Redbridge Council's Pension Team will stop sending annual benefit statements via post, in line with the council's digital programme and to save costs. Currently, 21.27% of pension scheme members use Member Self Service (MSS), with the highest uptake among active members (26.05%) and pensioner members (24.00%).

The decision was made as part of a broader effort to encourage scheme members to use Member Self Service (MSS) and the upcoming Engage portal. The council is migrating from MSS to Engage in December 2025, with MSS being replaced in January 2026.

According to the Pension Administration Quarterly Update Report, the pension administration team produced the greatest number of annual benefit statements for both deferred and active members this year. During the process, the team identified approximately 700 members with a gone away indicator and will undertake a trace operation for those members to ensure they receive their pension information.

The pension administration function is responsible for the calculation and payment of pensions and benefits, the collection of contributions, providing information on pension issues and maintaining pension records in accordance with regulatory requirements. The function is delivered by a team, including Maureen S Jones, Pensions Manager, a newly-created deputy manager post and a technical officer post. The team are currently working in a hybrid way.

The council monitors the performance of the administration team against a number of performance indicators on a monthly basis. According to the Performance Indicators, the team met their targets for three targets: PEN01, PEN02, and PEN04, from April 2025 to June 2025.

The specific targets associated with these performance indicators are:

  • PEN01: New Member - Sending out confirmation that they have been admitted to the pensions scheme within 20 working days of the end of the month (Target: 100%)
  • PEN02: Deferred Members - Calculating deferred pension benefits and notifying members of their rights upon termination of pensionable employment within 60%.
  • PEN04: Active Transfers - Sending out a statutory notification following a change to pensionable status within 20 working days of the end of the month in which the change takes effect or notification by the Employer (Target: 100%).

The team continues to work closely with the council's Corporate Fraud Team, and there have been no new cases of significant overpayment of pensions identified.

Work is ongoing to identify members in scope and those who need the remedy applied in relation to the McCloud judgement. The final pensions data was loaded on the actuary's data portal at the beginning of October for the 2025 fund valuation.