Agenda item

(a)        The Committee considered the update and provided comments

(b)        The Committee approved the changes in timescales to the business plan as outlined in paragraph 1.01.

Mrs Williams noted the business plan update on item 1.01, where the dates may need to be amended slightly around the completion of the backlog administration project given other priorities. She noted that the completion date will be clearer at the next Committee meeting.

The administration team are under a lot of pressure with large amounts of work as a result of the CARE pay issue, referred to as Project Apple, which is considered further in the Part II agenda item. The work is being completed but not reported as part of the KPI procedures.

As previously mentioned by Mr Middleman, the Cost Management process will be significant to the administration team. She added, however, that if the tier 3 ill-health benefit is removed, this would save the Fund a small amount of administration.

The admission agreement document and process has been reviewed following recent changes in the regulations and is now in use.  She confirmed the new process appears to be working well.

Mrs Williams stated the Fund had undertaken a data quality assessment in line with The Pension Regulator's expectations using a facility provided by Aquila Heywood, their administration system provider.  The findings showed that the percentage of member records without a single common data failure is 92.7%. Whereas, the percentage of member records without a single scheme-specific data failure is 68.2%. In preparation for the 2019 Actuarial Valuation, the Fund also received some data quality checks from Mercer which included the potential implications on liability calculations.  Dealing with these data issues is being prioritised prior to the valuation as it impacts on employer costs.

Mr Latham raised the importance of data quality at the AJCM. The results of this are likely to be covered in a letter from the Chief Executive to all employers. The detail in this letter will differ for each employer as each employer has different data challenges. Mrs Williams added that an employer may not receive a letter which means that their data has no fundamental concerns at this point.

Mrs Williams noted from page 179 that it has been announced that Equiniti has bought the Aquila element of the firm Aquila Heywood who provides the Fund’s administration software Altair. Mrs Williams believes it is more relevant to private sector schemes but she will find out more details on this matter at a later date as she is due to attend a meeting which will cover this. She noted that this issue is on the risk register.  There is still the intention to have a national third party administration system procurement framework but it could be affected by the Aquila Heywood change.

There was positive feedback following the AJCM. In terms of Policy and Strategy information, Mrs Williams noted that performance against KPIs is improving. She also noted that there are interviews that are being held for the new communication officer role.

Cllr Bateman questioned whether the administration backlog project has been put on hold. Mrs Williams replied that it has not been put on hold. However, Mercer have also taken on Project Apple and that has taken priority.  She highlighted that some of the members in these projects overlap and therefore the affect might not be that significant in the longer term. Mrs Williams expected that Project Apple will be finishing in February 2019.

The Chairman thanked all the Principal Pension Officers for continuing to step into Mrs Burnham’s place whilst she is absent and keeping things moving during these challenging times.

RESOLVED:

(a)        The Committee considered the update and provided comments

(b)        The Committee approved the changes in timescales to the business plan as outlined in paragraph 1.01.

The Committee agreed to change the order of the agenda and Item 11 Employer CARE pay issue was considered next.