Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to present the Fund’s administration performance for the three months to 30 June 2023 vs key performance indicators (KPI’s).

The Pensions Operations Manager introduced the report to the Board. She emphasised that, whilst it remains a challenging time within the service, she wanted to recognise the work that has been carried out by the teams, particularly regarding the Year End Data.

She explained that demand for the service is increasing, with a high influx of calls and emails. She added that most processes within the service are still carried out manually.

She highlighted to the Board the following areas from Appendix 3 - Administration Service Improvement Plan update Q2 2023.

Key levers to improve people environment

• Improve salaries – Done

• Fill vacant positions - Started

• Leadership & communication – Ongoing

• Organisation, Training, Development, and Career Progressions – Ongoing

Payroll

Q2 UPDATE

·  Resourced with 3 full time officers (2 seconded) and 2 casual officers

·  Resilience & confidence in ability to maintain payroll services

OBJECTIVES

·  Fully resourced

·  Robust processes

·  MI on workflow – full transparency

ACTIONS

·  Review structure of payroll team

·  Maintain support from Members Services officers

·  Work on backlogs

Leaver process

Q2 UPDATE

·  Leaver team in position

·  Training rolled out to removed duplication of checking

·  Agile review of officer resource to support business needs

OBJECTIVES

·  No backlogs > 60 days

·  Meet TPR & regulatory requirements

·  Meet SLA targets set in Admin Strategy (CIPFA) agreed by Pensions Committee

·  Employers providing timely & accurate data

ACTIONS

·  Development of bulk digital processing underway

·  Streamline & digitalise 3 key processes

o Leaver

o Starter

o Post changes

·  Support & Development

o Employer training ongoing

o People training & upskilling ongoing

Management Information (MI)

Q2 UPDATE

·  New reports giving better oversight however further development required

·  MI being used to make weekly decisions with officer resource

OBJECTIVES

·  Reporting to support pro-active achievement of KPIs and SLAs

·  Agile reporting, weekly, monthly

·  Employer performance

·  Team productivity

ACTIONS

·  Ongoing review & development of weekly MI reports

·  Review of workflows to in-bed new reporting with new processes and responsibilities

·  Create, design, test and deliver new reports

Day-to-day and backlogs

Q2 UPDATE

·  Increase in outstanding cases due to increase in incoming cases

·  PI error cases c.1000 cases

·  Task force created to deal with increase in email traffic due to ABS campaign

OBJECTIVES

·  Fully resourced & trained team

·  No backlogs > 60 days

·  Self service & digital processes for members & employers

·  Satisfied members

·  Engaged workforce

ACTIONS

·  Weekly cross team meetings to discuss workloads & support

·  Operational focus on 2 key areas

o Retirements

o Death

·  Review options including outsourcing of PI error cases

She stated that the Board should not expect to see an improvement in the performance figures over the next two quarters. She added though that good progress was being made on the Service Improvement Plan.

Tony Whitlock asked how worried the Board should be with the current situation.

The Pensions Operations Manager acknowledged that they should be concerned, but that she would be more worried if there were no plan in place to follow. She added that there was a good management team in place who were focused on achieving better outcomes.

Steve Harman commented that he felt the figures were shocking and was concerned that there were no signs of them improving. He asked if there was anything radical that could be done to aid an upturn in these levels. He proposed that a sum of money be used from within the Fund to allow agency work to assist with clearing the backlog.

The Pensions Operations Manager replied that they are looking at options and have already had a discussion with one consultant. She said that they were not the only Fund to be in this position and that any additional spend would need to be justified.

Nick Weaver said that he acknowledged the frustrations that have been raised and that the Board was right to be concerned. He stated that he was confident in the officer’s current approach and the need for the Fund to deliver the service properly, thoroughly and consistently. He suggested a realistic timeline be set for when any improvements could be expected.

The Head of Pensions replied that the detail of the Service Improvement Plan needed to be worked through and that he expected to be in a more positive position in June 2024.

Stuart Anstead said that the outputs of the Service Improvement Plan will need to be acknowledged and show what differences any recruitment and digitalisation has made. He added though that with Birmingham City Council having effectively declared itself bankrupt after issuing a section 114 notice, there is a risk that other Local Authorities could find themselves in a similar position and then there would be the possibility of redundancy processes.

The Director, One West replied that there was a separate governance system in place so the Fund would be insulated against this type of risk. He added that he also expected an improvement in performance over the next 12 months.

Stuart Anstead commented that he was concerned about the possible additional correspondence regarding voluntary redundancy if such a situation did arise. He suggested that support for the service be generated in a managed way through the use of a newsletter.

The Head of Pensions summarised the concerns that had been raised.

• The Board is deeply concerned over the current levels of service
• Officers note core challenges and suggestions from the Board:

?  Recruitment should be accelerated where possible.

?  The improvement plan should set out what outcomes will be achieved and when.

?  The Fund should explore further funding options to raise capacity and the new organisational structure should have resilience embedded.

?  Officers need to be clear in communications with all stakeholders.

• The Board's concerns will be shared with the Pensions Committee

The Board RESOLVED to note the service performance for the three months to 30 June 2023.