J Bailey presented the Quarterly Administration Update for the period 1^st July 2020 to 30^th September 2020.

Members noted that all vacant senior posts had now been filled, there had been one resignation during the period and recruitment was underway for new Pensions Officers as referred to in a separate report presented to the Board.

Sickness levels had increased significantly compared to Quarter 1, though still remained well below the levels present in recent years.

With regard to case work, overall volumes processed across the quarter had improved compared to Quarter 1.

The Board was reminded that the Authority had previously approved a revised service standard for handling death cases.  Mechanisms were now in place to measure the revised standard and a table within the report showed the revised output, this showed much improved figures.

S Loach commented that staff should be given credit for the performance figures, especially bearing in mind the increase in deaths compared to last year’s Quarter 2 position.  Their efforts should be acknowledged especially in the current circumstances.

J Bailey agreed to pass on the Board’s comments.

Members were reminded that they had previously asked for additional information about reporting against statutory disclosures.  Following the appointment of the Benefits Team Manager work had commenced on developing reporting on this area.  Appendix A to the report showed most areas covered under the various disclosure regulations.  In general the data showed 100% compliance in terms of areas that SYPA could control.  Officers would continue to develop this reporting to cover all areas.

The report gave details of employer performance in respect of monthly returns received, individual query employer reporting and payment of contributions. 

There had been concerns that Covid-19 would have impacted the ability of some employers to deliver the monthly submissions but that had not been the case and submissions had continued to be provided.

Details of individual employer queries were detailed at Appendix B to the report.  It was agreed that future reports would only contain details of queries received during the reporting period.

With regard to customer satisfaction surveys issued to members who had recently retired these continued to show high levels of satisfaction (detailed in a table within the report).  Analysis of the six members who were dissatisfied had not revealed any systemic issues to be addressed.

Satisfaction levels also remained high with the Customer Centre and the Live Chat facility.  Numbers of members registering to use the online portal continued to increase, Appendix C Showed the numbers of scheme members who had registered for the portal since January 2019.

The Board were reminded that at its last meeting officers had been positive about meeting the deadline for the Annual Benefit Statements despite the difficulties of the Covid-19 impact and the challenges of the monthly data provided by Rotherham payroll services following their HR/payroll system migration.

Unfortunately it became apparent that this was not going to be possible despite devoting additional resources to resolving the data issues.  A breach report was submitted to the Regulator, a copy of which was at Appendix D to the report.

A ‘lessons learnt’ project had been launched internally which would focus on a number of key areas which were detailed within the report.  A report on the outcome of the review would be brought to the next meeting of the Board.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.