Pension authorities already have to measure and report their cost of administering the LGPS on a standard basis. The club sticks to this established definition, and the report compares the cost per member in total, and by staff cost, IT and so on. It also highlights specific items such as the payroll cost per retired member.

Secondly, the report compares members’ workloads in terms of the composition of the membership (active, deferred or retired), the numbers of joiners and leavers, and the number of estimates and actual calculations of different types (eg transfers in and out, AVCs, SIB reviews).

Pensions administration is the one financial service where an essentially similar function is provided in the private sector, and where surveys of private sector costs are publicly available. Therefore, we are able to supplement comparisons between members with reliable private sector comparisons.