together. 

Keith Francis asked about the assertion in the report (KPI1) that when the Fire Pensions administration transferred to a new provider more resource would be available.  Vicky Jenks advised that the current focus was on making sure fire records were as up to date as possible in readiness for the transfer.  One member of the team was therefore spending more time in this area than would normally be required.  Once the administration had transferred, that person would be available to pick up other areas of work.  The statement therefore related to targeted resource rather than there being additional resource.

Noting issues regarding Multi Academy Trust contracts, the Chair pointed out that there was pressure nationally to address the issues raised.

The Local Pension Board noted the report.