The Assistant Director – Resources and Head of Finance presented the Q2 Corporate Performance Report for members to consider and approve.

Key areas for consideration were highlighted to members who raised a number of questions.

Members queried the performance in Pensions Administration processing and why this remains well below target and what can be done to improve this.

The Assistant Director – Pensions responded that the capacity in the team has not been sufficient to cope with the amount of work coming in. This has now been addressed through a budget increase in this department which will allow the Authority to recruit a new team in the new year including 6 processing staff and a team leader. Additionally, staff have been undertaking overtime to help make inroads into the backlogs which has shown improvement, and this will be budgeted for in the next financial year so backlogs can continue to be cleared.

Members further questioned how the Authority envisions the back logs will look in a year’s time and how we can get employer data on time, especially as we continue to onboard more employers.

The Head of Finance responded that the timeliness and quality of employer data have improved, however further work is required to improve the timetable for receiving the data as this is currently longer than it need be. Making changes to the Pensions Administration Strategy will give the Authority the opportunity to improve in this area.

The Assistant Director – Pensions further expanded on this point that it requires the Authority to further engage with our employers to ensure they are educated and to continually work on improving our relationship with them.

Finally, Members queried how the Authority’s relationships with software providers are going to enable the delivery of the McCloud Remedy and other day to day projects such as Cyber Security.

The Assistant Director – Resources assured members that the Head of ICT and Service Manager – Systems are working together to create a robust Project Plan to ensure improvements are made with software providers. Previous issues have come as a result of changes in Account Manager’s with the provider and not having the correct relationships in place to hold them to account. Now the new Assistant Director – Pensions is in post she will work to further improve the relationship the Authority hold with them. Further to this software upgrades have been undertaken since the report was published and is in the testing phase soon to go live, once completed a project group has been set up to take the McCloud work forward.

The Assistant Director – Pensions elaborated on this point assuring members that she will continue to work on improving the relationship’s held with software providers and has a meeting scheduled in the new year to kick things off with CIVICA. Further to this, an audit will take place on the system to identify what is currently being utilised from their systems and what elements could be improved upon.

RESOLVED: Members approved a supplementary estimate of £197,500 as set out in paragraphs 4.27 to 4.33 of the report.