Agenda item

Report of the Director of People Services.

4.1      Lee Witham (Director of People Services) presented the report and advised that there were improvements to a number of the key performance indicators (KPIs). The only KPI where performance had dropped was in respect of deferred benefits, however this was due to a number of historical leavers being picked up. Members noted that the performance target was 100% for each KPI and Jason Bailey (Pension Services Manager, Surrey County Council) stated that he felt these targets were realistic.

4.2       Lee Witham then turned to issues concerning BT and acknowledged that the performance was unsatisfactory. People Services, Surrey County Council (SCC) and BT had worked collaboratively to move forward and improve in all areas. The key issue had been in relation to Annual Benefit Statements either not being sent to scheme members or being inaccurate. People Services had visited the BT offices to work with BT to address this and the matter had now been resolved, with the statements concerned due to be sent out by SCC in the next 2 weeks. BT had initially indicated that they would not be able to send out the Annual Benefit Statements for 2016-17 before 31 August, however subsequent discussions had resulted in BT stating that this was now achievable.

4.3       Ian Hammond (Client Service Director, BT) then was invited to comment and began by stating that lessons had been learnt from the previous year and improvements were being made as a result of the collaborative approach being taken. Additional resources had been identified and the target to complete the data for the Annual Benefit Statements for 2016-17 was now 17 August. Lee Witham added that efforts would be made to encourage BT to provide the statements to SCC at an even earlier date so SCC had sufficient time to process and to send out to scheme members before 31 August.

4.4       Members expressed concern about the problems being experienced to date which they felt was unsatisfactory. In respect of the 17 August deadline for Annual Benefit Statements, it was asked what were the specific problems experienced in the last year, why was BT confident it could achieve this year’s deadline and what factors may affect its ability to complete this.  Ian Hammond advised Members that the previous problems had been attributable to incorrect data. However, the errors had now been rectified, either fundamentally or through a manual fix where necessary, so he was confident the 17 August deadline would be met. Similarly, Ian Hammond felt that all errors would be fundamentally fixed for 2017-18 and an end of June 2018 deadline was due to be set to complete the Annual Benefit Statements for that year.

4.5       Christopher Smith (Pension Board Member and Branch Secretary of Unison) advised that he was now receiving much less complaints in relation to pensions. He thanked the work of People Services in helping to resolve issues, although there was still a need for more improvement, which he felt would be achieved if efforts continued.

4.6       The Chairman welcomed the collaborative approach taken and the progress being made. He requested that Members be advised in advance if there were any concerns that the deadlines may not be achieved.