Agenda item

This paper provides a summary of activity in key areas of pension administration since the Hammersmith & Fulham Pension Fund began its new partnership with the Local Pension Partnership Administration.

Eleanor Dennis (Head of Pensions) presented the report which provided an update on the Hammersmith & Fulham Pension Fund’s new partnership with the Local Pension Partnership Administration (LPPA) on 26 January 2022. She noted that the commencement of the service with LPPA had been challenging due to them implementing new software and processes. She added that LPPA had been responsive to the issues raised and there was a plan in place to resolve them.

The Board discussed the backlog of cases referenced in paragraph 5 of the report. William O’Connell asked what constituted a case. Eleanor Dennis said it meant an enquiry from a member about any aspect of their pension. William O’Connell asked how Board could be kept up to date in on these issues in between meetings. David Hughes (Director of Audit, Fraud, Risk and Insurance) said officers could provide the Pension Fund Committee update reports to the Board members between meetings.

ACTION: Eleanor Dennis / David Hughes

Neil Newton noted that he’d seen 5 different administrations over 25 years and none of them had managed the transfer of data properly. He asked how LPPA were appointed without proof of working software and said the Pension Fund Committee should be made aware that the procurement process seemed to have been lacking.

Eleanor Dennis advised the Board that the data set was very complex, with over 17,000 people’s information in the system. The software was not unproven, but it was new to the operator. It was chosen because it was significantly more efficient than the previous system and would result in cases being processed three times faster. It would also give members a better online experience. LPPA were working closely with the Council to resolve the problems. Eleanor said she was confident they will get to where they need to be.

David Hughes added that the relationship with LPPA was very different to the previous provider. They had engaged and recognised the quality was not where it needed to be. They were putting additional resource in and challenging the software provider to improve the situation.

Neil Newton said it didn’t seem as though the lessons from previous transfers had been taken on board. He was disappointed with the start of the new service. David Hughes noted that there was a thorough data cleansing effort prior to the transfer this time and the migration was far better and happened on schedule. The change to their software systems caused the issues.

Councillor Rory Vaughan asked if it was the change of software that had caused the unexpected increase in enquiries. Eleanor Dennis said a large number of the calls were to do with getting onto the portal. In response to this LPPA created videos to help users and simplified the process. She added that because the new system showed more information to members online it prompted members to challenge incorrect information such as a change of address.

David Hughes advised members that it was considered urgent to move away from the previous provider. The service had been performing badly and the provider had no plan in place to improve. They were also increasing fee by nearly double while more and more data quality issues were coming to light.

Members discussed revisiting this issue in the Autumn for an update on the improvement plan and outstanding issues. Eleanor Dennis agreed with the approach to compare performance in the Autumn.

ACTION: Eleanor Dennis

The Chair asked if officers had seen an improvement between January and March. Eleanor Dennis said performance had improved. The average wait time was down to 12 minutes, with the longest wait being 30 mins down from 1.5 hours.

RESOLVED

1.    The Pensions Board noted the report.

2.    The Pensions Board requested an update on the new administration service’s performance in the Autumn.