J Bailey presented the Quarterly Administration Update covering the period 1^st October 2021 to 31^st December 2021.

Staffing

The report contained a summary of joiners and leavers during the period.  There was one joiner, the Support and Engagement Team Manager which meant that all management vacancies had now been filled.  The two Pensions Officers who left had both been offered better paid roles in the private sector.

The Board discussed the difficulties in recruiting to public sector posts due to the constraints of the national public sector pay scales.

G Graham commented that work was planned during the next 12 months to try and address this issue.

It was noted that overall sickness absence had reduced during the quarter though the incidence of short-term absence had increased.  One third of the short-term absence was directly related to Covid.

Casework Performance

J Bailey informed members that the reporting of performance had been updated to enable easier comparison of like-for-like periods.

Overall case volumes completed during the quarter had increased compared to the previous quarter.  This was mainly due to :

·         The reduced level of long-term sickness absence.

·         Increased focus on casework as resources were not diverted to assist with the Annual Benefit Statements exercise.

It was noted that the improvement in performance may also have been influenced by the fact that staff were able to return to the office for part of their working week for some of Quarter 3, although this was short-lived as further restrictions were imposed.

J Bailey informed the Board that some resource was being focused on aggregations and it was expected that the backlog would be reduced.

Statutory Disclosure Reporting

Appendix A showed the Quarter 3 report for the areas covered under the various disclosure regulations and provided some levels of assurance that statutory targets were generally being met in the main areas.

J Bailey confirmed that not all Pensions Savings Statements had been issued on time due to a number of operational issues.  An update would be provided at the next meeting as to the final position and any necessity to report to The Pensions Regulator.

G Warwick commented that SYPA staff should be praised for maintaining the service to Scheme members during the pandemic.

Employer Performance

Members were reminded that employers submitted individual data on a monthly basis.  A table within the report showed the current position of monthly returns received in respect of the last three months.

It was noted that the two employers yet to submit returns were in respect  of recent admission agreements.  These were being pursued with the relevant provider and interest would be charged if appropriate, but the amounts were minimal.

Individual Query Employer Reporting

Appendix B showed the performance in recent quarters for the employers or payroll providers with the highest volume of queries.  Since the last meeting, the report had been refined to remove duplications therefore representing a more accurate summary of cases outstanding.

It was noted that trend analysis indicated that some progress had been made with the volumes of outstanding queries from Rotherham and Doncaster Councils (both administered by Rotherham payroll services).  Monitoring meetings had continued to be held fortnightly with Rotherham payroll services and they had allocated additional resources to continue their commitment to reducing the outstanding volumes.

Contribution Payments

A table within the report showed the status of payments in respect of contributions due as well as details of outstanding payments,  There were no areas of particular concern.

Scheme Member Engagement – Customer Satisfaction

A table within the report showed the overall satisfaction levels from respondents who had recently retired.  The percentage of members in the green category remained over 90%.  There were eleven dissatisfied members.  One member wanted the portal to be more user friendly and provide more assistance with navigation.  This would be further developed over the next few months as the ability to retire online was introduced.

Scheme Member Engagement – Customer Centre

The Board was informed that an electronic survey had been issued to 3,534 members who had contacted the Customer Centre by phone over August, September and October 2021 to ask about their experience of service delivery and ideas for service improvements.

Again, over 90% of the respondents were in the green category.  The 13% who were dissatisfied was an increase of 7 % from the previous quarter.  Appendix C showed the comments that were made.

N Doolan-Hamer commented on the remarks of the person who had phoned on behalf of her husband who was dyslexic who had said that there were not enough options available to those not able to use the internet.

J Bailey replied there was a danger that there was too much focus on the online facilities and there was a need to ensure that there were alternatives available.

The report also gave details on uptake of the online portal, the employer satisfaction survey and annual benefits statements and triennial valuation for 2023.

Pensions Administration System

Members were informed that the gap analysis which had been carried out internally to identify shortfalls in the administration system functionality ahead of the commitment to enter into a new contract in February 2022 had been passed to Civica. 

Civica had agreed in principle that a commitment to resolving the issues identified would form part of the requirements under the new service contract.  The improvement plan would be shared with the Board when it was available.

In answer to a question from a member, J Bailey confirmed that there wasn’t a penalty clause in the contract if Civica failed to deliver but the contract did have an exit clause.

G Warwick thanked J Bailey for a very comprehensive report.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.