A report was considered which updated the Board on administration performance and issues for the period 1^st January 2020 to 30th June 2020.

J Bailey informed the Board that the vacant Pensions Officer posts and Customer Services officers had been appointed during the period.  Unfortunately the appointments had been made three days before lockdown and had resulted in significant challenges in terms of being able to train and support the new staff.

A Support and Engagement Manager had also been appointed and would attend a future meeting of the Board to update members on engagement with employers.

It was noted that there had been a significant reduction in short and long term sickness during lockdown.

The Board was informed that, with regard to casework, there had been an impact on productivity during the period; technical work took longer when working remotely and staff not being able to engage with colleagues as easily.

Instant messaging and video calls had been utilised to assist with this but was no substitute for face-to-face engagement.  It was hoped to get some staff back in the office in the near future.

With regard to reporting performance against statutory disclosure requirements as requested by the Board, J Bailey commented that this had been more difficult than anticipated.  The newly appointed Benefits Team Manager who commenced work on 1^st July 2020 had been assigned the task as a priority development and it was expected that data on the reporting against statutory disclosures would be presented at the Board’s October meeting.

It was noted that the majority of employers had continued to provide monthly data returns despite the difficult circumstances.  A table within the report showed the current position of monthly returns received in respect of the last six months and included an additional column that showed the number of scheme members affected.

Members were informed that a new monitoring tool had been in operation with employers whereby individual queries from SYPA were issued to employers through the employer portal.  Feedback had been received from employers which suggested that some further development work was required.  The newly appointed Support and Engagement Manager had been tasked with developing formal engagement and escalation approach.  Appendix A showed the current status of the queries being reported from the new monitoring tool.

C Scott queried whether external influences had affected the issue of the Annual Benefit Statements.

J Bailey commented that it had been hoped to commence the production process in May but in fact had started earlier this month, three quarters of deferred member statements had been issued and active member statements had just commenced.   He was confident that all statements would be issued in time to meet the deadline.  The plan for next year’s exercise would be shared with the Board.

The Board were reminded that SYPA was moving to the collection of contributions via Direct Debit from 1^st April 2020.  Whilst recognising the difficulty that some employers may have completing the Direct Debit mandates during lockdown, the decision had been made to proceed with implementation.  A table within the report showed the number of employers who were now paying by Direct Debit.

With regard to the exercise to encourage all scheme members to sign up to use the online portal, Appendix B showed the numbers of scheme  members who had registered to use the portal since January 2019.  The increase in numbers had slowed down over the last six months, but it was thought that the issue of online Annual Benefit Statements may lead to an increase in numbers of registrations.

R Fennessy queried whether there was a plan to encourage members who were reluctant to engage.

J Bailey replied that the portal was being developer further to offer more functionality and move more of communications for new members to the portal.  More targeted communications would be issued during the next 12 months.

C Scott commented that employers should have a role in communications drive.  SYPA could help with this by providing employers with more information to use.

S Loach commented that as everyone was working at home during lockdown most communications were being done by email and perhaps SYPA could tap into that.  BMBC as an employer were actively encouraging staff to use online methods where possible, he wold be happy to contact colleagues in the Communications Department to promote use of the portal.

R Fennessy thanked J Bailey for a very comprehensive, relevant report which was a useful source of information.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.