Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Peter Hardy, Liz Turvey and Ian Thompson.

Peter Dearden has replaced Robert Walter as the Unison representative on the Pension Fund Consultative Group.

County Councillor Richard Scott (Vice-Chairman of the Pension Fund Committee) chaired the meeting.

The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 9 October 2013 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 9 October 2013 were agreed as a correct record.

Buckinghamshire County Council Pension Fund originally implemented a Pension Administration Strategy in June 2010. The Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations require an administering authority to consult with Scheme employers when making revisions to the Strategy. The Strategy, along with the Service Level Agreement (SLA), has been revised in light of the changes coming into effect on 1 April 2014.

Report with two appendices attached.

The Principal Pensions Officer explained that the Bucks County Council Pension Fund originally implemented a Pension Administration Strategy in June 2010.  She made the following main points during her presentation.

·         The Strategy, along with the Service Level Agreement (SLA), has been revised in light of the changes coming into effect on 1 April 2014 and will be issued to all Scheme employers.  It highlights the procedures for liaison and communication and establishes levels of performance which both the administering authority and Scheme employers are expected to achieve.

·         Historically there have been some difficulties where a Scheme employer has an outsourced payroll provider who is not providing information in line with the timescales set out in the SLA.  The Strategy permits any additional administration costs to be charged to an employer regardless of whether they have signed the SLA.

·         The Strategy is key to improving quality of member data held.  Where all necessary support has been given to a Scheme employer and the level of performance has not improved to an acceptable standard, the Scheme employer will be charged in accordance with the Charging Schedule.

·         Employees who are eligible for LGPS membership can elect to pay half of the pension contribution due and receive half of the benefit (1/98^th).  The Employer of a member electing for the 50/50 section is required to give the member information about the effect on that member’s likely benefit as a result of that election.  There will be a factsheet available for employers on the 50/50 membership.

·         From 1 April 2014, members can no longer elect to pay ARCs but may make an election to buy extra annual pension up to a maximum of £6,500 using an APC contract.

·         Some members may have made an election prior to 1 April 2014 to buy added years via payment of additional contributions.  There is a model on the LGPS website to assist with working out how much it would cost.

·         A change in hours will require a re-assessment by BCC to the level of membership purchased/amount to be deducted.

·         In terms of maternity, paternity and adoption leave, the member should elect within 30 days of their return if they want to buy back the period of authorised unpaid leave.  If they do so, the cost of the APC is split between the member and the employer, with the member paying 1/3^rd of the cost and the employer paying 2/3^rds of the cost.

·         If a member wishes to buy back the pension ‘lost’ in respect of strike action, they can do so via an APC contract.  Contributions are no longer assessed as 16% of pensionable pay.

·         A member can elect to retire at any age between 55 and their Normal Pension Age (NPA) and claim their pension benefits.

·         The 85 year rule does not automatically apply but the employer can "switch" the 85 year rule back on for pre 1 April 2014 benefits.

·         When benefits are paid earlier than normal, there may be a cost  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Report attached.

The Principal Pensions officer referred members to his report and made the following main points.

·         The Pensions Administration team have a customer charter outlining their commitment to turning work around within certain timescales.  All post and requests for information are logged daily and reported on a monthly basis to monitor the percentage of work that is not completed.

·         In November 2013, the Pensions team were notified of 64 new retirements from active status, with 112 new payroll records created.

·         The pensioner payroll now numbers 16,000 plus with a total monthly value of £6m when taking into account regular monthly payments and one-off payments such as retirement lump sums, transfer values and death grants.

·         In November 2013, 251 new queries were received from scheme members, deferred pensioners and pensioners and the Employer Liaison Team dealt with approximately 700 year end queries.

·         The team also dealt with queries arising from the valuation data raised by the Actuary.

·         At present, the number of retirements the team are dealing with are exceptionally high and this is a priority as pensions need to be paid in a timely manner.

·         There have been some technical glitches with the software suppliers so the roll-out of the Employer and Member Self Service has been slightly delayed but work is currently being undertaken to resolve the problems.

During discussion, Members asked the following questions.

·         Do you think the resourcing levels are right within the team?  The Assistant Service Director of Finance explained that resourcing is continually under review.  The nature of the work is shifting and there has been an increase in the number of Admission Agreements as a result of outsourcing.  Additional resources will be put in place as and when required.  He explained that it is a fine balance between keeping the costs down whilst still being able to produce the work.  The officer added that there are three new pensions officers who are currently receiving their training but they cannot support the retirement team just yet.

·         How frequently is the CIFFA benchmarking report published?  The officer responded by saying that the data is submitted to CIFFA in July and the report is published in the Autumn.  It will be on the agenda for the PFCG’s October meeting.  The Assistant Service Director of Finance went on to say that the CIFFA statistics do not accurately reflect employer information.

·         A member suggested that the CIFFA report could be included in the papers for all the PFCG’s meetings.

The Assistant Service Director of Finance concluded by saying that if Employers can submit their information on time then it will help the team enormously and assist them in managing their workloads more effectively.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 9 October 2013 to be confirmed as a correct record.

The confidential minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday 9 October 2013 were agreed as a correct record.

Report attached.

The Pensions & Investments Manager took Members through her report.

The next meeting is due to take place on Wednesday 8 October at 10am in Mezzanine Room 2, County Hall, Aylesbury.

The next meeting is due to take place on Wednesday 8 October 2014 at 10am.