Issue - meetings

The Committee noted the update.

Mrs K Williams noted the following key points from the report:

-          A6 and A7 in the business plan 2022/23 update in paragraph 1.01 outlined the review of the policies and strategies and also the pensioner existence checking. It was highlighted that both of these actions were underway but were running slightly behind schedule due to conflicting priorities and increased workloads.

-          The refresh of the Communication Strategy had been behind schedule due to the vacant Communications Officer position. However, this position was now filled and good progress was now being made.

-          Two key areas causing large increases in workloads were the backdated pay award for 2021/22 and number of eligible deferred members taking their benefits. Both of these issues are impacting the Fund’s ability to complete business as usual work within regulatory deadlines and internally agreed service standards.

-          The backdated pay award for 2021/22 was agreed and paid in March 2022. However, it resulted in a full recalculation of benefits for many members who had left the scheme during 2021/22. For 2022/23, due to the value of the pay award the impact was much more significant and resulted in a high volume of requested recalculations. There were already over 1,100 requests for the 2022/23 award which was a lot of additional work compared to 2021/22. The team are unable to do the recalculations in bulk due to the individual circumstances of each member. Therefore, all recalculations are done on an individual basis.

-          The team run a monthly report to identify the number of eligible deferred members approaching age 60 that may wish to take their pension benefits. The figures are increasing each month, both those on the report who all need to be written to, and those then choosing to take their benefits following that initial correspondence. The Administration Manager is investigating any possible trends to ensure the team is resourced appropriately going forward. The outstanding cases chart in appendix 3 showed outstanding cases had decreased from over 10,000 in 2018 to 5,000 at current date. The team were continuing to look for efficiencies through more automated processes.  Mrs K Williams is also considering the future team structure including a potential project team to ensure business as usual services do not deteriorate

-          Despite the current vacancies, the number of cases completed for the last quarter was 8,552 compared to 7,731 in the same reporting period last year.

-          The number of incoming cases was 9,171 compared to 9,210 for the same period last year.  However the 9,210 cases included a backlog of new starters from a particular employer and also a significant TUPE transfer) and therefore, these numbers were not a true reflection of the team’s normal workload last year.

-          Appendix 4 outlined the performance of the team against the target key performance indicators. Team members responsible for processing retirement cases were also responsible for the estimate calculations and the surviving partner benefit calculations, and therefore the two points relating to pay awards and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31