Sharing our performance - August 2018

We are continuing to experience delays in the payment of first awards. We have a recovery plan in place now that includes a number of assumptions and gives us incremental improvements. We are still working to firm up a forecasted recovery date which will be shared in our next update on 14 September. The current position is shown below:

Total awards processed 16 August to 24 August = 1252

First awards waiting to process

End of July

Position

17 August

Current Position

17/07/18 – 22/07/18

788

297

23/07/18 – 29/07/18

659

410

133

30/07/18 – 05/08/18

N/A

520

353

06/08/18 – 12/08/18

N/A

624

431

13/08/18 – 15/08/18

N/A

310

16/08/18 (Peak Day)

N/A

690

17/08/18 – 19/08/18

N/A

317

20/08/18 – 26/08/18

N/A

618

e have 11,500 Pension applications currently on hand of which approximately 2,000 are classed as late claims. The current position means that whilst some cases are being dealt with on time, the majority are likely to be delayed by up to 21 days. Interest will be paid to members where the 30 day target is missed.

We are currently working on a tool that will enable employers and members to look up their estimated process time. More information will follow on this as we progress with the development.

The volume of calls coming into the Contact Centre has decreased and we have seen an improvement in wait time over the last couple of weeks across all four lines. We have updated messages on the lines to keep people informed.

Recovery plan – Current activities

Resources continued to be focused on first awards.
Additional hours are being worked to maximise daily clearance.
Reviews are taking place to ensure that processes are as efficient as possible to reduce waste.
Implemented process changes that have increased productivity across system awards. Ten new Pensions Administrators starting in September.
30 new staff have been trained in the Contact Centre.
Cross skilling of awards staff to further increase their knowledge on various processes.
A fast track process for members suffering hardship has been implemented from the Contact Centre.
An employer checklist is to be created to assist employers when submitting an AW8 to reduce the need for us to contact you later.

We will continue to provide updates on a fortnightly basis. Thank you for your continued support and patience.

AW8 POL Validations

We brought Pensions Online (POL) down at very short notice between 1pm – 5pm Friday 31 August to implement some system fixes and enhancements. Some of the deliverables that employers will have seen from this release are as follows:

Improved some validation to the POL AW8 to help employers when they submit the form.
Implementation of an enhancement to the E Form ADP4 to provide employers with more information on their members to include special class/MHO status/TV In etc. This was a successful output from the SID Board.

For members who have membership in one single section/scheme only, pre-existing POL validations have been switched on. The payable date of benefits will also be pre populated with the day after the members last day of service.

For members who have membership in more than one section/scheme, the warning message shown below will be produced asking that the eligibility and payable date is checked at submission.

Please ensure that you have read the AW8 POL Guide and are up to date with when retirement applications forms can be submitted online and when supplementary sheets should be completed.