Agenda item

(a)     The Committee considered and commented on the update.

(b)     The Committee approved the amendments to the Pensions Administration Strategy as highlighted in paragraph 1.04 and Appendix 4 which incorporate the updated key performance indicators.

Mrs K Williams took the Committee through each paragraph of this report. She highlighted:

-       Progress on the National Pensions Dashboard project

-       Employer Liaison Team (ELT) and the McCloud project. From employers using the ELT service, 100% of McCloud data has now been provided and 54% of this has been successfully uploaded. Of employers not using this service, 78% of data has been received, and 56% has been uploaded. McCloud now affects day-to-day internal processes as additional checks need to be made, and this could impact KPIs in future.

-       Data cleansing exercises including an address cleansing exercise, and triennial existence checks which take place for members living overseas as part of the anti-fraud and corruption policy.

-       The Fund receives over 24,000 telephone calls annually, and it is proposed that a telephone help desk be set up to direct members to the right officer and help to address Welsh language standards. Mrs McWilliam asked if the telephone statistics include calls to mobile phones. Mrs Williams explained that calls to office phone numbers will be counted, even if they are diverted to a mobile through the Avaya system. Calls to a direct mobile number would not be counted in these statistics, for example if an officer makes an external phone call from their mobile without using the Avaya system, the member could then call back using the direct mobile number. However, this is very unusual, and the majority of phone calls do go through the Avaya system.

-       The Fund sends monthly reports to employers informing them of their performance in relation to the 3 main KPIs. Originally, these reports were intended to inform and support the employers to put resources in place and improve processes, however an audit review raised a concern that progress was not being made and recommended that the Fund should look at enforcing its escalation policy for employers continually missing KPI targets. The Fund's preference is to help employers identify areas of improvement and share good practice rather than impose fines. The escalation policy is being revised to reflect this, and part of the revision is updating KPIs within the administration strategy.

-       Workload statistics, and resource and staffing updates.

-       An update on communications including employer engagement sessions. Employers’ feedback on the format of the annual meeting will be presented to Committee when it has been collated.

RESOLVED:

(a)     The Committee considered and commented on the update.

(b)     The Committee approved the amendments to the Pensions Administration Strategy as highlighted in paragraph 1.04 and Appendix 4 which incorporate the updated key performance indicators.