Agenda item

The Board is asked to consider the Administration Report from the 27 July 2022 Pensions Committee by the Director of Finance and Support Services.

7.1        The Board received a report by the Director of Finance and Support Services (copy appended to the signed minutes).

7.2        Tara Atkins introduced the report and highlighted the 100% compliance with the key performance indicators (KPI).  Portal membership numbers were increasing, and it was explained that the employers who were not signed up to their Portal had fewer employees, and therefore less frequent forms to be provided to the administration team.  McCloud work was progressing, with engagement being undertaken with all employers.  There had been a delay with receiving data from the education sector due to the impact of the holiday period.

7.3        Tara Atkins gave some background to the McCloud judgment and how firefighters had won their legal case that an underpin applied to pensions when the scheme transferred from final salary to career average was age discriminatory as it was only applied to members within ten years of their pension age.  The underpin was now applied to all public sector pensions and required a calculation upon a member’s retirement to ensure the better outcome was applied.  Tara Atkins confirmed there was still no formal guidance on this at this stage.

7.4        Tara Atkins gave an update on Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) and that 100% had been generated for deferred members, and 99.4% for active members.  There were 173 outstanding ABSs that were awaiting data.

7.5        Andrew Lowe reported that the Portal figures in the report were now out of date and that the figures were now higher.

7.6        The Board made comments including those that follow.

·      Commented that it would be useful if the complaints table contained upheld data.  – Tara Atkins confirmed that the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) complaints had not been upheld.

·      Queried what the complaints were based on if the KPIS were 100%.  – Tara Atkins explained that it depended on the type of complaint.  Overall response time could be an issue as it was measured by the time taken for the team to complete an activity rather than time when information is outstanding from a third party. However, the importance of managing members expectations was acknowledged.

·      Asked if it was possible to include more detail on complaints.  – Tara Atkins explained that very high level information was presented as the information was in the public domain and individuals should not be identifiable.

·      The Chairman asked officers to consider how complaints information was presented in reports.

·      Noted the number of complaints was small, and that compliments had been received.

·      Queried if memberswere still only allowed to request one estimate a year.  – Andrew Lowe explained that members could run as many estimates as they wanted on the Portal, but were limited to one a year if it required the administration team to calculate.

·      Raised concerns for members who had no online access and so no way to opt out of electronic communications.  – Andrew Lowe explained that whilst opt out requests were preferred in writing, this could be instructed via a phone call.  Tara Atkins also advised that employers should be able to help their employees with assistance on elements such as estimates and calculations.  Paper copies of ABSs could still be generated for those who had opted for paperless preference

·      Commented on the impact of early retirement on pension levels and how this was communicated to members.  – Tara Atkins explained that details of this were on the Portal, but recognised there was an issue for those not registered.  The Chairman highlighted that it was important not to give advice, but asked officers to look into how the impact of early retirement was communicated.

·      Queried if it was possible to migrate users from the current Portal to a future Portal, if required.  – Tara Atkins explained that the Portals were linked to who provided the administration service and so it was not easy to transfer across secure log in details.

7.7        Resolved – That the Board notes the update.