Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to present the Fund’s performance for the three months to 31st December 2021 against its key performance indicators (KPI’s) in relation to the administration of pension benefits.

The Pensions Manager introduced this report to the Board and highlighted the following areas.

Workload

Generally, the Fund continues to operate below its desired target of >90% for most case types, although the case-by-case breakdown evidences an overall improvement in critical processes for retirements and death cases from the previous quarter. Generally, however, KPI benchmarking performance has declined over the past year.

A contributory factor relating to underperformance can be associated with the inclusion of the current backlog project and the processing of historic workload cases impacting KPI’s. As outlined in the previous report, a short-term project is in progress to complete the build-up of processing work identified at the end of September 2021. The project was set to run from October to March with the aim being to clear down all ‘backlog’ cases over a six-month period whilst continuing to maintain all new business as usual tasks in time.

Currently there is a projected six to eight week overrun on the original completion date which has been attributed to; an increase in staff officer resource transitioning from the project to support business as usual and the complexity of a number of backlog cases remaining. The intention is to now complete this work by the end of May.

He informed the Board that Annex 2 showed figures compared to local SLA targets which have shorter timescales than the national guidelines. He added that they would soon be using a new tool ‘Insights’ that would be able to provide a better example of data for reporting.

Stuart Anstead asked if the new end date, 31^st May, was achievable.

The Member Services Manager replied that she felt that half the remaining cases were workable and that the other half were awaiting responses. She added that the project is reviewed on a weekly basis.

The Pensions Manager added that if no responses were received from members steps would be taken to close down those cases. He said that members have been sent reminders and that a high volume of requests are received in terms of transfers out, but these are not all carried out due to the benefits that are in place.

He added that they would not want to compromise employer liabilities and that a focus would be given to smaller employers as a priority to be cleared.

The Chair commented that he felt it was sensible and fair to report on the locally set targets.

Mark King said that he agreed and that he found the information within the report useful to use.

The Service Director for Financial Control and Pensions commented that it remains a challenge to receive the right data from all parties and that where possible they should try to make sure that data is flowing from employers. He added that when the Pension Dashboard is in place data will need to be accurate and robust.

Data Quality

The Pensions Manager informed the Board that officers are developing the TPR DIP report to provide an annual trending view of the outstanding cases for the last 12 months.

The Employer Services Manager added that any cases that were over 12 months old would be operated on a project basis.

Projects

McCloud – A further 43 employers covering 920 members have been completed. We are still working with 2 of our largest employers to gain the service data we require, one has begun sending data the other has been rejected due to poor data submission.

·  Next steps: Work with remaining employers yet to make data submissions and escalate to Finance Officers for compliance.

·  Upload data and deal with queries by 31st March 2022

·  Consider requirements and resource for remedy in preparation for regulations.

Address Tracing – As at 31st January 2022 a total of 4,590 members have been written to, to confirm their current addresses. We have received 2,195 positive responses equating to 47%, 291 negative responses equating to 6.3%.

2,791 follow up chase letters were sent out in October 2021 and we have received 519 positive address responses equating to 18.5% and 89 negative responses 0.03%.

From the original tracing requests, we still have 1,101 cases yet to be traced. These were sent to Mercers in December 2021 for next stage tracing along with the negative responses noted above. We are currently awaiting tracing results from Mercer.

·  Next steps: Write to members identified in last batch of tracing once Mercer response is received.

·  Wrap up project of Historic tracing and ‘gone aways’

·  Ongoing processes to trace members as new ‘gone away’ notifications are received

i-Connect – Monthly Data Returns

Current IC Totals

·  Employers on IC – 270 (60% of Employers)

·  Employers targeted for IC – 179 (40% of Employers)

·  Active Members covered by IC – 30,996 - 78% of active membership covered by IC (figures as at 8/2/2022)

Progress has been made with Online Return employers, 17 smaller employers have been trained and are now submitting monthly data. 11 remaining to go live.

We are currently in the testing stage with 5 MAT/payrolls covering 46 employers. These will go live after Year End.

Fire Pension Scheme – MoU & Framework Agreement

The Fund continues to support the Avon Fire Authority in providing affected members with retirement options as identified under the immediate detriment and framework (IDF) agreement in lieu of the McCloud remedy.

The Pensions Manager explained that he and the Service Director for Financial Control and Pensions had recently met with the Avon Fire Authority to explain that due to the challenging nature of the work the Fund would not be seeking to administer on their behalf in the coming years and that support would cease sometime in 2023 / 24.

The Chair commented that he accepted their decision and said that officers should let him know if any formal support from the Board was required.

The Pensions Manager said that Avon Fire Authority were aware of their need to procure a service and would go out to tender in due course.

Accommodation

·  15 desks available to use within the Guildhall, Bath on a rota basis.

·  Secured space within the River Suite, Keynsham to use approximately 45/55 workstations from the end of the year following refurbishment.

Service Plan 2022 / 2025

The Fund is currently preparing the 2022/2025 Service Plan and Budget for approval by the committee at its meeting on 25th March. A number of key changes to the business operational model will be taken forward in order to support the drive to deliver a more efficient automated service.

The Pensions Manager gave an overview of the proposed operational model and top level structure concept.

Tier 1: Digital Services

·  I-Connect Processing

·  I-Connect Engagement Team

·  Member Contact Centre

Tier 2: Operations

·  Employer Services

·  Member Services

Tier 3: Support & Development

·  Technical & Compliance

·  Communications & Marketing

·  Transformation

The Governance & Risk Advisor said that the model had been developed over the last year and that officers felt that if Tier 1 can be put in place to the best of its ability then more time would be available to work on the other tiers.

The Pensions Manager stated that as part of the Admin Strategy 2022-25 implementation of the new operating model was scheduled for April 2023 following work in relation to the structure, job descriptions and career grading.

Alison Wyatt commented that a lot of thought appeared to have been given to the model and hoped that it would solve some of the issues mentioned earlier in the meeting.

The Service Director for Financial Control and Pensions said that resources now need to be put in the right place to make the model come to fruition. He added that the ability to restructure would be key to put themselves in a better position for future work.

Stuart Anstead commented that he supported the ethos outlined and asked if there were any shift in targets over the coming 1 – 3 years.

The Service Director for Financial Control and Pensions replied that there was in terms of the Communications Strategy. He said that work would continue on developing employer self service and they will be working with software providers in terms of delivery.

Stuart Anstead said that he was a little concerned as to how staff might view the reference to tiers in the new operational model.

The Service Director for Financial Control and Pensions replied that they could look to see if amendments were required, but stated that the tiers do not reflect categories of working or capability and they would make sure that messages are in place for staff to reflect that.

The Chair said that he welcomed the proposals for staff development and it would be important to have enough resources in place to support and grow our staff.

The Pension Board RESOLVED to note:

i) Fund performance for the three months to 31st December 2021.

ii) The plan to undertake the tri-annual valuation.