Councillors and committees

Agenda item

INTERNAL AUDIT REPORT - REVIEW OF SURREY PENSION FUND ADMINISTRATION 2018/19

The purpose of this report is to present the 2018/19 Internal Audit Report findings to the Board. It is asked to note the content of the report from internal audit and make recommendations as necessary.

Minutes:

Witnesses:

 

David John, Audit Manager

Andrew Marson, Pensions Lead Manager

Adele Seex, Business Support Officer

John Smith, Senior Advisor

 

Key points raised during the discussion:

 

1.    The Audit Manager introduced the internal audit report and provided the Board with a background to the work that had been done. He explained that it was published in April 2019 and was based on work that had been undertaken between the end of 2018 and March 2019. The issues outlined were largely legacy issues and pre-dated the introduction of the current Pensions Lead Manager. The Audit Manager went on to say that the governance in place was different to what had come before and this had resulted in Internal Audit feeling positive about the direction of travel and the steps in place. A follow-up audit report would be completed around October or November 2019.

2.    A Member of the Board questioned why the Audit Manager thought the situation was better now compared to how it had been in the past. In response, the officer explained that there was a different culture and mindset in place, as well as a greater desire to engage with audit and scrutiny.

3.    As a follow-up to the Audit Manager’s point, the Chairman spoke about the decision by the Chief Internal Auditor to put a report to the executive and leadership, which would be signed off by the Audit and Governance Committee and included a section on the issues being discussed by the Board. He also informed Members that he had met with the new Cabinet Member for Corporate Support and had the opportunity to discuss her key priorities, which included dealing with the pensions administration issues. The Chairman went on to propose that the Board put in writing its thoughts on the matter and raise them with the Cabinet Member, the Section 151 Officer and the Surrey Pension Fund Committee.

4.    The Vice-Chairman spoke about his main concern being governance and issues surrounding the availability of extra resources. In response, the Audit Manager said that he was encouraged by the service’s prioritisation of the problems identified by the internal audit report and that an ownership of the issues meant they could be rectified without the need for further resources.

5.    Speaking about measures that had already been put in place, the Pensions Lead Manager explained to Members that a project board had been established and would meet monthly. Referring to the 12 findings outlined in the internal audit report, the Pensions Lead Manager went on to inform the Board that he considered Items 2, 6, 8 and 12 to be have been completed, subject to agreement at the follow-up audit.

6.    Discussion turned to the first finding outlined in the internal audit report, which was concerned with the review of key documents. The Pensions Lead Manager explained that a review of service specification was currently underway and the plan was for a report to be presented to the Surrey Pension Fund Committee at its next meeting on 13 September 2019. He went on to inform the Board that a progress meeting would take place in August and that monthly meetings involving both the pensions administration and fund teams had been scheduled. These meetings had a clearly defined agenda that included a periodic review of documents.

7.    The Chairman questioned the second implementation date outlined in Finding 7 of the internal audit report, which was concerned with the data cleansing exercise, and was told by the Pensions Lead Manager that this would now take place in September 2019 in order to prioritise the Valuation and ABS exercises.

8.    Discussing Finding 9, the Business Support Officer confirmed that the reconciliation of pension contributions for 2018/19 had been completed by the 31 May 2019 target implementation date.

 

Actions/further information to be provided:

 

The Chairman, on behalf of the Board, is to put in writing his thoughts on the pensions administration issues and raise them with the Cabinet Member for Corporate Support, the Section 151 Officer and the Surrey Pension Fund Committee.

 

Resolved:

 

The Board noted the content of the report.

Supporting documents: