J Bailey presented the Quarterly Administration report which updated the Board on administration performance and topical issues for the period 1 July 2019 to 30 September 2019.

Staffing Issues

Members were reminded that the administration service had been undertaking a consultation on a restructuring of the service following approval by the Staffing, Appointment and Appeals Committee in June 2019.

The consultation had now closed without the requirement for revision to the original proposals and the new structure was in the process of implementation.  Appendices to the report detailed the previous structure, the final new structure and a list of the new and deleted reports.

The restructure had been designed to facilitate improved resource allocation to customer focus (for both employers and scheme members) and the increased application of technology to improve efficiency.

In response to a question from C Scott, J Bailey commented that although it had been an unsettling time for staff, they now seemed positive about the future and had come to terms with the need to change.

The Board noted that overall sickness absence had reduced for the quarter but unfortunately two new cases of long term absence had arisen towards the end of the quarter.

Case Work Performance

The report detailed the case work performance for the quarter, with figures from the previous year shown for comparison.

Overall performance had dipped significantly in Quarter 2; this was mainly due to data cleansing work which had been undertaken during the period and the fact that the team were carrying a number of vacancies.

During a previous meeting, the Board had asked to see the volumes of cases that were outstanding.  This data was now included within the report and detailed the volume of cases which were pending (awaiting a third party response) and those which were either being processed or ready to be processed.

G Warwick questioned how many deferred members had been lost track of.

J Bailey replied that it was in the region of 5,000 and also informed the Board that the Service was currently engaged in a collaboration to procure a tracing agency.

N Doolan-Hamer queried how many new joiners who were auto-enrolled subsequently pulled out of the Scheme.

J Bailey explained that these figures weren’t recorded as it was an employer matter but average retention figure were around 85%.  It was confirmed that only very small numbers of employees took up the 50-50 pension option.

Employer Performance

Members were reminded that employers had responded well to the switch to monthly data collection and although responsiveness remained high in general, one of the councils had recently switched payroll system and had not been able to deliver their most recent monthly returns in a timely manner.  SYPA were working with the employer to help ensure the short term problem was remedied as soon as possible.

C Scott enquired how the Authority dealt with employers who were persistently late with data or contributions.

J Bailey replied that there was no significant issues with collecting contributions; at the moment they were consulting through the Employers Forum with regard to switching contribution payments to direct debit.

With regard to data submissions, the Authority had a strong Administration Strategy that enabled the Authority to fine employers for non-compliance.  There was rarely a need for this to be used.

Scheme Member Engagement

The Board was reminded that a survey had been issued to members who had recently retired to measure their levels of satisfaction with the process.

During the period approximately 500 members had retired and 69 of them had responded to the survey.

Overall positive satisfaction levels were over 92% which was pleasing , but the responses for those less satisfied suggested that the retirement documentation would benefit from a review.  This would be undertaken by the newly-appointed Customer Services Manager.

The Annual Benefit Statements were issued online in 2019 and an exercise had been carried out to encourage all scheme members to sign up to use the online portal.  Appendix D showed the number of registration since October 2018.

The online registrations continued to increase and further communications would be issued to members and employers to encourage everyone to register for the portal.

The Pensions Regulator

The Fund Director had circulated the link to the Pensions Regulator’s report on the engagement  that had taken place with 10 local government funds.  Officers would be pleased to include further information in any future reports on any area highlighted by the Regulator as worthy of consideration.

D Webster queried whether it was good practice for the Board to review the Risk Register.

The Fund Director replied that the Pensions Authority’s Audit Committee focused on the Risk Register but noted the need for the Board to have assurance that appropriate risk management and governance were in place.

The Head of Pensions Administration commented that members of the Board were welcome to attend Audit Committee meetings for assurance.

The Chair thanked J Bailey for a comprehensive report.

RESOVLED - That the report be noted.