The Board discussed a range of topics, including the McCloud remedy, the Matthews remedy, the annual benefit statements, the Guaranteed Minimum Pension rectification, and cybersecurity. The Board agreed to close actions relating to pension scams, the longest failure to meet an estimate target, and the 10% pensionable allowance. It was also agreed to include an update on the progress of the annual benefit statements for 24/25 in a future Scheme Manager Update Report and to circulate the log of exceptions with Board members for consideration at a future meeting.

McCloud Remedy

The Board discussed the McCloud remedy, noting that any retirements since 01 October 2023 had been paid remedy benefits and those who retired before then would be dealt with under the immediate choice cohort. However, there was currently a hold on processing these, as the Home Office was considering the tax implications.

Councillor Glyn Parry-Jones requested a report on the progress against the plans for those who retired pre-October, to which Scheme Manager Sally Wilson agreed. Mr Parry-Jones also raised concerns about members retiring before the legislation came into force having to wait to have their pension increased:

Members are feeling frustrated for the delay in receiving their 1992 benefits. Further delays are to be expected as the member has to wait for their Remedial Service Statement to be sent in due course. ¹

This is the description of a risk that is contained in the Surrey Fire and Rescue - McCloud Risk Register January 2024. Risks are assessed by councils to help them understand and mitigate the risks of their activities.

There were also concerns about the length of time it was taking to complete the calculations for Surrey and the impact of this on member confidence, when compared to other Fire and Rescue services, where fewer members were affected.

Councillor Nick Harrison stated the importance of good communication, to which Pensions Project Officer Jeanine May suggested using the Service newsletter to answer common questions and share information. It was agreed that a meeting would be scheduled with members of the Board to discuss a communications strategy to ensure that scheme members were aware of details related to the implementation of McCloud and when pension payments would be made.

Annual Benefit Statements

The Board discussed the Annual Benefit Statements, noting that the statements had not yet been published due to issues extracting the correct pay data following the implementation of the Unit 4 system. The year-end data had now been submitted to XPS on 14 January 2024. The representative from XPS, Graham Hall, confirmed that the statements were expected to be online by close of business on 09 February 2024.

Councillor Harrison noted that there had been a delay in the publication of the statements, partly due to issues with the Unit 4 system, and asked whether there were any concerns that the Annual Benefit Statements would not be published on time next year. Ms May confirmed that the payroll team were aware of the issues and were due to test the migration of data from SAP to Unit 4.

Councillor Harrison also asked whether a record of exceptions was available, to which Ms Wilson confirmed a log was recorded and agreed to share this at a future meeting.

Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) Rectification

The Board noted that they were still awaiting a final update from XPS on the GMP reconciliation exercise. Mr Hall confirmed that a report had been received from Mercer, who are the actuaries for the scheme, and XPS were due to meet with them to discuss this.

Cybersecurity

Mr Hall highlighted the importance of cybersecurity, particularly in light of recent high-profile data breaches, noting that:

We now have a specific member ID, which goes out on all members' documentation now, which is one of the pieces of information we ask for.

He also confirmed that XPS would forward a copy of their recently published cybersecurity document to the Board.

Matthews Remedy

The Board discussed the Matthews Remedy, noting that a basic unit price had been received for the tracing service and that XPS were awaiting confirmation of the scheme members that needed to be covered. Councillor Harrison noted that this action had been ongoing for some time and stated that it was important that progress was made.

The Board also discussed the Matthews Second Options exercise, which opened in October 2023. The first phase of the GAD calculator had been released for FRAs to use, with the second phase due to be released in early 2024.