Agenda item

10.45am

This report updates the Committee on the key administration issues including service performance measurement, the debt recovery process and any write offs agreed in the last quarter. 

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to acknowledge the challenges encountered by the administration team due to increased workload and persistent resource constraints and the actions being taken to address these.

Vicki Green, Pension Services Manager presented the report of the Executive Director of Resources and Section 151 Officer which updated the Committee on the key administrative issues including service performance measurement, the debt recovery process and any write offs agreed in the last quarter.

She provided an update to the Committee on the increased work for benefit administration that has been exacerbated by the lack of resource in the team, alongside the expected delivery of additional projects, such as McCloud.  The team were exploring alternative ways of processing high volume cases, such as automation and bulk calculations where possible.  She also drew the Committee’s attention to the performance measures that showed despite the lack of resource, they were still completing work received within their service level agreement measures.

She provided an update on the latest staffing figures and reported that a further two resignations had been received since the last meeting, resulting in nine vacant posts.  Four agency staff had been appointed to cover the work of the Pension Support Officer and Pension Administrators.  The remaining vacancies were at a senior level, and further discussions with the resourcing teams were taking place to address candidate attraction.

In response to a query regarding Appendix 3 from the Committee regarding the figures reported for April to June 2025 not corresponding to the table providing comparatives, Vicki Green advised that she recheck this information and report to the Committee directly with the corrected figures.  (ACTION)

In response to a query from the Committee regarding what were the biggest impacts to the team on the current staffing difficulties, Vicki Green responded that the impacts had been highlighted as above and reiterated that this had also been impacted by the additional projects that were currently being undertaken.

The Committee requested a broader report for the next meeting on how resource shortages were being addressed, including the use of AI technology, triage, self service and various other measures that could be taken.  Mark Smith agreed to update the Committee at the next meeting.  (ACTION)

The Committee RESOLVED to

a)    acknowledge the challenges encountered by the administration team due to increased workload and persistent resource constraints and the actions being taken to address these.

b)    approve the administering authority discretions policy with no changes made.

c)    approve the changes made to the Fire Services Pension criteria in the scheme pays policy.