BCH Police Pension Board Wednesday 19th April 2024 Minutes

Part 2 closed confidential. Not for publication under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and in agreement with the Meetings and Minutes Procedure agreed by the Strategic Management Board on 3 March 2009

Attendees

• Jon Lee (JL) - Deputy Chair - CFO and Director of Resources Cambridgeshire
• Stuart Goodwin (SG) - Head of Finance, Bedfordshire
• Julia Knight (JK) - Head of BCH Pension and Payroll
• Superintendent Paul Sandwell (PS) - substitute Superintendents Association BCH representative, Cambridgeshire
• Graeme Hall (GH) - XPS outsourced BCH pension administrators
• Karen Morgan (KM) - Hertfordshire (but not a member)
• Anthony Laud (AL) - NARPO BCH representative, Cambridgeshire
• Sergeant Alan Wollaston (AW) - Police Federation BCH representative, Hertfordshire
• Vanessa Lynch (VL) - BCH Corporate Communications, Hertfordshire
• Rebecca Weston (RW) - ESO, Hertfordshire Executive Support (minutes)

Apologies

• James Cook (JC) - Director of Resources, Hertfordshire
• ACC Genna Telfer (GT) - ACC, CPOSA representative, Cambridgeshire
• Afzal Chowdhury (AC) - Head of Legal Services, Hertfordshire

1.Welcome and apologies

Jon Lee welcomed attendees to the meeting and apologies were noted. It was noted that Jon Lee would be chairing today’s meeting in the absence of James Cook.

2. Approval of minutes and actions – 20 March 2024

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved. Actions were reviewed and the action tracker updated accordingly.

3. Conflict of interest – declaration and registry

No conflicts of interest were raised. 

4. Remedy update

It was noted that the Remedy Update would be covered as part of Item five.

5. XPS update report

Graeme Hall provided an update on the current XPS position and talked through key areas of the update report circulated highlighting the metrics provided in relation to remedy on three key SLA’s relating to provision of estimates, retirement options and retirement payments. It was noted that Lump Sum Payments are in a relatively good position across the three forces however it was acknowledged SLAs in relation to estimates and retirement options are still not where XPS or the three forces would want them to be. Graeme Hall advised that XPS continue to work with Haywards on the system developments and on improving the current position noting that this will be a key area of focus over the next month.

Graeme Hall provided an update in relation to the issue around unauthorised payments on interest for arrears of the pension benefits as part of the immediate choice process. Following an update from HMT on the position, XPS are awaiting a Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) calculator to be able to provide that information. It is currently unknown how long the GAD calculator will take to be delivered and an e-mail went out to all the forces on Friday highlighting the risk to the project timetable, to get this calculated to be able to provide the information to relevant members. XPS have proposed a short-term solution until the GAD calculator is available which involves obtaining GAD data for the protected member cohort from individual forces so they can start sending those out straight away. It was agreed that this was a sensible approach and Julia Knight confirmed the pensions and payroll team are currently working to provide this information to XPS for all three forces.

Julia Knight provided an update on data provision from a tri-force perspective, which was noted to be on track and in a reasonable position. It was noted that in some cases files are being uploaded by XPS to the shared portal with little comms or direction on what is required from the payroll and pensions team. Graeme Hall agreed to raise this with relevant teams to ensure that this is addressed going forward.

Action – Graeme Hall to raise with relevant teams, case files being uploaded to the shared portal with little comms or direction on what is required from the payroll and pensions team.

With regards to benefit statements Graeme Hall advised that discussions are on-going with Haywards and NPCC with regards to the testing timeline for the ABS RSS, which are scheduled to be sent to members on 31^st August 2024. It was noted that the NPCC are producing the RSS, as a national standard and it will be a comprehensive document. Al Wollaston highlighted that the feedback from members is that they struggle to understand the vast majority of the pension documents being sent to them but acknowledged that every personal circumstance is different which adds to the complexities. Al Wollaston advised that the Federations do their best to support members in this regard. Graeme Hall advised that the NPCC are making guidance videos to support members with the remedial service statements and is anticipated that members will become more familiar with them as time goes on. It was agreed it would be beneficial to bring a copy of the annual benefit and remedial service statement to the next meeting for the board’s awareness.

Action – Bex Weston to add an agenda item for the annual benefit and remedial service statement to be presented at the next meeting for the board’s awareness.

Graeme Hall provided an update on BAU activity. It was noted that XPS are in the process of embedding their new team structure, which will include the addition of a new Client Relationship Manager for the three forces. It is anticipated that the new structure will contribute to improvements in the SLAs.

6. Risk register

All medium and high risks were reviewed, and the following was noted:

It was agreed that there will be no change to either of the red rated risks in relation to transitional arrangements for McCloud.

Scheme Manager and Force:

• Risk 14: Medicals to Determine Ill Health Eligibility - following the amendment to Reg 36 that medicals are no longer required for pension purposes it was agreed that this risk would now be closed. Karen Morgan advised that guidance from the Home Office for those currently restricted is still awaited. It was agreed that an issues log would be added to the risk register and this outstanding issue will be added.

One further new issue was raised:

• Scheme Sanction Charge Repayments – it was agreed that a new issue would be added to the log in relation to the repayment of Scheme Sanction Charges to members. Hertfordshire are currently in the process of contacting all affected members however it was noted that Bedfordshire do not have complete records of scheme sanction charges passed on to members during this time period and are currently working this through with support from XPS.

Action – Bex Weston to add an Issues Log to the Risk Register and update with the two new issues raised in relation to Medicals to Determine Ill Health Eligibility for Restricted Members and Scheme Sanction Charge Repayments.

Pension Administrators:

• Risk five: Incorrect Member Data – it was noted that significant progress has been made in this area and all three forces data are now in a good position. It was agreed that this risk would be downgraded from amber to green.

Action – Pension Administration - Risk five: Incorrect Member Data. Julia Knight to amend the scoring and wording to reflect the downgrade from amber to green.

7. Any other business

Stuart Goodwin – Scheme sanction charge. SG signposted the recent comms from Phil Wells as NPCC Pension lead suggesting an interest rate of three % on repayments, which was noted by the board. Karen Morgan advised that Herts are currently drafting comms to affected members and this detail will be included.

Jon Lee - Recording of Telephone Calls into XPS. Jon Lee queried from an information management and data protection perspective, who owns data when active or retired has a recorded conversation with XPS. Graeme Hall confirmed that as a rule recording is not switched on unless forces have specifically requested this. Where forces have requested this functionality be switched on the same rules apply as with all other pension data, that being that XPS are the data processers, and the Scheme Manager is the data controller/owner. Graeme Hall confirmed that this is covered under the existing contract in terms of GDPR provisions. It was agreed that XPS would review whether the functionality is active across the three forces and confirm the position at the next meeting so that so that each force can consider if anything further is needed internally from a GDPR or Data Controller perspective.

Action – XPS to review the position in relation to XPS call recording functionality and whether this is active for each of the three forces and provide an update at the next meeting.

There was nothing further raised.

Date of next meeting: Friday 17 May 2024, 10am to 11.30pm via MS Teams