Agenda item

This report presents details of potential new admission to the pension fund. The report also gives a breakdown of the amount of visits made to the Haringey pension fund website.

This report, introduced by Janet Richards, Pensions Manager, detailed a breakdown of the number of visits made to the Haringey Pension Fund website. The PCB was informed that, on average, the website received 373 users per month, who each viewed roughly four and half pages.

The report also provided the PCB with an update on the Annual Benefit Statement issue that had been reported to it at the 13^th September 2018 meeting. The PCB was informed that the Pensions Team had consulted with its legal team and they had advised that, following investigating the issue and having consideration to the guidance issued by the Pension Regulator, the breach was not one that was materially significant and, therefore, it was not necessary for the Pension Fund to report it as a ‘Material Breach’.

The Pensions Manager informed the PCB that in order to prevent a reoccurrence of the situation, it had been decided that it would be appropriate to upload the Annual Benefit Statement onto the Member Self Service portal from 2019. However, the PCB were advised that an update to the existing software provider, Heywood, was required for them to be able to do this. It was further noted that the existing software was due to be withdrawn from service in April 2020. The PCB were asked to approve the additional one-off cost of £52,000 for Licence and Implementation, and £8,000 per annum for the Hosting and Support, and maintenance for the upgrade to new Member Self Service. The intention was for the Annual Benefit Statement to be sent both via post and electronically on the Member Self Service in 2019. From 2020, members would receive their Annual Benefit Statement from the Member Self Service only, and not via post.

Following discussion, the PCB were divided over whether the move to sending the Annual Benefit Statements out electronically only from 2020 was appropriate. Amongst the concerns raised were:

·         Given that the average number of monthly users to the Haringey Pensions Website equated to approximately 5% of all its members, the switch to sending Annual Benefit Statements via Member Self Service could result in a large number of members not viewing their statements. The PCB felt that more engagement with members and promotion of the Haringey Pensions Website were needed before such a switch;

·         Active members who did not have access to the internet might not be able to view their Annual Benefit Statements from 2020; and

·         Whilst the Pensions Team was able to inform its staff of the potential change, the other employers in the scheme might not pass this information onto their employees.

Officers addressed the concerns of the PCB and noted that:

·         Active members could be advised in their August payslips that their Annual Benefit Statements would be available on the Member Self Service from 31^st August.

·         The Pensions Team could also send an email reminder to its staff when the Statements could be viewed.

·         Modernising would allow members to have access to their statements electronically throughout the year and removed the potential for paper statements to be lost.

·         Member Self Service was due to be upgraded in 2020. A delay in the delivery of the new Member Self Service could occur because of other local authorities all upgrading at the same time. Being proactive and upgrading in 2019 would avoid that potential delay.

·         It would be too great an administrative burden for the Pensions Team to explore an opt-out option for its 7,000 members if they preferred to continue to receive the Annual Benefits Statements through the post.

·         There would be a future cost saving by the switch, and after five years the Fund would start to see a return on the savings from the annual £10,000 it paid to post the Annual Benefit Statements.

·         Pensioners did not receive Annual Benefit Statements and these were only sent to active or deferred members of the fund, who are by definition of working age.

The PCB’s Independent Advisor noted that it was within the Pensions Manager’s authority to require that employers inform their employees of the switch to receiving Annual Benefits Statement electronically. The employers had a duty to co-operate and could be asked to include the information in their newsletters or staff bulletin notices, for example. 

The Committee decided that it would approve the proposals but continue to monitor the transition period to observe the level of engagement from employers, the level of engagement from members with the Haringey Pensions Website and any further feedback from PCB members regarding the switch from paper to electronic Annual Benefit Statements.

Before the permanent proposed change from 2020, the Committee would review this decision and, if it felt it appropriate to do so, reverse it.

Resolved

That the Committee:

• note that the report gives a breakdown of the amount of visits made to the Haringey pension fund website;
• note the late notification of active members’ Annual Benefit Statements due to an administration error in the external third party printers’ mailing process and agree that the matter should not be reported to the Pension Regulator on the basis that the breach is not a material breach;
• approve the additional one off cost of £52,000 for Licence and Implementation and £8,000 per annum for hosting, support and maintenance for the upgrade to new Member Self Service. This will allow the upload of the 2019 annual benefit statements onto Member Self Service so active members can access their annual benefit statements on the scheme’s website.