Agenda item

The Board has requested an update on Scheme management activities.

Witnesses:

Danni Lamaignere, Scheme Manager

Gary Bartliff, Senior Pensions Advisor

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. Officers introduced the report and provided Members with a brief overview. Members noted details related to McCloud - Age Discrimination Remedy, 10% Pensionable Allowance, Retained Settlement – Matthew’s cases,Annual Benefit Statements / Remediable Service Statement, Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) Rectification, Pension Dashboard, Pre-Retirement Course, Training, Pension Team Resourcing and that Pensions Sharepoint site. Full details could be found within the published report. 
2. In regard to the Retained Settlement – Matthew’s cases, the Chairman noted that 208 members had been contacted and inquired whether any additional members needed to be reached. Officers confirmed that they had contacted all known members and stated that a tracing exercise would be conducted to determine if there were any further members to contact. A Member also requested details on the total number of members in the population to compare with the 208 who had been contacted. Officers agreed to provide this information outside the meeting.
3. In regard to the Annual Benefit Statements / Remediable Service Statement, Members noted that the End-of-Year (EOY) return for 2023/24 had not yet been issued to XPS. The data, which was due to be supplied by the payroll team by the end of May 2024, had been requested two months earlier but had still not been produced. The Chairman mentioned that he had written to the relevant Head of Service to highlight the issue and received a response indicating that re-planning was taking place within the service to allocate the necessary resources to complete the work. No further update had been received since. The Vice-Chairman highlighted that the Pension Team was scheduled to meet with the relevant department after the Board meeting and stressed the importance of promptly communicating any potential delays in issuing statements to members. The Chairman requested that the Board be regularly updated on the timelines.
4. In regard to Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) Rectification, the representative from XPS confirmed that the data would be with their projects team and that an update would be provided at the next meeting.
5. In regard to the Unit 4 Payroll Adjustments, a member asked if officers were aware of the total number of members impacted and whether they had been contacted to state that there was an issue that would be resolved in due course. Officers stated that Payroll were dealing with this and correcting contributions. Officers agreed request an update from payroll.

Actions/ further information to be provided:

A6/24 - Retained Settlement – Matthew’s cases – It was agreed that officers share the total number of members in the population to compare with the 208 who had been contacted. The Scheme Manager agreed to provide this information outside the meeting.

A7/24 – Unit 4 Payroll Adjustments – A member inquired whether officers were aware of the total number of affected members and whether they had been notified about the issue and its resolution. Officers confirmed that Payroll was actively addressing the issue and correcting contributions. Officers agreed to request an update from Payroll to ensure that impacted members are informed of the situation and the expected resolution timeline.

Resolved:

The Board noted the report.