The report of the Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund (Document “P”) will be submitted to provide Members with an update on West Yorkshire Pension Fund’s (WYPF) pensions administration activities over the last six months.

Recommended –

That the report be noted.

(Yunus Gajra – 01274 432343)

The report of the Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund (Document “P”) provided Members with an update on West Yorkshire Pension Fund’s (WYPF) pensions administration activities over the last six months.  The background to Document “P” reported that as well as providing pensions administration for WYPF scheme members, WYPF provided a full administration service to Lincolnshire Pension Fund, the London Borough of Hounslow and more recently the London Borough of Barnet and to 21 Fire Authorities. This included pensioner payroll (except for the London Borough of Hounslow), all member and scheme level events, reporting to statutory bodies, provision of data to external bodies such as actuaries, and local authorities for the production of the scheme accounts.   

Performance and benchmarking details contained in the report showed the performance against key areas of work for the period 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021and revealed that most key performance had been well met.  There was commentary on any which had not been achieved and mitigating reasons were provided. 

Work in progress, scheme information, praise and complaints, employer training, internal dispute resolution procedure and an administration update were included in the report.  Details of ISO 9001 Quality Audits; security breaches; member portal and awards were also summarised.   It was concluded that the fund continued to provide an efficient, cost effective and high level of service to members and employers within the fund.

Members questioned why unrealistic targets were maintained in performance targets and it was explained that the fund did not wish to reduce Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to maintain the challenge.  It was felt that all were realistic when workloads and vacancies were addressed.

It was queried if KPIs were maintained on the number of people accessing the member portal or if members were consulted on preferred methods of communication.  In response it was explained that the fund had begun to access that information from the CIVICA website and this would be reported.

Members asked if staff surveys were conducted for the fund or if there was reliance on Bradford Council’s assessments.  It was suggested that feedback on morale, job satisfaction and challenges faced could help address recruitment issues.  It was confirmed that the Fund relied on the staff surveys conducted by Bradford Council but agreed there was no reason why a fund specific survey could not be carried out.  It was explained that a survey had been conducted at the start of the pandemic to ascertain the level of support and equipment staff required.

It was reported that a hybrid method of working would be in place allowing staff to work both remotely and in the office and work was required to conduct a more up to date assessment of needs.  The biggest issue faced during the restructure of the Fund had been pay and grades.

A definition of the acronym DPO was requested and it was clarified that this referred to Data Protection Officer.  Reference to ICO was explained as relating to Information Commissioner’s Office.  It was confirmed that the Fund did employ a DPO.

It was questioned if the fund had any plans to provide shared services to all fire authorities and it was explained that this was not intended.  It was explained that small fire authorities were attracted to the fund as it had the necessary expertise and that the complexity of the scheme was often not cost effective for those authorities.     

Resolved –

That the report be noted.

ACTION: Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund