To note the contents of the report.

Philip Boyton, the Pension Administration Manager, introduced the item. He first highlighted to the Board that the figure for scheme employers yet to be on-boarded to i-Connect was 135 rather than 138 as the report stated. This was because, Volker Highways was split on the pension administration system with two distinct employer codes.

He also stated that there was continued progress with i-Connect, with a remaining 58 scheme employers, which represent circa 2,500 scheme member records, to on-board the i-Connect system in the next 12 months. He added that while Berkshire Pension Fund sought to have all scheme employers with 10 or more scheme members on-boarded to i-Connect by 31st March 2022, there had been some issues with scheme employers, such as some scheme employers stopped engaging with the Berkshire Pension Fund or did not have the functionality within their payroll systems to connect to i-Connect.

Nikki Craig suggested whether continuing to change the future date by when the Pension Fund would have all remaining scheme employers on-boarded onto the i-Connect system was worthwhile given the reasons some scheme employers had not already on-boarded.  Officers agreed but will continue to endeavour to encourage all current and new scheme employers to onboard the i-Connect system.

Alan Cross asked what the largest numbers of members would be involved in the 58 scheme employers, speculating that the high circa 2,500 scheme member records meant that some scheme employers would have a higher number of scheme members. Philip Boyton answered that while the number of scheme members under scheme employers would vary in size; and he added that trust employers had larger numbers of scheme members. He also added the numbers should not be in the thousands.

Jeff Ford sought clarification as to whether employers who were on-boarded onto the scheme were automatically required to sign up to i-Connect and if there was any penalty to employers who did not sign up. On the first point, Philip Boyton said that i-Connect would be one of the first things discussed with employers regarding their options around connectivity; and added that i-Connect was the Pension Fund’s preferred method. On the second point Damien Pantling, Head of the Pension Fund, indicated that a penalty would require legislative backing.

Philip Boyton then moved onto Special Projects, starting with the McCloud Judgement. He stated there was a recent meeting of the Southern Area Pension Officer Group (SAPOG) in regard to the new reforms to local pensions schemes under the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill and how these other pensions funds were dealing with it. Philip Boyton mentioned Buckinghamshire Pension Fund and Hampshire Pension Fund began to collect historical hour and week data from their respective scheme employers with somewhat incomplete responses as well as increasing the size of their administration teams.

When Alan Cross asked if there were discussions at Berkshire Pension Fund on taking a similar route to the other pension funds, Philip Boyton responded there were discussions, but nothing was confirmed; and that the position of the Pension Fund was to wait for the LGPS regulations. Kevin Taylor added that the majority of the SAPOG were following this route as well in waiting for the LGPS regulations. Alan observed that others may have wider reasons for taking on additional staff.

Philip Boyton then moved onto the Pensions Dashboards Programme. He talked about Heywood Pension Technologies, the software provider for the Pension Fund’s pension administration system. Berkshire Pension Fund had agreed to act as a ‘test-site’ for the development and testing of the pension administration system which would ultimately enable the Pension Fund to understand much earlier the work necessary to meet the requirements of Pensions Dashboards and understand how they work and interact with the pension administration system ahead of the LIVE date, of 30th April 2024.

Alan Cross asked if the requirements from the 137-page consultation document on the draft Pensions Dashboards from DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) were okay. Kevin Taylor replied that the areas relevant to the LGPS were okay though most of the document was not relevant the LGPS. He stated that the stage date for Public Service Pension Schemes was 30th April 2024, giving Berkshire Pension Board a couple of years to establish its Pensions Dashboards.