Agenda item

Report of the Director of People Services.

4.1       Lee Witham (Director of People Services) presented the report and advised that the last four months had witnessed a stable performance for pension administration. Most key performance indicators were rated green, apart from two that were amber because of a single case in each instance. He advised that Hampshire County Council (HCC) was due to take over payroll responsibilities from BT on 1 December 2018. Officers had been testing the new payroll system and feedback to date had been positive. Lee Witham advised that every effort would be made to ensure that the transfer to the HCC payroll system would go smoothly.

4.2       Sarah Hay (Senior Pensions and Payroll Officer) updated Members concerning the involvement of Western Union in confirming the existence of overseas based pensioners. To date, 168 people had been contacted, however others would take longer to trace due to their full names not being recorded, particularly those retiring in the 1980s.

4.3       During discussions, the Chairman acknowledged that the City Council’s actuary, Barnett Waddingham, had advised that a data quality cleanse was not necessary. In respect of information on overseas based pensioners, she sought clarification that this was due to the need to acquire further data, as opposed to an actual data lapse. The Chairman asked what the current lifetime allowance was for pensions and requested that information be provided to the Committee at a future meeting if there were any significant changes to this.

4.4       A Member asked how long would the exercise to obtain all data on overseas pensioners would take and what steps would be taken in the event of the necessary validation not being able to be completed. Action also needed to be taken to ensure that the correct person was receiving pension payments. A Member commented that the Chancellor was due to make changes in taxation for high earners and she asked if simplified guidance could be provided to the Committee on this.

4.5       In reply to the issues raised by Members, Sarah Hay advised that in respect of overseas pensions, the lack of a full name would not prevent someone from receiving their pension, but for security reasons it was important that their full name was obtained. She confirmed that the main need was to acquire additional data and The Pensions Regulator was now required to measure data, including details such as National Insurance number and date of birth. Sarah Hay advised that there would be big push to collect additional data for overseas pensioners in January 2019 to prevent disruption of payments during the Christmas period and to allow the transfer of payroll responsibilities to HCC to bed in. She stated that a Data Improvement Plan was needed and additional resources would be required to undertake this. Sarah Hay advised that overseas data collection exercise should be completed by March 2019.

4.6       Phil Triggs (Tri-Borough Director of Treasury and Pensions) advised that in respect of the Chancellor’s changes that taxation was a complicated issue and expert advice would be required. Members noted Sarah Hay’s comment that Barnett Waddingham had workshops coming up on this. Matthew Hopson (Strategic Investment Manager, Tri-Borough Treasury and Pensions) advised that the current pension lifetime allowance was £1.05m.