Issue - meetings

Andrew Marson, Pensions Administration Delivery Lead, introduced the report.  He expressed pride in the Team for the way they had responded to the circumstances of the Covid-19 Pandemic before drawing attention to the Governance Action Plan which continued to progress in a timely fashion.

Liz Firmstone, Service Manager (Transformation) was invited to report on the pensions costing exercise which had taken place and she advised that work had been undertaken on a review of pensions costs and close liaison had taken place with the CIPFA Benchmarking Club.  The Board were informed that a review had also been carried out by the Benchmarking Club last year, led by Cheshire, and feedback was that members were struggling to follow the guidance and there were issues with comparability of data.  Refreshed guidance would result in more comparability for 2019/20 statistics and a higher level of assurance. As a result, it was expected that the cost of Warwickshire Pensions Administration would be shown as efficient when compared to the rest of the Group when 2019/10 figures were submitted and published.   A further report would come to the next meeting.  The Chair asked that this report incorporate information about how many funds were covered by the Benchmarking Club.

Andrew Marson, Pensions Administration Delivery Lead, also shared an update regarding Audit, Payroll, Workloads, Pensions Increases, End of Year Returns, Annual Benefits statements, recruitment, key performance indicators, breaches and IConnect as set out in the report. 

He noted that the circumstances of Covid-19 had put a greater emphasis on wellbeing and that whilst people were generally prepared for an extended period of working from home, it was acknowledged that, for some individuals, their wellbeing and performance could be affected and supportive processes were in place to accommodate them.

The Board noted significant improvement in terms of transfers and that positive contact existed with the Regulator in terms of reported breaches.

Keith Francis joined the meeting at this point.

The Board discussed the Iconnect project which had full approval and was progressing well.  Early engagement with employers’ payroll teams/outsourced providers was required to give appropriate lead times.  Many payroll providers already used the new digital platform with other employers and were keen to implement online submission and move away from the existing spreadsheet.  Smaller employers already used an online submission form and, therefore, would not see a difference in approach.  The Board asked for an update on the Iconnect Project at the next meeting.

The Board were pleased to hear that as part of the implementation work around new KPIs, there were improved mechanisms to capture data which had reduced the manual effort involved.