South Yorkshire builds dashboard to remedy data backlog

The £8bn fund had failed to meet the August 31 delivery deadline for member benefit statements every year since appointing technology provider Civica in 2014, which it selected through an national framework for pensions software led by Kent County Council.

South Yorkshire reported itself to the Pensions Regulator after the fund failed to meet its 2017 deadline with only 83 per cent of statements issued.

The regulator took no further action after reviewing the fund’s proposed changes to its administration.

Pensions is not the priority for employers

Ian Colvin, Hymans Robertson

These were comprised of the development of its own dashboard to help monitor data, harsher penalties for employers, and a switch from yearly to monthly data collection that commenced in April this year, according Jason Bailey, head of pensions administration.

The fund’s technology provider is responsible

Civica was appointed in February 2014. In the fund’s 2016 annual report, councillor Sue Ellis, chair of the SYPA wrote: “It soon became clear that the winning contractor had not allocated enough resources to the transition and service levels fell dramatically.”

Jason Bailey described the Civica appointment as “the source of the issues that went on for some time”.

“We do still use them, and the system has improved significantly over the last couple of years but, nonetheless, we will still be conducting a thorough evaluation of our options when the contract comes up for renewal next year,” he added.

Civica could not be reached for comment after multiple requests from Pensions Expert.

The fund built an electronic dashboard that allows it to monitor submissions from employers and individuals.

It also brought in heavier penalties on employers who do not deliver their data in a timely manner.

Finally, the fund has been collecting data from employers on a monthly basis since April.

Late employer data is “a national issue”, Bailey said, one that is particularly associated with smaller employers that outsource their payroll contracts. SYPA’s plan appears to be working, though.

“With the strengthening of our administration strategy, we have received returns from all of our employers this year and are on target to issue benefit statements to all of our members on time this year.”

Employers need more training

Local authority pension funds have struggled in recent years to meet their deadlines for issuing member statements.

Last year, the London Borough of Barnet Pension Fund was notified by the regulator of a £1,000 fine over its failure to submit its 2016 employer return information on time.

The £1.1bn fund became the first public sector pension scheme in the country to be fined by the regulator.

Ian Colvin, head of benefit consultancy and governance at Hymans Robertson, observed that monthly data collection allows funds to identify problems as they happen, rather than discovering them at the end of the year.

Monthly collection does present its own challenges to employers, according to Colvin, and training is imperative. “Pensions is not the priority for employers,” he said.

Collect your data every month

While pensions administration may not feature prominently in the concerns of some employers, some experts have observed that scheme administration has also been disregarded by schemes.

Ian Colvin emphasised the importance of adequate resourcing for administration. Changes cannot be “just a plan on paper, you’ve actually got to put people on the ground and make sure you make this happen”.

The SYPA’s annual report indicates that its administrative cost per member stands at £15.40 as of November 1 2017, below the national benchmarking average of £20.14.

Chris Roberts, trustee representative at Dalriada Trustees, said that securing data in a timely manner is crucial to helping schemes understand their assets, liabilities and investments in the run-up to their valuations.

“Fifteen years ago, you got a pretty hard shock each time they came… but there’s not really an excuse for that now,” he said, owing to the availability of monthly data collection.