Agenda item

This report follows up on update reports presented previously to the Pensions Board on the actions agreed by the Pension Fund Sub-committee on 3 February 2021 to appoint Local Pension Partnerships Administration (LPPA) to provide the Pension Administration service from 1 February 2022. 

David Hughes (Director of Audit, Fraud, Risk and Insurance) presented the report and gave a summary of the following key points.

o   Significant progress had been made since the last update provided to the Pensions Board in November 2020.

o   Officers were working in collaboration with Surrey County Council (SCC) and Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA) to mobilise the project. The Council was on track to go live with LPPA on the 1^st February 2022.

o   An update was provided on the key project risks and the progress made since November 2020 on the key project workstreams.

o   The recruitment for the retained team was almost complete. With the new team members joining in the next few months to enhance the team’s resilience and provide support to the Pensions Manager to deliver on the transfer and setting up of the new service.

o   The transition of all the retained functions previously managed by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) was completed and the in-house team delivering a good retained service.

o   The Pensions Manager had progressed discussions with Aquila Heywood, regarding a further one-year extension (as allowed by the original contract), which permitted the Altair software to continue to be used for the remainder of the SCC pension administration delegation agreement term.

o   Following a procurement exercise an external company (ITM) had been appointed to carry out the work required on backlog cases.

o   The fee discussions with SCC had been concluded and the revised fee for the service from 1 September 2020 has also been agreed in line with the Council’s expectations.

o   Having agreed a detailed plan for the transfer of functions from RBKC to the Council’s new retained team, this plan was successfully executed, including training of staff, transfer of data and live caseload. 

o   The Pensions Taskforce continued to provide the day to day oversight for the project, reporting on a regular basis to the Chief Executive on progress. 

o   Update reports on progress against the plan would also be provided to Members.

Councillor Bora Kwon queried if officers anticipated any delays to the implementation of the new service due to Covid-19. In response David Hughes explained that any minor concerns had successfully been dealt with and there was good communication taking place between all parties at key milestones during the project.

The Chair noted that it was good to hear that the project was on track. He asked when the service levels would be agreed and formalised with LPPA. David Hughes explained that the Council was in the process of formally agreeing the delegation agreement which included the Key Performance indicators (KPI’s) with LPPA.

The Chair asked for further clarification to be provided on the additional costs arising from the exit plan with SCC. In response David Hughes outlined the details of the  costs relating to the exit process, noting that these were monitored on a monthly basis and would be met by the Pension Fund. Final approval for any additional costs would be agreed by the Director of Resources.

Members noted this report.