Survey was sent to LGPS administering authorities across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Question 1 – Administrating Authority details

73 Responses were received from;

 

Question 2 – What percentage of your administration staff are currently working from home?

The responses to questions 2 to 4 have been grouped into bands of 10%. So for example, the chart below shows that 2.9% of responses were that less than 30% of staff were working from home, and that 79.71% of responses were that over 90% of staff were working from home.

Administration staff currently WFH chart

Administration staff currently working from home (grouped by %) %
0-29% 2.9%
30-79% 4.35%
80-89% 13.04%
90-100% 79.71%

Question 3 - What percentage of your administration staff do you expect to be working in the office by the end of 2020?

Administration staff expected to be WFO chart

Administration staff expected to be WFO (count) chart

Administration staff expected to be working from office (grouped by %) by the end of 2020 %
0-9% 21.74%
10-19% 8.70%
20-29% 17.39%
30-39% 7.25%
40-49% 8.7%
50-59% 15.94%
60-69% 1.45%
70-79% 5.8%
80-89% 7.25%
90-100% 5.8%

Question 4 - What percentage of your administration staff do you expect to be working in the office in the long term?

administration staff expected WFO long term

administration staff expected WFO long term count

Administration staff expected to be working from office (grouped by %) long term %
0-9% 5.80%
10-19% 1.45%
20-29% 10.14%
30-39% 4.35%
40-49% 7.25%
50-59% 30.43%
60-69% 7.25%
70-79% 11.59%
80-89% 8.70%
90-100% 13.04%

Question 5 - What plans have you made for future working arrangements?

plans for future arrangements

Plans for future arrangements %
To return to office-based working 12.82
To offer a more flexible working environment 53.85
Not sure yet 33.33
Other - please specify 7.69

There were a number of comments on future working arrangements, these included that core functions and processes continue to be performed in the office and that office working was available on a rota basis or with compressed hours. Other comments were that policy was being led by the authority; that flexible working was already offered and expansion of this was expected. It was also stated that plans were not fixed and it was too early to predict a return to the office.

Question 6. How confident are you that you can continue to pay existing pensioners?

confidence paying existing pensioners

Confidence in paying existing pensioners %
Very confident April 84%
Very confident July 96%
Somewhat confident April 16%
Somewhat confident July 4%
Not so/at all confident April 0%
Not so/at all confident July 0%

General comments indicated that the current payroll process was resilient and there were no issues with pensioner payments. However, whilst there was confidence that pension funds will continue to be able to pay existing members in the short term, the additional work which will arise as a result of McCloud, the £95k exit cap and the cost cap mechanism pose a very material risk in the medium term.

Question 7 - How confident are you that you can calculate and process new retirements and benefits within your usual performance standards?

confidence processing new retirements and benefits

Confidence in processing new retirements and benefits %
Very confident April 43%
Very confident July 81%
Somewhat confident April 51%
Somewhat confident July 17%
Not so confident April 6%
Not so confident July 3%
Not at all confident April 0%
Not at all confident July 0%

Question 8 - How confident are you that you can process other work within your usual performance standards e.g. deferred benefits, transfers etc?

confidence other work within performance standards

Confidence in processing other work within performance standards %
Very confident 44.16%
Somewhat confident 42.86%
Not so confident 11.69%
Not at all confident 1.30%

The issues and risks identified in the comments were:

Question 9 - Have any of your employers contacted you to let you know they may not be able to pay contributions?


employers communicating contribution difficulties

Employers communicating contribution difficulties %
Yes April 25%
No April 75%
Yes July 26%
No July 74%

Question 10 - If you answered 'Yes' to Q9, please let us know how many employers, which sector the organisation is in and provide any other relevant information.

Where answered ‘yes’ the sectors highlighted were charities, leisure facilities, colleges, museums, theatres, transport and recreation sector employers and private companies. This contact was reported as being broadly in the form of general enquiries or discussion and very few appeared to be deferring payment, and in those cases where agreed, the deferral period was short-term and within the scheme year.

Question 11 - Are you aware of any employers who are exiting the Scheme (or are at risk of exiting) and that exit is linked to the current COVID-19 situation?


employers at risk

Employers at risk %
Yes April 5%
No April 95%
Yes July 7.79%
No July 92.21%

Question 12 - If you answered 'Yes' to Q11, please provide as much information as possible, even if this is just the sector of the organisation(s) concerned.

Where answered ‘yes’ the employers were:

Question 13 - What arrangements have been put in place for pension committee meetings due to take place during the lockdown period?

arrangements for pension committees

Arrangements for pension committees %
July - Cancelled or postponed 15.79%
July - Held virtually 76.32%
July - Other 7.89%
May - Held virtually 27%
May - Planning to hold virtually 61%
May - Other 12%

Question 14 - What arrangements have been put in place for local pension board meetings due to take place during the lockdown period?

arrangements_for_local_pension_boards

Arrangements for Local Boards %
Cancelled or postponed to a later date 22.37%
Held virtually 69.74%
Other 7.89%

Question 15 - If you have held virtual meetings, do you think you will continue with this format when face to face meetings are possible?

(If the virtual meeting regulations are extended in the case of pension committees)


continuance_virtual_meetings

Confident of sufficient resources %
Very confident 61.67%
Somewhat confident 35.00%
Not so confident 1.67%
Not at all confident 1.67%

Comments on the virtual meeting format when face-to-face meetings become possible included:

Question 16 - How confident are you that going forwards you will have sufficient resources to administer the Scheme to the same levels you achieved before COVID-19?


confidence_in_resources

Confidence in future resources %
Very confident 60.29%
Somewhat confident 35.29%
Not so confident 2.94%
Not at all confident 1.47%

The issues and risks identified in the comments were similar to those from question 8:

Question 17 - Do you have any concerns in the following areas?

Please tick all that apply


areas_of_concern

Areas of concern %
Recruitment 45.45%
Training 60.61%
Performance 36.36%
Budget 12.12%
Office accommodation 34.85%
Staff wellbeing 60.61%
Service development projects 30.30%
New national requirements e.g. McCloud, cost cap, £95k exit cap, Pensions dashboards etc 87.88%

The main areas of concern commented on were national requirements (McCloud), training and recruitment, staff wellbeing and accommodation:

Amongst the concerns were also examples of confidence in authorities and pension teams’ capability, adaptability and resolve:

Question 18 - Do you anticipate any cash flow issues for 2020/21?

Anticipated cash flow issues %
Yes 0.00%
No 91.67%
Possibly 8.33%

There were several comments on cash flow including:

Question 19 - Please let us know about any other pension issues that you face as a result of COVID-19 that we have not covered in this survey

A summary of the issues raised is given below:

The more positive comments were as follows:

Produced 06.10.2020

This survey was conducted on behalf of the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board (England and Wales) and the Local Government Pensions Committee of the LGA. These survey results are copyright © LGA and cannot be reproduced in whole or part without permission.

For further information members of the press should contact the Scheme Advisory Board Secretary [email protected]

Please visit the Regulations website, http://lgpsregs.org, for Further Covid-19 news and information for LGPS administering authorities.


Thank you to all of you that took the time to complete our LGPS resilience and cash flow surveys – we had a great response and your input has helped us raise the important issues with Government and TPR and tailor the support and guidance we provide to you.

We would now like to hear from you on how the current situation is impacting the governance of the LGPS. Please complete the LGPS COVID-19 Governance survey – it should take around 5-10 minutes to complete. Please submit only one response per administering authority


A survey of administering authorities in England & Wales and Scotland in relation to cash flow shows a small minority who are anticipating issues due to loss of dividend income or delayed employer contributions. The survey took place between 1st and 14th April and had a response rate of over 80%. the Board would like to thank all those who responded so promptly. A number of related issues were included in survey responses which have been raised with the new SAB practitioner advisory group and/or government and will be reflected in forthcoming amendments or additions to the FAQ page on lgpsregs.co.uk. Please use the link below to access the survey summary.

Survey Summary - pdf, 3 pages, 139kb


A survey of administering authorities in England & Wales and Scotland between 24th March and 6th April had a response rate of nearly 80% and the results show a high level of confidence in the ability to continue to pay more than 1.5 million LGPS pensioners, a minority of employers in current difficulties and some concerns around accessing required information for new benefits.

It is to the credit of those authorities that they not only responded so promptly but are able to so effectively respond to the challenges facing them at this time. The survey also asked for ideas for additions to the administrator FAQs and those not already present are under active review. All points raised about regulatory flexibility have been raised with MHCLG and/or TPR. Please use the link below to access the survey summary.

Survey Summary - pdf, 4 pages, 154kb