Issue - meetings

Report by Director of Finance and Support Services.

The Board is asked to note the report and confirm any further information that they require.

9.1     The Board received a report by the Director of Finance, Performance and Procurement (copy appended to the signed minutes).

9.2     The Board welcomed Lois Downer, Deputy Head of Pensions at Hampshire County Council (HCC).  Lois introduced herself to the Board and explained that HCC provided pension administration service for Hampshire Police and Hampshire Fire Services.  West Sussex County Council was the only external local government client.

9.3     Tara Atkins introduced the report and reported that officers were liaising with HCC over benefit arrangements for members who had been affected by the amendment to the regulations.

9.4     The Board made comments including those that follow.

•      Asked if an exit credit had ever been paid.  – Rachel Wood reported that there was currently one pending which concerned an employer who was in surplus.

•      Queried officer progress with the MHCLG Valuation Cycle consultation.  – Rachel Wood confirmed that officers were drafting a response.  Officers could send Board members a draft of the response and the submitted version could be brought to the next Board meeting for noting.  Officers were working on an approach to inform employers of the consultation.

•      Asked why there were so few West Sussex County Council pensioners, (14,599) out of 27,253.  – Tara Atkins commented that this may be linked to who the final employer was for the member.  Rachel Wood resolved to look into this and check the figures.

•      Sought clarity on the figure for the number of employers that was missing from Appendix D.  – Rachel Wood confirmed it should be 201.

•      Commented that it would be interesting to look at the number of people who have signed up to the portal compared to the previous system.  – Rachel Wood resolved to look into this.  Tara Atkins commented that the Annual Benefit Statement (ABS) notifications would be expected to increase portal sign up.

•      Sought clarity on the number of open cases from Capita that HCC were working through.  – Rachel Wood explained that HCC were working to understand the open cases and any disparity with members with open/closed cases.

9.5     The Board commented that guidance should be statutory.

9.6     Lois Downer gave a presentation to the Board which gave an overview of Hampshire Pension Services (copy appended to the signed minutes).

9.7     Lois Downer explained that HCC used the Civica system to handle pension workflow.  The system allowed urgent cases to be identified and prioritised.  The system also highlighted cases nearing Service Level Agreements (SLA), which allowed them to be picked out and resolved to ensure compliance.  Temporary staff had been hired to assist with the workload following the transfer.  It was acknowledged that the initial month would miss the 100% SLA due to the transfer work.  Steps had been put in place to make improvements going forwards.  Call volumes had been five to six times higher than expected.  Members seemed reassured with how their cases were being handled.  Differences had been noted with employer annual returns, and so HCC were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9

Report by the Director of Finance, Performance and Procurement.

The Panel is asked to note the update.

5.1     The Panel considered a paper by the Director of Finance, Performance and Procurement (copy appended to the signed minutes).

5.2     Rachel Wood introduced the report and explained that the transfer of the Pension Administration service, which commenced on 4^th March, had been successfully completed. The performance information in the report covered a two-week period. Officers were working with Hampshire County Council on legacy issues.  Communications had been sent to all active members referring them to the new pension portal, pensioner members would receive communications soon, followed by deferred members.

5.3     Andrew Lowe, Hampshire County Council (HCC), joined the meeting and reported that targets had been hit and that April performance was looking good.  Employer training sessions had been run and newsletters had been published.  HCC were currently receiving high call volumes and were answering 80% of calls.  West Sussex calls were taking longer to complete due to the complexity of issues being raised following the transfer. There were currently no concerns on the volume, but the situation would be monitored and extra resources added if necessary.

5.4     The Chairman commented that he felt the transfer had gone well.  Ms Taylor reported that she had received no complaints from UNISON members, and personally found the portal easy to use.

5.5     The Panel made comments including those that follow.

·         Queried the missing figure at paragraph 6 in the report.  – Rachel Wood confirmed this should be 120.

·         Sought clarity on how complaints were being handled.  – Rachel Wood reported that complaints were still being received, but HCC were turning queries around quickly.  Many complaints had subsequently turned into compliments.  Issues were expected to reduce when HCC were operating at a ‘business as usual’ level.

5.6     Resolved – That the Panel notes the update.