Agenda item

A report for the committee’s ongoing oversight of:

·       Scheme, Regulatory, Legal and Fund Update

·       Health Check Dashboard – To 30 September 2024

·       Administration update

a)    Administration KPI update – 1 April 2024 to 30 September 2024

b)    An update on the issuance of the Fund’s ABSs & PSSs

·       Risk Register

·       Audit update – SWAP KC actions

Jennifer Devine, Head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, supported by other officers, presented the Headlines and Monitoring report. The report included but was not limited to that the Annual Report had now been published online and had been sent out to Members. Engagement had continued with the ongoing pensions review and that following the Government call for evidence, the Fund had submitted a response as well as a covering letter as agreed during the last Committee meeting.

It was noted that Pension Awareness week had taken place last month and that drop-in sessions had taken place in the Atrium which Members and Officers had attended. Webinars had also taken place and were oversubscribed, therefore mop up sessions were set to take place. The staff engagement survey had also recently concluded and showed positive responses compared to the previous iteration with a whole Fund meeting taking place to take a deep dive into the response feedback with training still cited as a topic.

An overview of the Risk Register was provided, with it noted that the Fund Governance rating had now changed from red to green following strategic procurements completed. Compliance and regulations had risen from green to amber due to the call for evidence and data management had changed from green to amber because of the migration to Oracle and late data in relation to i-Connect. It was also noted that resourcing had been altered back to a red rating due to there being vacancies to be filled within the administration areas.

An update on audits was provided with it noted with an action plan in place to cover the recommendations made by SWAP in June 2024. It was noted that there were now only 5 audit recommendations compared to the 13 previously, with most areas progressing ahead of deadline. An extension was however requested for the Complaints Monitoring & Reporting action and that meetings were taking place to align with the corporate risk register.

Detail was provided on the Quarter 3 2024 Health Check Dashboard which included that service delivery KPIs still showed as having a lot of red rated percentages however there was more green areas than previously and that this was expected to further increase once the backlog had gone. It was noted that customer service excellence standards had been given an amber rating with an assessment set to be taken next May once the KPIs were in a better position. The internal audit position was an amber rating with the number of recommendations reduced and there having been a positive direction of travel. Detail was provided that budget plans suggested that the Fund would be under the expected cost per Member based on the size of the Fund with officers working prudently to manage the costs in line with the budget. Regarding staff engagement this was given an amber rating though it was in a better position following the recent staff survey result.

The Committee discussed the report with clarification sought regarding the engagement with detail provided that the fact sheet sent out had been opened 59,000 times by members with 300 people attending the webinar and drop in event and a further 140 people waiting for subsequent webinars. The area of recruitment issues was discussed, with an update provided that sadly though the Fund had appointed a new Principal Officer they had subsequently pulled out. It was however noted that salary benchmarking had led to generating more interest in roles as well as better quality applicants.

Further detail was provided regarding the training that had been given to the Fund team and how there was a reliance on feedback from the team with it recognised that different people learn in different ways.

It was agreed that a copy of the Pensions Review covering letter would be sent round to Committee Members following the meeting. Clarification was also provided that the process of producing budget monitoring reports was soon to be up and running again. 

Clarification was sought regarding the service delivery KPIs, with it stated that the red rated KPIs generally occur when a case is missed within the minimum agreed time, however a sweep up is conducted at the end of each day to ensure that payments are not missed. It was outlined that generally the missed cases were down to complex cases or staff absences. It was suggested that the target to get all employers using i-Connect before 2027 wasn’t ambitious, to which it was suggested by officers that onboarding would likely be completed ahead of this date with the majority being onboarded by the end of the scheme year.

At the conclusion of debate, it was,

Resolved:

The Committee agreed to:

·       Approved the risk register recommendations made by the Board and the officer assessment of risk as presented in the July version of the risk register:

·       Noted the SWAP Key Controls action log and approved an extension to the Complaints Monitoring & Reporting action to 31 December 2024.