Decision details

(Exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. It was considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighed the public interest in disclosing the information).

It was reported that the Local Pension Partnership had introduced a new operating model for the pension administration service which had come into operation on the 1^st April 2018.

Jackie Self, Interim Director of Pension Administration and John Crowhurst, Interim Deputy Director of Pension Administration from the Local Pension Partnership informed the Board of the issues which had arisen following implementation of the new business model which had resulted in a backlog of cases and discussed the lessons which had been learned and the various actions which had been taken to address service level failures.

In considering the report the Board acknowledged that action had been taken to address the issues and overall performance of the administration service was improving, though it was agreed there were still concerns and members of the Board made the following comments.

·  That the current pension administration model and case management system be re-evaluated in light of the recent issues in order to establish whether they are still effective and appropriate.

·  That in future the introduction of any large scale system should be done on a phased basis so that it can be properly evaluated and the impact of any resulting issues will be limited.

·  Concern was expressed about the long term sustainability of some of the measures which have been implemented to deal with the backlog of cases.

·  That greater consideration be given to the balance between quality and cost considerations in respect of the pension administration service.

·  The Board request that the Local Pension Partnership provide details of any customer feedback covering the period from the 1^st April 2018 to date in order to be assured that despite the recent issues the pension administration service has delivered a satisfactory service.

·  That further information be requested from the Local Pension Partnership Board with regard to proposed future action in relation to the pension administration service following the LPP Board in July 2018.

Resolved:

1.  That the comments of the Board are noted and forwarded to the Local Pension Partnership Board for consideration at the meeting in July 2018.

2.  That the pension administration service continue to be monitored and the Head of Fund provide weekly updates to members of the Board in order to provide reassurance that the overall performance continues to improve.