Agenda item

The Finance & Systems Manager (Pensions) presented the finance report. The headlines were:

• net expenditure forecast to be under budget

• directly controlled administration budget forecast to be £120,000 below budget partly due to temporary partial secondment of the payroll manager and support officer to the Council’s payroll section

• savings were forecast on communications budget because of greater use of digital technology

• non-directly controlled budget forecast to be £440,000 under budget

• Filton Town Council was the only late payer; their payroll has been taken over by South Gloucestershire, which should lead to improvements.

The Pensions Benefit Manager presented the performance report. The highlights were:

• a marginal  increase in new work cases for the third consecutive quarter

• internal processes being revised enabling workload to be managed more effectively

• a programme of training events has been undertaken to guide Fund and scheme employers through the first year-end process for CARE scheme

• 75% of employees now covered by electronic employer self service

A member asked if checks were made to ascertain that pensioners of the Fund resident overseas were still living. This was important, because it could be difficult to recover money from other jurisdictions. The Pensions Benefit Manager replied that payments overseas were made through Western Union, who carried out such checks on the Fund’s behalf.

RESOLVED to note:

1. Administration and management expenditure for 10 months to 31 January 2015;

2. Performance Indicators and Customer Satisfaction feedback for 3 months to 31 December 2014;

3. Summary Performance Report for period from 1 April 2011 to 31 December 2014;

4. Risk Register.