Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to present the Fund’s performance for the three months to 31^st 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.

Have seen an upturn in performance since staff have been able to return to the office.

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.

Richard Orton referred to paragraph 9.7 of the report and asked if it were correct that as part of the Levelling Up agenda, further regulations were expected to direct investments of LGPS Funds. He added that previously Unions have challenged similar proposed regulations.

The Service Director for Financial Control and Pensions replied that earlier this year when the Levelling Up papers were issued by the Government it was identified that 5% of LGPS funds should be invested locally. He added that the Scheme Advisory Board has since advised that can be attributed to UK investment.

He said that they were still awaiting guidance, but there could be an expectation that we are asked to not make investment decisions that conflict with the UK’s foreign and defence policy.

Shirley Marsh-Hughes asked if there had been a rise in complaints from members due to some areas of work taking longer than usual.

The Pensions Manager replied that there has been a slight rise in the number of complaints, but said that this was due to the sheer volume of work at the present time.

Councillor John Cato asked what progress was being made to enable the Fund to have enough staff in place in order to ease pressure and reduce some of timescales already referred to.

The Pensions Manager replied that they have recruited to the team recently, but that at the same time staff have also left the team. He added that where possible work has been moved around the team.

He said it was hoped that when the new operating structure was in place with career paths identified that they would be able to retain staff for longer.

The Service Director for Financial Control and Pensions added that with the new structure and career grades they were seeking to make the roles more of a proposition to stay. He added that the public sector in general was struggling with a shortage in recruitment and retention. He added that there was a particular need retain experienced staff within the Fund.

The members of the Committee were minded to advise that the following resolution should be made on Monday 28th March.

The Committee notes:

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

ii) The current Risk Register.

iii) The updated cashflow forecast