North Yorkshire County Council
Pension Fund Committee
24 November 2023
Administration Report
Report of the Treasurer
1. Purpose of the Report
1.1. To provide Members with information relating to the administration of the Fund in the quarter and to provide an update on key issues and initiatives which impact the administration team.
2. Admission Agreements & New Academies
2.1. The latest position relating to admission agreements and academy conversions is shown in Appendix 1.
3. Administration
3.1. Membership Statistics
|
Membership Category |
At 30/06/2023 |
+/- Change (%) |
At 30/09/2023 |
|
Active |
30,424 |
-1.48% |
29,975 |
|
Deferred |
40,352 |
-1.03% |
39,938 |
|
Pensioner (incl spouse & dependant members) |
29,286 |
+2.05% |
29,895 |
|
Total |
100,062 |
|
99,808 |
3.2. Throughput Statistics
· Period from 1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023
|
Case type |
Cases Outstanding at Start |
New Cases |
Cases Closed |
Cases Outstanding at End |
|
Transfer In quotes |
23 |
68 |
85 |
6 |
|
Transfer Out quotes |
34 |
165 |
184 |
15 |
|
Employer estimates |
0 |
709 |
661 |
48 |
|
Employee estimates |
4 |
105 |
109 |
0 |
|
Retirement quotes |
10 |
658 |
600 |
68 |
|
Preserved benefits |
986 |
1,944 |
1,200 |
1,730 |
|
Death in payment or in service |
98 |
705 |
686 |
117 |
|
Refunds |
15 |
256 |
251 |
20 |
|
Actual retirement procedure |
466 |
850 |
771 |
545 |
|
Interfund transfers |
461 |
584 |
576 |
469 |
|
Aggregate member records |
4 |
536 |
454 |
86 |
|
Process GMP |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Others |
174 |
342 |
310 |
206 |
|
Total Cases |
2,275 |
6,922 |
5,887 |
3,310 |
· As well as processing the above cases, the Pensions team also handled 1,957 phone calls (average 38 per working day) in the quarter.
·
3.3. Performance Statistics
· The performance figures for the period 1 July 2023 to 30 September 2023 are as follows:
|
Performance Indicator |
Target in period |
Achieved |
|
Measured work completed within target
|
98% |
98% |
|
Customers surveyed ranking service good or excellent
|
94% |
98% |
|
Increase numbers of registered self-service users by 700 per quarter (total registered users 43,669)
|
700 |
1,613 |
· We continue to focus on completing all of our work within target and encouraging sign up for member self-service.
· Our reduced backlog and quicker turnaround times is reflected in the increase in our service score.
3.4. Commendations and Complaints
· This quarter the following commendations and complaints were received:
Commendations
|
Date |
Number |
Summary |
|
July |
8 |
Excellent service at all times. I spoke to a very kind lady, who took her time to explain procedure. |
|
Aug |
4 |
Very impressed with the quality and speed of the service. |
|
Sept |
2 |
Thank you for sorting out all the complexities around my pension. |
Complaints
|
Date |
Number |
Summary |
|
July |
0 |
|
|
Aug |
2 |
Regs – Impact of new early retirement factors Admin – Prudential alleged we had not responded to an enquiry but we had replied on the same day |
|
Sept |
4 |
IHER – Appeal against IHER being declined Admin – Prudential not transferring members AVCs in a timely manner Admin – Issues with GAYE donations not being allocated correctly Regs – Benefits from previous fund automatically combined in line with regs |
· The complaint categories are:
a) Admin - these can relate to errors in calculations, delays in processing and making payment of benefits.
b) Regs - these relate to a complaint where regulations prevent the member being able to do what they want to.
c) IHER - these are where members have been declined for early retirement on the grounds of ill health and are appealing the decision through the Internal Disputes Resolution Procedure.
Lessons Learned
Having reviewed the complaints received in the period there were no patterns identified requiring further attention.
3.5. Annual Benefit Statements 2023
The current position with the active benefits statements is:
29,487 / 29,545 statements issued (99.80%)
58 eligible active records without an annual benefit statement of which:
8 – have outstanding admin task preventing ABS creation
50 – have outstanding year end task preventing ABS creation
We continue to work on the 50 with an outstanding year end task.
3.6. Breaches Policy & Log
The North Yorkshire Pension Fund’s Breaches Log is included at Appendix 2 for review. There are three new entries.
1. Accidental disclosure of data by email for a single member
2. Failing to issue 100% of active benefit statements within the statutory deadline – we don’t issue statements where we have a query with the data on record which we believe will result in incorrect benefits being quoted
3. Late issue of a pension saving statement for the 2021/2022 tax year to 1 member - due to an error with a manual calculation at the time of retirement which has subsequently been found as part of the 2022/2023 exercise. This has been reported to HMRC.
3.7. Business Plan Update
In the NYPF 2023/24 – 2025/26 Business Plan 10 key actions for the 2023/24 year were identified and approved by Members in the March 2023 Committee meeting. It was agreed that officers would provide a progress report against these key actions, this progress report is attached as Appendix 3.
4. Issues and Initiatives
4.1. Ongoing projects
We continue to make progress with both the i-Connect rollout and the new website:
· Work has recommenced on the rollout of i-Connect to our employers with 152 now onboarded and only 77 remaining. We are hoping to make quite rapid progress with the remaining employers as a large proportion of them are contract payrolls for North Yorkshire Council.
· Website development continues with the focus on getting the employer site fully configured before we go live. We have just completed the testing stage with pensions staff and a select few employers. The development team are now working through the feedback and it remains on target to be live from 1 December.
4.2. McCloud
The McCloud data team has been working through the data returns and updating member records as required, adding a free format memo so we can identify which records have been processed.
Missing data has been identified and every employer affected has been contacted to provide the missing information. So far we’ve had a very good response. Regulations and guidance continues to be issued and we are reviewing this as it is released.
We are required to notify every member of the Scheme by 1 January 2024 of the changes that came into force from 1 October 2023 as a result of McCloud. We will be emailing every member with an email on record, making use of employer intranets and key messages for active members and posting the information to those deferred and pensioner members without an email. We will also be posting the information to our website.
5 Member Training
The Member Training Record showing the training undertaken to March 2022 is attached as Appendix 4. Please contact Stephen Loach (01609 532216 or email stephen.loach@northyorks.gov.uk) with any details of training undertaken or conferences attended and these will be added to the training record. Consideration has been given to undertaking the Hymans Knowledge Assessment, however, it was determined that it feels too early, at this stage, for this. Members are encouraged to complete the Hymans online modules on offer and then an assessment will be undertaken as to whether there are knowledge gaps to fill.
Upcoming courses, seminars and conferences available to Members are set out in the schedule attached as Appendix 5. Please contact Kirsty Howes (01609 533298) or email kirsty.howes@northyorks.gov.uk for further information or to reserve a place on an event. Events are currently limited due to the pandemic.
Given the start of a new Committee, further training has been devised to help with the induction of new Members and the creation of a new team. The views of Members will be sought as we progress through this approach but, given the technical nature of some of the areas of responsibility, there will be a significant number of training events and it will be suggested that on-line training is made mandatory for all Members. It is recognised however that this will need to be done proportionately and over a period of time.
6 Meeting Timetable
The latest timetable for forthcoming meetings of the Committee and Investment Manager meetings is attached as Appendix 6.
7 Recommendations
7.1 Members to note the contents of the report.
7.2 Members to note the contents of the Breaches log and determine whether a report should be made to the Pensions Regulator.
Gary Fielding
Treasurer of North Yorkshire Pension Fund
NYCC
County Hall
Northallerton
16 November 2023