Agenda item

The Board is asked to note the content of this report and make recommendations to the Pension Fund Committee if appropriate.

Speakers:

Clare Chambers, Acting Head of Administration

Neil Mason, Strategic Finance Manager (Pensions)

Tom Lewis,

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Acting Head of Administration highlighted several areas of the report including:

·         Fewer cases had been received and more had been completed, therefore the backlog had reduced

·         There had been an improvement on death cases

·         There were no breaches to report

·         Annual Benefit Statements were all sent out on time

·         A new employer website had been developed and was now live

·         The legacy removal work with Mercer was now completed

·         GMP reconciliation had moved on and the communication to members had been put together by Mercer

·         The McCloud project – 74 responses from providers had been received and another 53 responses were awaited.  Once all the data had been received they would look at how to take forward.  If all providers do not respond then the Acting Head of Administration would look to national guidance on how to take this forward.

2.    In response to a Member query on whether there were any trends to the complaints received the Acting Head of Administration reported that the complaints received covered a broad spectrum of areas but none markedly more than others.  The Strategic Finance Manager (Pensions) offered to provide an explanation of how complaints were categorised and defined to the next meeting.

3.    A Member asked that where a complaint was upheld it would be useful to know if there was any action needed to prevent it happening again. The Acting Head of Administration agreed and explained that complaints were regularly monitored and whether there was any need to changes systems or processes.

4.    A Member asked about whether the helpdesk information included non-response to telephone calls as this had been a problem highlighted previously.  He also asked what the percentage of responses was to email enquiries against the service level agreement of three days.  The Acting Head of Administration explained that the service desk did not sit under the administration team but could request the information if needed.  The Strategic Finance Manager (Pensions) stated that the Programme Team were considering helpdesk activities and whether they should remain as is or sit within the Pensions Team.

5.    A Member stated that it was coming up to the time when pension increases would be coming through and sought assurance that the amount of increase would be included in the letters sent out.  The Acting Head of Administration gave that assurance.

6.    The Board requested that regular reports from the helpdesk be included on future agendas.  The Strategic Finance Manager (Pensions) stated that this would be part of the programme update report.

Actions/further information to be provided:

The Strategic Finance Manager (Pensions) to provide an explanation of how complaints were categorised and defined to the next meeting.

Recommendations:

The Board noted the report.

Jeremy Webster arrived at 10.30am at the start of the debate on this item.

At 11am the Committee held a two minute silence for Armistice Day.