By Michael Burton, Governance, Administration and Projects Consultant, Hymans Robertson
For members who left active service some time ago, there may be changes you don’t know about. For example, names and addresses are the most common. However, you might also see fundamental data like a National Insurance number change if you were only ever given a temporary one for the records. If you think you might decide to widen the scope of the matching data you use in the future, then that’s larger tranches of data you’ll need to cleanse But, that’s not all.
Post connection
After the connection date, the next big event will be when the dashboard goes live. Yes, the government have confirmed there will be at least 6 months’ notice, but time flies in the world of pension scheme governance and administration. And, there are questions to consider. What happens when the dashboard system opens to the general public? There will doubtlessly be a wave of publicity from the government, and other relevant bodies, as we approach the “go-live” date and the public will be very much aware of what’s coming. The unknown is how many people will try it: will there be a surge of people checking it out, followed by a period of stabilisation? Or will it take time to build momentum?
Lessons can be sought from the experiences of other countries which already have a dashboard in place. In Denmark for example, usage was consistently low in the first seven to eight years of its existence before a rapid increase. In the Netherlands, the age group most likely to use the dashboard are those who - perhaps unsurprisingly - are approaching retirement. However, there are important caveats. The Danish dashboard is over 20 years old, and the Dutch model was first introduced over a decade ago. Use of technology has changed since then. Most people are now used to intuitive banking apps, great user experiences and a barrel-load of data available at the push of a button – very different to the populations of 20+ years ago.
Dashboards usage
We know that the dashboard itself won’t hold member data. It'll make a request of LGPS Funds to make information available. Timescales to respond will be tight. What if the dashboard go-live triggers large numbers of people requesting information? Are your processes scalable to meet increased volumes of requests? Are you able to field a substantial upturn in direct contact, either by email or telephone? Do you have contingency plans to safeguard BAU work? When it comes to dashboard usage, and the connected strain on already challenged administrator resource, Funds will need to ensure they have planned for a variety of scenarios.
Everyone is busy. McCloud, Fit for the Future, Valuations and the expected introduction of New Fair Deal in local government are all important pieces of work demanding officer attention, to name but a few. It’s easy to think of dashboards as tomorrow’s problem in the face of challenges today. But proper planning is key. Change can come swiftly in the LGPS so it’s best to be prepared – whatever the immediate future may hold.
Looking forward
It’s never too soon to start asking the more challenging questions:
How do our members currently contact us and could we effectively deal with an uplift, say of 10%?
How many existing contacts or requests are challenging or technical questions and how might we deal with those going up too?
If there is as upturn in BAU activity, such as transfers, how might we handle this without KPIs suffering?
These are all things Local Pension Boards and Committees are likely to take an interest in. It would be prudent to be prepared for when these questions get asked. The sooner you can do so the better.
Our LGPS team, wider colleagues and industry experts have been sharing our thoughts on the pensions dashboards for a while now. Please feel free to explore our earlier thinking below or please do get in touch if you’d like to discuss what it means for you.
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