Agenda item

The Sub-Committee considered the 2011/12 Annual Administration Report.  The report described the performance of Your Pensions Service (YPS) against the standards and targets set out in the Service Level Agreement between YPS and the Pension Fund Committee.  The report also explained the activities and events undertaken by YPS during the year. 

In considering the report, the following points were made:

·  Membership of the Scheme had increased by over 2.5%.  This was reflected in the increase in deferred and pensioner members as local authorities and other public sector bodies continued to reduce their workforce and employees left or retired.

·  There had been a considerable reduction in the number of New Member set ups and Transfer in Quotes and Payments.  Again this reflected the position in Local Government across the country.

·  The greatest negative impact on performance was the move to the integrated pensions administration and payroll system.  Whilst this development had caused some disruption in the short term, it would streamline the retirement process by reducing duplication.  The new integrated system would also enable payments to be made at source without the need to use the County Council's Accounts payable facility which would result in further efficiency savings.

·  Other factors which had affected performance and targets being missed included a government instruction to not process transfers for 3 months, whilst various actuarial calculation factors were reviewed and the need to move resources to deal with the considerable increase in the number of retirements. 

·  The number of requests for benefit estimates had been considerably higher than expected.

·  There were no plans to change any of the set targets.

·  The need for an interim management resource to specifically target improved performance, allowing other staff to concentrate on development areas had been recognised and agreed.

·  Staffing levels would need to be balanced against the introduction of new systems and the effects of future legislative changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme. 

·  YPS had agreed a project plan of future developments with its system provider, Heywood.  The plan included the introduction of Member Self Service that would enable Scheme members to access their pension records on-line, including payslips for pensioner members and benefit statements for active and deferred members.  This would be a significant development and involve considerable work to ensure data integrity. 

·  YPS was also considering a new development to enable the transfer of key information to the Fund from Employers HR/Payroll systems as a result of the introduction of auto-enrolment.

·  YPS had been reaccredited for the Customer Service Excellent award.

·  The One Connect customer service centre was responsible for providing a pensions helpdesk facility and was the first point of contact for Scheme members and employers.  A dip in performance had been addressed by providing additional resources i.e. 5 additional FTE staff and 3 temporary staff, and by bringing some administrative tasks i.e. post, scanning back in house.  This action had resulted in the number of calls successfully answered rising from 85% to 93%.

·  It was agreed that future reports should set out the number and category of calls made to the customer service centre each week.  The report should also identify the number of calls that had been successfully answered or referred on by the customer service centre.  More detailed information around customer satisfaction should also be provided.

·  The continued efficiencies and in particular the savings realised by the integration of the pensions administration and payroll systems had resulted in the YPS charge to the Fund being reduced to £21.50.  However, it was noted that YPS was about to enter into a period of intense change brought about by the planned LGPS reform and the introduction of auto-enrolment.  It was likely that additional resources would be needed if the quality of service was to be maintained. The aim would be to keep charges within the lower quartile cost of Local Government Pension Funds.  Further reports would be presented to the Pension Fund Committee once the position became clearer.

·  The annual employer 'practitioner' conference would be held in September 2012.  The opportunity would be taken to raise awareness of the issues and proposed developments as set out in the Annual Report.  It was agreed that all members of the Pension Fund Committee would be invited to attend the conference. 

Resolved:  That the 2011/12 Annual Administration Report, as now presented, be approved.