The Harrow Pension Board met on Thursday 22 October 2026 to scrutinise the council's pension fund administration.
The meeting heard that the administration team had seen a nearly 25% increase in efficiency in the quarter ending September 2026. This improvement was attributed to the recruitment of two permanent staff members and the internal filling of another post, although two vacancies still remain. The number of tasks has reduced by 18% since the last quarter, and KPI target completion has improved by nearly 25 percentage points. Despite these efficiency gains, the number of complaints has risen, primarily due to delayed responses.
The root cause of the delayed responses, which accounted for three out of four complaints, was the administration team being understaffed. This has led to late responses and apologies, with remedial work acknowledged for three over-delayed cases. 
A significant breach concerning Annual Benefit Statements (ABS) was also reported. The ABS were required to include specific member-specific details regarding the McCloud remedy, reflecting retrospective amendments to members' pensions and updated active records. Instead, only generic information was provided, as the deadline for these updates was not met. This breach has been reported to the Pensions Regulator, though no feedback or guidance has been received yet.
External support is being sought to address the backlog related to the ABS and the McCloud remedy, with a target completion date of 31 March 2027. The specific provider of this external support has not yet been identified.
Concerns were also raised about potential historical data issues emerging as the McCloud remedy work progresses. Initial reports have identified approximately 2,000 individuals who are potentially affected by these issues, requiring their service records to be reviewed. 
The meeting agenda and related documents can be found in the Public reports pack Thursday 22-Oct-2026 18.30 Pension Board.