Agenda item

PENSION FUND ADMINISTRATION - PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR YEAR AND QUARTER AND RISK REGISTER

Minutes:

The Communications and Public Relations Manager presented the report and summarised the key information:

 

  • 30 new employers joined the Fund during the quarter, the majority of these being academies and associated community bodies. A number of schools outsourced their payroll to third-party providers. A further 72 potential new employers were in the pipeline. In addition B&NES is outsourcing its school catering, which potentially will create a number of new employers.

 

  • There had been an overall improvement in administration performance over the previous quarter and the majority of priority cases are now actioned within target.

 

  • Performance against statutory targets is now given (Appendix 2b) in areas for which there are also SLA targets. Performance against statutory targets and SLA targets cannot be directly compared because the statutory definitions are different.

 

  • Work continues on backlogs. 80 cases out of a 190 case backlog of inter-fund transfers have been cleared and work will commence shortly on the backlog of member aggregation cases.

 

  • Work commenced on a project to roll out iConnect to all employers at the end of March 2018. A summary of progress on strategic projects included in the Service Plan will be included in future Committee reports.

 

  • Administrators had developed detailed reports to measure compliance with the TPR data improvement plan for common and scheme-specific data. Errors identified are prioritised and for active members employers are provided with a quarterly data exception report. Overall errors had reduced over the past quarter and the Fund will take additional steps when required to follow up with employers to improve compliance.

 

A Member referred to the list of late paying employers in Appendix 5, and asked whether it was possible to charge interest on late payments. The Finance and Systems Manager (Pensions) confirmed that this was possible when payment was more than one month late. The Member was concerned that some employers were making late payments more than once. The Finance and Systems Manager (Pensions) replied efforts were made to encourage employers to pay on time, but some of them were not good at operating their payroll systems or lacked good internal organisation.

 

Members discussed the usefulness of the SLA targets when the performance figures so often failed to reach them. The Head of Business, Finance and Pensions said this point had been made by the Pension Board in relation to the SLA and the statutory targets. The Pension Board had even suggested that the statutory targets were not fit for purpose. A Member suggested that the performance figures should indicate when the clock is stopped because information is awaited from an employer or other third party. The Head of Business, Finance and Pensions said the Pension Board had looked at this and had been surprised by how long sometimes it took employers and individuals to respond.

 

RESOLVED to note:

 

  1. Membership data, Fund and Employer performance for the 3 months to 31st March 2018;

 

  1. Progress and reviews of the TPR Data Improvement Plan.

 

Supporting documents: