The Shropshire Council Pensions Board met on Friday 11 September 2026 to review administration and regulatory updates, and to discuss governance matters. The meeting also included a review of the fund's workforce strategy and updates on various projects, including the implementation of pension dashboards.

Administration and Regulatory Updates

The Board was scheduled to receive an update on the administration performance of the Shropshire County Pension Fund. This included a review of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the period April to June 2026, with a focus on areas that had not met the target of 95% of cases completed within statutory timescales. Actions being taken to address these underperforming areas were to be discussed. The report also detailed progress on key activities from the Fund's business plan, such as the Pension Dashboards rollout, Annual Benefit Statements, the McCloud remedy work¹, and Access and Fairness changes.

Vicky Jenks, Pensions Administration Manager, was responsible for this report. The report highlighted that 11 out of 14 KPIs had achieved the target of at least 95% completion within legal timeframes. Improvements were noted in the processing of transfer tasks and early leaver cases. The report also detailed the ongoing work related to the equalisation of partner benefits and the removal of the age 75 death grant cap, as well as the resources needed for new governance requirements from the Fit for the Future legislation.

Communication statistics for the helpdesk team were presented, showing the volume of calls, emails, and online interactions. The report noted that Penny the Pensions Bot continued to support members, though its accuracy levels had not improved, with issues often stemming from questions lacking specificity. A more sophisticated bot was planned for implementation with the fund's website update in early 2027. The report also covered employer performance regarding contribution payments and data submissions, noting that changes in payroll providers had impacted data quality and reconciliation.

Project updates were provided, including progress on the Pension Dashboards implementation, which involved reviewing how queries would be handled and the necessary timescales for responses. The team had also completed the year-end reconciliation of data and contributions, and Annual Benefit Statements had been issued to both active and deferred members. The report detailed the ongoing work to address the Age Discrimination remedy (McCloud), with some outstanding cases requiring recalculation due to outstanding guidance.

Governance Update

A report on governance provided an update on regulatory breaches recorded between April and June 2026. It was noted that most breaches concerned late data submissions or late payment of contributions from scheme employers. The report highlighted that changes in payroll providers had a significant impact on data quality and the time taken to receive data, leading to increased workload for the team. No breaches were recorded for the fund itself, the Pension Committee, or the Pension Board during this period.

The report also detailed the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP), confirming that no stage one appeals had been received during the reporting period.

A new Workforce Strategy for 2026-2029 was presented, outlining how the Shropshire County Pension Fund would ensure it had the capacity, capability, and resilience to meet its objectives. The strategy addresses challenges such as recruitment and retention of skilled practitioners, loss of corporate knowledge, and skills gaps due to legislative changes. It proposes actions related to workforce planning, pay and grading, learning and development, and succession planning.

The report also detailed the extensive work required to meet the new governance requirements stemming from the Fit for the Future legislative changes. These include the appointment of an LGPS Senior Officer, updating the constitution and governance arrangements, appointing an Independent Person, undertaking Independent Governance Reviews, developing a Governance Strategy, and establishing training and knowledge requirements. The report outlined a phased implementation plan for these changes, with key actions to be completed by the end of December 2026 and further policy updates by March 2027.

Pensions Committee Reports and Feedback

Board members were scheduled to raise any questions following the recent Pensions Committee meeting held on 19 June 2026. The reports considered by the Pensions Committee at that meeting were made available for reference.