Agenda item

To update the Pension Board on various pensions administration matters

as part of its remit to oversee the administration of the Brent Pension

Fund.

Sawan Shah (Brent Council - Senior Finance Analyst) introduced the report updating the Pension Board on various pension administration matters as part of its remit to oversee the administration of the Brent Pension Fund.

In considering the report, the Board noted:

·                The Pension Administration performance update for the Q4 monitoring period January – March 2022, as detailed within Appendix 1 of the report.

·                That whilst the quarterly average percentage of cases processed on time (95.9%) had been below the Service Level Agreement target (98%) this reflected revised targets agreed with the Fund during the Universal Pension Management (UPM) system migration.

·                The slippage in Helpdesk call performance wait times during the same period which also reflected the migration to the new pension administration system and measures being taken to train additional Helpdesk advisors.

·                The number of complaints remained low with 8 cases received since the last update.

·                The Pension Regulator scores achieved in relation to the accuracy of common and conditional data had improved further since the previous quarter.

John Crowhurst (Operations Director, LPP) then provided the Board with a presentation outlining key business and performance updates within the LPP Quarterly & Annual Brent Pension Fund Administration Report.  Key issues highlighted were as follows:

Referring firstly to progress with the introduction of the new pension system administration system and migration to Universal Pensions Management (UPM) the Board was advised that Phase I of the process had been successfully completed with nine out of 18 LLP clients having ‘gone live’.  The plans for Phase II of the migration had now been agreed for all remaining clients between October – December 22.  This would include Brent, who were due to go live in November 2022.  The new Member Portal ‘Pension Point’ and Employer Portal were now live, with 40,000 members having successfully registered for Pension Point.  Data migration had also been fully reconciled.  In terms of Brent’s migration, LPP were continuing to provide regular monthly updates designed to ensure successful transfer of administrative system as well as further detailed engagement with members and employers in order to support the transition to the new system.

From a casework performance perspective, the Board noted the detailed breakdown provided within the quarterly monitoring update as detailed in Appendix 1 of the report.  This reflected the adjustment in relation to “business as usual” as a result of the ongoing system migration accompanied by a short blackout period, and need for additional staff training and higher numbers of hyper care issues post go-live.

In terms of help desk performance, whilst the slippage in performance was recognised during the current monitoring period the Board noted that as a result of the action taken to recruit and train additional helpdesk advisers and appoint an additional helpdesk training resource it had been possible to improve performance with average wait times in June at approx.5 minutes (recognised as the lowest since the beginning of the new pension system migration process) and response times to web form enquiries at approx. 24-48 hours.  It was, however, stressed that there would be further pressure on the service once Phase II of the system migration went live in the autumn, although it was felt that the experience gained during the initial migration Phase would assist to mitigate the impact in terms of performance.

Members were then invited to ask questions on the update provided, which are summarised below:

·                Regarding additional help desk staffing, clarification was sought as to whether this would be a temporary or permanent solution.  In response the Board was advised that a dedicated trainer had been employed to upskill staff at a quicker rate, with that resource also available to be redeployed as required. In regards to the budget, it was updated that this resource would be considered as part of budget forecasting on a quarterly basis.

·                Details were sought on when it was felt the new Universal Pension Management (UPM) system would be fully functional.  In response the Board was advised of a development roadmap being prepared to assist in the roll out of further system functionality once the initial migration programme had been completed.  It was anticipated that the new system would be fully functional by May-June 2023.

·                In response to a query regarding the engagement with schools as part of the migration programme, the Board was advised that (given the upcoming holiday period) the training and engagement programme had already commenced in order to ensure that functionality could be accessed as early as possible.  This process had included short videos being made available to schools and other employers going forward, as well as use of the Employers Forum.

·                In response to concerns identified regarding the increase in number of outstanding cases at the start of the Q4 monitoring period (1,210) the Board were advised that these would be expected to decrease once migration to the new pension system had been completed.

·                Having noted the issues identified in relation to the availability of helpdesk advisors and impact on performance, further detail was sought on the challenges in terms of the recruitment and retention of staff by LPP.  Whilst highlighting the difficulties in being able to recruit staff with specific Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) experience the Board were advised of the measures being taken to enhance training for staff in order to speed up the time from their recruitment to deployment with as flexible a resource available as possible.

·                In noting the impact of the increase in call volume on helpdesk performance, the Board were advised that these had mostly related to the migration and deployment of the new pensions system, particularly in relation to initial issues experienced with the system access and authentication process. It was confirmed these had now been addressed in advance of the Phase II migration.

·                Further details were also sought on the work being undertaken to focus on those issues generating the highest number of calls.  As part of the performance monitoring process the Board was advised that these areas and trends were subject to ongoing review, in order to support the provision of additional guidance e.g. self-help explainer videos designed to support members with queries and assist in managing the overall levels of call volumes.

·                In response to a final query, the Board were provided with an assurance that Project PACE (relating to migration of the new pension administration system) remained on track for the Brent Pension Fund with a go live date in November 2022.  It was also noted that LPP would be providing a variety of different communication and training delivery methods to assist in rollout of the system.

As a final part of the performance update the Board was then provided with details on progress with the Annual Benefit Statement (ABS), which the scheme manager was required to issue to all eligible active and deferred members by 31 August each year.

As part of the update Sawan Shah advised that the updated position in relation to scheme employer submissions was that three employers, representing 3% of members in the Fund, were still to submit their end of year returns.

Whilst concerned at the delay in employers submitting their final returns, the Board recognised the work being undertaken between the Fund and LLP to closely monitor the position and work with employers to ensure the prompt submission of these returns.  Fund officers had sought to escalate concerns to senior management of the employers whose submissions were still outstanding and as a result these were anticipated in time to ensure the ABS could be issued within the required timescale.

Further issues raised by the Board in relation to the ABS update were as follows:

·                With regards to the delay in employers submitting monthly returns, the Board were advised of the additional guidance already being provided for employers (including as part of the migration to the new pension administration system) in order to address compliance issues, which included a range of communication and engagement methods factoring in the recent impact of the pandemic.  In terms of any specific category of employers affected, the main focus of engagement activity had been on the school sector, given their payroll provider arrangements and submission deadlines in relation to the academic year and as part of the phased roll out of monthly returns.

·                Whilst the Pension Administration Strategy enable the scheme manager to take action against employers who did not comply with their statutory and legal obligations to the Fund formal action had not been required, at this stage, with the Board advised that no material break had needed to be reported to the Regulator.

As there were no further questions from Members, the Chair thanked John Crowhurst and officers for the update and it was RESOLVED that the report be noted with a further update on progress with Project PACE to be provided for the next meeting.