Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to present the Fund’s administration performance for the period up to and including 30th April 2025 vs key performance indicators (KPI’s).

The Pensions Operations Manager introduced the report to the Committee and highlighted the following points.

SLA monthly performance average April 2024 to April 2025

• Peaked at 89% (Feb 2025). Average at around 80%
• High influx of member inquiries had an impact on staff resources. Letters sent re: McCloud and tracing, year-end work and Pensions Increase a factor over this period.
• Team is working as hard as ever and we remain above our projected expectations.

Recruitment – The fund has successfully recruited 11 new officers joining the Operations and Business Change teams in the last month, 10 of which were in Administration. This leaves a further 4.5 vacant posts including 1 within Business Change team, recruitment is ongoing.

The introduction of Hybrid Mail has already improved the timescales for certain tasks for officers and should lessen the possibility of any data breaches.

McCloud – A further update would be provided to the Committee in September.

Administration Software Procurement

• New 7- year contract signed with Heywood via the COTS agreement with Softcat 17 April 2025
• New contract covers existing Altair & i-Connect plus new Products & Services - Hosting, Dashboard ISP, Data Cleanse, Engage (with SMS & EIDV), Enhanced Admin to Pay
• Reinforced and improved our relationship with Heywood
• Sets foundation for Digital improvement
• Supports regulatory needs for Pensions Dashboard

Migrating from ‘On-premises’ to ‘Hosted’

• WHY? - To support B&NES Cloud First programme moving the application software and databases from a B&NES on-premises server to a cloud hosted solution.

• WHO? - Heywood, our software provider for Altair and associated modules, will provide hosting services via their supplier, Service Express.

• WHEN? - In progress now. BANES IT & Financial Systems are supporting us with the move. Aiming to complete move by end July 2025.

Avon Pension Fund: Connecting to Pensions Dashboards

• The Avon Pension Fund is preparing to link with the Pensions Dashboard, making it easier for our members to access their pension information. This will be carried out in phases with the aim of being live and connected by 31^st October 2025.

• Phase 1 – Complete - System Configuration / Upload member data and resolve errors captured (scenario testing) / Set Matching requirement.

• Phase 2 - Configure live matching rules / Registration with TPR / Test Admin processes for enquiries.

Wendy Weston asked if it was still the case that staff within the Fund were being poached by larger companies or was it in a stronger position to retain them now.

The Pensions Operations Manager replied that staff retention has improved, and that recent turnover of staff had been limited. She added that the improved pay offer for many members of staff had helped in this process.

Shona Jemphrey asked what figures were involved in the member tracing work.

The Pensions Operations Manager replied that a member tracing project to trace around 6000 “gone away” members is underway prior to connection to the Pension Dashboard.

Charles Gerrish commented that there had been a fall in the percentage of death grants in April 2025.

The Pensions Operations Manager replied that this had been due to slight peak and further training was being provided to officers in an attempt to improve this area in the coming months.

The Chair, on behalf of the Committee, wished to thank all officers within the service for their ongoing work.

The Committee RESOLVED to note the service performance for the period ending 30th April 2025.