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ITEM PF18
PENSION
FUND COMMITTEE – 21 MAY 2004
STAFFING
REPORT
Report by
the Head of Finance
Introduction
- The Best Value
review of Pension Services recommended that Pension Services should
be brought back "in-house" to Oxfordshire County Council and that a
programme of service improvements and cost savings should be implemented
in the two years after the relocation of the team.
- The team returned
to Oxfordshire County Council on 1 April 2003. All members of the team
transferred and the structure in place at the time of transfer, which
we have retained, is shown at Appendix 1 (download
as .doc file).
- The Administration
Manager has resigned and will be leaving in mid-June 2004. Therefore
it is an appropriate time to consider our workload and staffing issues.
Staffing
Structure
- There are two
teams within the "administration" of the Pension Fund Services. The
technical team deal with the system administration, all updates to the
software, pension payroll, year-end, valuation, fire service pensions
and divorce. This supports the other administration team. There are
3 team members and the manager, whose long pensions experience, is key
to supporting and developing the systems to implement our Best Value
programme. This manager consistently works in excess of 45 hours per
week in order to meet demands placed upon her and her team.
- The administration
team deal with all scheme administration and calculation and payment
of benefits. The administration team is where there has been a significant
staff turnover and resulting lack of experience. The Administration
Manager (who works 0.60 FTE) manages the team.
Issues
for Consideration
- There had been
a relatively high turnover of staff at Liberata and consequently the
team who transferred were on the whole relatively inexperienced. There
were also further, expected resignations shortly after transfer of the
team. Therefore there was an urgent training need to be addressed. To
date we have moved one of the experienced staff into a full time training
role, created a programme of job rotation and invested in professional
training.
- Development plans
arising from the Best Value review have started to be implemented. Our
major achievement has been the document imaging of the pension records,
although the way in which this was done needed to be altered to accommodate
the office move and fit the team into the space available. Until the
next main development of introducing Task Management is complete we
will not have the systems in place to be able to meet other requirements
under Best Value.
- Backlogs of work
have long been an issue for Pensions Services. Longer serving team members
pinpoint the introduction of part time members to the scheme in 1995
as the point at which backlogs of work became a permanent feature. This
has been compounded over the years by lack of investment in the team,
loss of experienced members of staff and lack of training. The implementation
of the Best Value development plan has contributed to this backlog.
Work was delayed in the period whilst files were scanned and returned
to us. In addition we had to introduce new procedures and train staff
to use document imaging. The backlogs of work were not recognised within
the Best Value review and this coupled with the reduction in costs has
put further pressure on resources.
- The changes arising
from the introduction of SAP with new working processes in the departments
and the different ways in which information is transferred between systems
has also created a huge amount of additional work, adding to the backlogs
within Pensions Services.
- Best Value also
required the team to make cost savings. As a result our budget was carefully
monitored from day one. Prior to transfer to Oxfordshire County Council
regular overtime had been worked to help address the above issues. This
stopped on transfer. We have also been required to work with the parameters
of the flexi scheme.
- Frequent changes
to the Local Government Pension Scheme regulations only add to our workloads
and changes are often confirmed with a short time between this and the
implementation date. Recent regulation changes were issued on 10 March
for implementation on 1 April. These changes are complex and far-reaching
and will require significant changes to working practices. All forms,
leaflets need to be reviewed and, possibly, rewritten to reflect the
legislative changes. Employers need to be informed of changes to legislation
and work processes. Although we knew what had been included in the consultation
papers there was no indication of what changes were actually included
in the regulations until we received them.
- There has been
an increase in the number of complaints received mainly as a result
of the delays in responding to enquiries.
- There are also
concerns that failure to clear these backlogs will expose Oxfordshire
County Council to potential fines under the regulations.
- This year is valuation
year and so there are additional pressures placed upon the team.
Way Forward
- To address the
issues facing the team and in particular, the current backlog of work,
and the need to create capacity to invest in the system / process changes
to make us more effective in the future, we are seeking:
- A suitable replacement
for the Administration Manager post, to have greater experience of the
regulations and to be able to support both the team (in dealing with
the backlog and workflow to prevent backlogs arising in the future)
and work in partnership with the Technical Manager in developing the
system changes. Therefore suggest that this needs to be on a full-time
basis.
- Additional funding
for a new post within the technical side of the team, so that system
development can be implemented alongside other more routine work.
- An increase in
the overtime provision to clear backlogs of work so that records are
correct for valuation. It is not possible to achieve this within our
current resources even taking into account the amount included for overtime
in the 2004/2005 budget.
- Continue with
the training and job rotation to strengthen skills within the team.
Financial
Implications
- The proposals
shown above would increase costs as follows:
|
|
2004/2005
|
Full
Year
|
|
Replacement
of Administration Manager on full time basis
|
£7,875
|
£
15,750
|
|
Additional
post on Technical Team - Assumed G10
|
£21,000
|
£31,600
|
|
Additional
Overtime budget to clear backlogs of work
|
£12,000
|
£0
|
|
|
£40,875
|
£47,350
|
All
costs shown include on costs.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- The Committee
is RECOMMENDED to:
- approve
the replacement of the Pensions Administration Manager on a
full-time basis;
- approve
the recruitment of an additional team member to strengthen the
Technical Team; and
- approve
the increased budget for overtime working in order to clear
backlogs of work.
CHRIS GRAY
Head of Finance
Background papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Sally
Fox, Directorate for Business Support Tel (01865) 816080
May 2004.
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