Administration & Investment Review for 2012/2013
Introduction to the Administration Review
by Gary Chapman, Head of Pensions Administration
Heading for change
During the year details of the new Local Government Pension Scheme were gradually released through a mixture of informal consultation and draft regulations. Although no actual regulations were in force at the end of this review period, we now know the core elements of the new scheme applicable from April 2014 and have commenced planning for its implementation. For the very latest on the new scheme visit our website at www.sypensions.org.uk/futurelgps. Pensions Administration continues to be delivered by our in-house team based locally in Barnsley and I am pleased to report that the high standards of performance against our service targets continue to be maintained. Our staff are supported by high quality IT systems which provide instant access to vast amounts of data to deal with both member and employer enquiries quickly and efficiently. Included in this is our in-house developed data cleansing and analysis tool that ensures compliance with the Pensions Regulator’s requirements regarding data quality. We have continued to explore ways to maximise efficiency whilst at the same time improving the service that we provide to our Scheme members. During the year we have successfully merged mailings of annual statements as well as pensioner pay statements and newsletters. This has not only saved money on printing and postage but also cut out duplicate mailings for our members who have more than one job or multiple pensions in payment. Last year I reported on a new initiative being introduced to combat the significant number of existing members choosing to opt out of the Scheme. Whilst there can be a number of reasons that prompt a member to take this drastic course of action the overwhelming reason is to save money. Our opt-out strategy is designed to illustrate that the amount of money saved might not be as much as expected whilst at the same time showing the benefits that would be lost. I am pleased to report that out of 519 members that submitted a request 420 elected to stay in the Scheme after receiving the information we provided. This represents an 81% success rate.
www.sypensions.org.uk
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority