Agenda item

5.1      Sarah Hay, Strategic Pension Lead, introduced the report highlighting that the performance of Hampshire Pension Services (HPS) as the pensions administrator remained strong and HPS continued to comply with 100% of the agreed key performance indicators between February and April 2024. The Committee were also updated with regard to online portal sign up and received a breakdown of portal signup by employer; it was mentioned that officers would be working in the coming months to bolster numbers with employers whose signup rates were below 40%.

5.2      Members’ attention was also drawn to the work on hold, particularly the older cases on the workload where officers had carried out some quite intensive investigation. It was noted that work was ongoing with HPS to bring the total number of work on hold cases down and there were also a number of death grants that had not yet been claimed. The Committee queried the potential reasons for those not pursuing death grants or delays in people receiving death grants; it was highlighted that officers were very good at offering help and support to the relevant parties however there were numerous examples of people who were not responsive to officers chasing these cases. It was noted that all cases differed and not all were fully unresponsive, but it was a common issue encountered in the context of death grants.

5.3      Officers highlighted the good news that the backlog project, which originally consisted of 611 cases, was down to the final two cases. It was clarified that with regard to paragraph 3.4 of the officer’s report, the total number of queries from 2023/24 was actually 255, which was higher than stated in the report due to an absence of reporting on new starters. However, on a positive note it was highlighted that, as of 14 June 2024, the number of queries was already down to 153 which was significantly down on previous years. This was attributed to a high level of engagement from officers with the employers, and the introduction of the new Pension Administration Strategy charges in April 2024.

5.4      With regard to the complaint received in February 2024 highlighted in paragraph 2.12 of the report, officers clarified that the standard contact letter had been updated to notify members of the option to transfer in lieu of claiming a refund. On the complaint highlighted in paragraph 2.11, officers confirmed that they had analysed what had happened and had ensured that Hampshire Pension Services ran an exceptions report to ensure no other members were in a similar position.

5.5      The Committee sought clarification on reasons for people not pursuing death grants or delays in the receipt of death grants. Officers confirmed that they were very proactive at offering help and support for individuals claiming death grants and that all cases were different; however, occasionally people would not take them up on the support offered. There were examples of people who were initially responsive but fail to get back to officers following this, and there were cases whereby people were fully unresponsive in claiming death grants.

RESOLVED

           That the Pension Fund Committee noted the content of the report.