Agenda item

The Committee noted the update.

Mrs Williams highlighted this item of the agenda was for note and talked through the following key points.

-       The team were busy with business as usual, the McCloud programme, national pension board dashboard preparation and the re-calculation of member benefits as a result of the retrospective 2021/22 pay award.

-       The resource issues were outlined in paragraph 2.01 which detailed the number of vacancies the Fund had available and any appointments made. Since the paper was drafted, the Fund had met with HR advisors and were in the process of improving the job advert wording to try to better attract candidates. For example, this included changes to job titles to incorporate the word “administration” so it would be highlighted on more job searches. The adverts were due to go live in the next few weeks.

            Cllr Hughes asked whether the Fund had thought about hiring an apprentice. Mrs Williams confirmed that the Fund currently had two apprentices already, so no more were taken on this year as the current focus was on recruiting more experienced team members.

            Mrs Williams then presented training slides regarding the national pensions dashboard and highlighted the following:

-       The development of the national pensions dashboard applies to all pension schemes (not just the LGPS) but the session focused on how it affected the Clwyd Pension Fund.

-       The dashboard project is being run by the Department of Work and Pensions; it will allow individuals to access all of their pension schemes’ information in one place to help plan for retirement and increase engagement. It is designed for members who have not yet retired (active and deferred members) - not for pensioners.

-       The Pensions Regulator, Department of Work and Pensions, HM Treasury, the FCA, dashboard system providers, scheme managers and administration software providers all need to work together on this project in order for it to be delivered on time.

-       The requirements are being set out in legislation compelling schemes to provide information through a dashboard. Hence the Fund was required to prepare data to connect to the pensions dashboards eco-system.

-       Non-retired members would have access to pension arrangement details, employment details, accrued pension and estimated retirement income. However, limitations within this dashboard were expected so Mrs Williams was keen to promote the Fund’s Member Self Service as this increased engagement directly with members.

-       All public sector schemes are required to be onboarded to the pension dashboard infrastructure by September 2024, albeit this did not mean members would get access by September 2024. The date for going live is  expected to be around the end of 2024.

-       Also one element of data, called value data, did not need to be provided until April 2025, because of the ongoing work on the McCloud programme meaning this information may not be ready by September 2024.

-       Once the pensions dashboard goes live, a member would log onto the dashboard, verify their information and the details would be sent to the Pensions Finder Service. Details would then be sent by them to all UK pension schemes and schemes are required to respond clarifying whether there is a match with their scheme records. When there is a positive match of a record, a ‘Pel’ (Pension Indicator) token is sent to the dashboard and the dashboard returns the tokens to schemes so further data is provided. Schemes then provide access to the appropriate pension data through the  dashboard so the member can view it.

-       The pensions dashboard would not hold data on an ongoing basis, and members will need to go through the same verification process to access information at a later date.

-       It was estimated that every pension scheme could receive up to 20,000 enquiries a day asking to check for matches.

-       The scheme could return a partial match but must provide contact details. Once returned, the member has 30 days to contact the scheme and confirm their pension information.

-       Schemes were required to ensure they take reasonable, diligent steps to search for matches and minimise the risk of data breaches or not returning pension matches.

-       For estimated retirement income (ERI), active members in the Fund (in DB schemes) would need to see a projected figure at retirement based on their current salary. Deferred members would need to see their pension at date of leaving revalued to a current date in accordance with scheme rules.

-       The Fund needed to also be aware and comply with defined contribution scheme rules (as well as defined benefit scheme rules) due to the Fund having Additional Voluntary Contribution schemes that some members contribute too. For these, members would need to see their accrued pension pot, their projected pension amount (in line with money purchase illustrations) and an accrued pension amount (based on money purchase illustrations but without future contributions and investment growth).

-       Schemes were expected to return ERI information within 10 working days for the main LGPS and 3 working days for the AVC schemes, which could be very demanding for any cases where this information is not readily available, such as members who have recently left employment but for whom deferred benefits have not been calculated.

-       Under the legislation, the legal responsibilities for connecting with the pensions dashboard lie with the Fund along with understanding the dashboard limitations, ensuring data and calculations are available, confirming matching requirements are used, dealing with ongoing queries, keeping data up-to-date and the regular reporting and day-to-day administration.

-       A key part of the work over the two years would be setting up the interface between the Fund’s administration software and the pensions dashboards provider.  It is possible that the same software firm could provide both.  

-       The key tasks the Fund as administering authority must do to prepare are as follows:

o   Understand the Pensions Dashboards framework.

o   Plan and prepare a project plan leading up to the staging date.

o   Explore the readiness of data including the ability to provide ERI calculated benefits.

o   Confirm matching requirements.

o   Consider communications with members.

-       So far, the Fund has had involvement with the PLSA Dashboard Group and the Altair Testing Group, has been doing ongoing data cleansing and recently completed address tracing and frozen refund exercises. These would hopefully reduce the number of partial matches that the Fund has going forward.

-       From a governance perspective, the Fund was liaising with Aon as well as Heywood, the Fund’s administration software supplier, given the importance of this and the resource implications.

-       Ongoing costs and resourcing requirements cannot be determined yet but they will be brought to Committee in due course.

            Mr Hibbert asked whether those responsible for the main dashboards took any responsibility for the information being provided on the dashboard, given the risk of cyber-attacks. Mrs Williams expected that they would take no responsibility for this but highlighted that it is being governed by strict guidelines that have been established nationally. She confirmed that she would look into this to ensure the Fund were comfortable on this matter. Mrs McWilliam highlighted that the dashboard would be like a switch board, so even though members could access the information, they could not physically hold the information.  Mrs Williams did highlight that if the Fund incorrectly matched and sent it back, it would be a breach for the Fund.

RESOLVED:

The Committee noted the update.