Agenda item

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

The Pensions Operations Manager addressed the Board. She thanked those that took part in the online meeting yesterday to discuss the Pensions Increase issue and said it was hoped that a remedy would be available soon and that a follow up session was planned to take place in the early part of 2024.

Steve Harman asked if the remedy would come as a result of an additional cost to employers.

The Pensions Operations Manager replied that it would not. She added that they hoped to have confirmed data by the end of January.

The Head of Pensions commented that weekly project meetings are being held and that they welcomed the input and support from the Board.

Alison Wyatt said that she was disappointed that this issue had not been picked up by the Internal Audit Team.

The Head of Audit & Assurance replied that this area was last reviewed in 2018/19 and explained that the Internal Audit role was to verify that the Heywood system was reporting the processes and that these were then subject to appropriate management review.

He stated that controls did exist, but they could not evidence whether they were working as intended. He said he believed that around 3% of the Fund have been inaccurately paid and that they were working with the Pensions Management Team as the matter progresses.

The Head of Pensions acknowledged that they were accountable for this scenario and would also take steps to guide the Internal Audit Team for when future reviews are due to take place. He added that they need to tighten their over-arching controls and would seek to bring a framework back to a future meeting.

The Pensions Operations Manager gave a presentation to the Board, a copy of which will be added as an online appendix to these minutes. A summary of the presentation is set out below.

Current Service state

·  Aggregate performance is broadly stable – but insufficient.

·  Cases completed are starting to exceed new cases coming in.

·  Reduction of outstanding cases is starting to come down and supports our focus on backlog.

Steve Harman congratulated all staff involved for the improvements that have been made and welcomed the way in which this information has been presented.

Five root causes affecting the Service

1.  People & Capacity

·  Vacancy rate: 10%

·  Pay

·  Officer experience

2.  Processes

·  Duplication of process and checking

·  Volume of Leaver work

·  Payroll processes

3.  Regulations

·  New McCloud regulations with effect from 1st October

o  Training received from Aon

o  Switched on in Live

o  60,000 letters / 20,000 emails to be sent by the end of the year

·  New Fire Scheme Sergeant/McCloud regulations with effect from 1st October

Steve Harman said that he hoped that the correspondence with members would be in as Plain English as possible.

The Pensions Operations Manager replied that they have tried really hard to make the letter/email as clear as possible.

Helen Ball offered to review the letter/email and provide feedback.

The Pensions Operations Manager replied that the letter/email was about to be sent out imminently and therefore there was probably not time on this occasion, but thanked Helen for her offer.

The Head of Pensions commented that they were in the process of reviewing their starter letter and said that he would appreciate Helen’s feedback on that.

4.  Work Spikes & Projects

·  Fire Scheme exit (31/1/24)

·  ABS (Annual Benefit Statement) spike in work

·  Pensions Increase errors

5.  Increased demand

·  ABS spike in emails / calls

·  Increase in case workload

·  Increase in retirements / deaths

·  Backlogs

Future road map

·  Intention to attempt to meet KPI’s by Q4 2024

The Chair thanked all officers involved for the work they continue to do and for the improvements made so far. He acknowledged that the Pensions Increase work would be a challenge and said that he would welcome the Board receiving a briefing prior to their next meeting.

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