Issue - meetings

The item was introduced by Vicky Jenks, who drew members’ attention to some of the highlights in the report. Use of the Member Self Service portal was continuing to increase gradually, with pensioners due to be contacted to encourage them to sign up. There would also be a targeted exercise after analysis of which demographic groups were using the portal and those that were not. New starters were encouraged to use the portal and it was hoped this would eventually become the norm, but it was accepted more work needed to be done to actively promote this.

The majority of the key performance indicators were on track to be met despite the additional work the team had taken on in relation to the valuation. The number of breaches had decreased as issues that had previously existed with a Multi Academy Trust’s payroll provider had been resolved and information was now being supplied to the Fund on time. The Fund was anticipating receiving guidance from the Education and Skills Funding Agency on schools having outsourced contracts, and how these could be impacted if the school converted to an academy.

Responding to a question from Councillor Shenton, Vicky Jenks said there was no longer a requirement for paper payslips to be sent out but they would be if one was requested if a pensioner was unable to use the portal. She added that P60 forms would continue to be paper based.

Vicky Jenks clarified green breaches were those that had occurred once and been noted, and amber breaches had been noted after more than one occurrence. Red breaches were significant in consequence and required reporting to the regulator.

Responding to points raised by the Chair, Vicky Jenks said there had been changes to the processes for handling letters detailing transfers and sending out an initial letter notifying of a member’s death to improve efficiency. There had been a recent increase in the number of transfer letters being required, partly because the workforce was now more transient and a member was more likely to have been a member of more than one pension scheme previously.