Agenda item

(To receive a report from Yunus Gajra (Business Development Manager – West Yorkshire Pension Fund), which updates the Board on current administration issues within the Fund)

The Board received a report from Yunus Gajra, Business Development Manager – West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF), which provided an update on a range of administration issues within the fund.

Members of the Board were invited to ask questions, in which the following points were raised:

·       It was considered normal for there to be 2,339 new members joining the scheme in a quarter. Figures could fluctuate for a number of reasons.

·       An explanation on how each set of figures (in section 1.0 and 2.0 of the report) were calculated would be provided at the next meeting of the Board.

·       An Academy School had outsourced its cleaning service and failed to notify the Fund. The Fund had discussed the issue with the ceding employer to ensure all employee and employer contributions were correct and paid across to the Fund.

·       Attention was drawn to a typing error in paragraph 3.1 of the report: '121 Lincolnshire member's sample survey letters were sent out and 172 (14.05%) returned', should have read:  '121 Lincolnshire member's sample survey letters were sent out and 17 (14.05%) returned'.

·       Concerns were raised over the outstanding Stage 1 appeal with LCC that had been ongoing for a year. Officers explained that the appeal related to ill health matters which were complex and could take longer to resolve. Members of the Board were assured that the progress of the appeal was being monitored regularly.

·       Membership to the CIPFA Pensions Administration Benchmarking Club was currently optional for Pension Funds and take-up was quite low. However, current members had requested that the Scheme Advisory Board consider making membership of the CIPFA Benchmarking Club compulsory for all Funds.

·       There was no obvious connection between the collection of redundancy statistics detailed in the SF3 report and the cost cap on exit payments. There was no indication that the cost cap would not be implemented.

·       The Pension Fund Manager agreed to circulate the consultation on the GMP Equalisation of Public Service Pension Schemes.

·       The Business Development Manager (WYPF) agreed to investigate why there had been no response sent to the complaint from member number 8117799.

RESOLVED:

          That the report be noted.