Wandsworth’s pension fund board has asked officers for improvement plans to fix delays in transferring funds to members – but has set no deadline nor established monthly monitoring.
Board members met on 9 February, five days after Putney.news revealed officers had called 29% performance “excellent” in written papers. Officers acknowledged the failures and explained them as consequences of court-ordered pension reforms requiring manual calculations as well as increased anti-scam checks.
When put against its own target of 98%, the pension fund’s 29% performance exposed a serious problem at the heart of the scheme: one that was not mentioned in board papers but was instead hidden inside a table in the appendix.
In response, the board asked for interim recovery targets showing progress over two to three years rather than measuring against a 98% national standard the fund cannot meet. Board members did not ask however how long residents are waiting, how many complaints have been received, or whether people stuck in delays know this is a systemic problem.
This means residents trying to transfer their pensions still do not know when the service will improve. Between July and December 2025, the fund processed 479 transfer cases. Nearly half experienced delays beyond the target timescale. Performance worsened over that period, with success rates collapsing from 55% to just 29%.
The council livestreamed the meeting, which is the first Local Pension Board session visible in the webcast archive going back a year.
Outdated software causing backlogs
Carrie Abudofour, a pension administration officer, told board members the team is working through backlogs. “I think that represents the fact that we are…fully staffed on that team now and the team are working through backlogs and so there will be a higher number of failures in those categories while we continue to catch up with where we should be.”
Abudofour identified court-ordered pension reforms as the main cause. The McLeod remedy requires recalculating all member benefits back to 2014 to fix age discrimination. Every pension transfer now needs these complex calculations, but software systems have not been updated to handle them automatically – forcing pension officers to work out each case manually on spreadsheets.
“The software hasn’t kept pace with the changes in regulations so for transfers in particular the team have had to do a lot of manual calculations,” Abudofour explained.
The Pensions Regulator now requires schemes to verify every transfer is going to a registered scheme, check members are not being scammed, and ensure those transferring large sums have taken financial advice.
Other factors included staffing challenges requiring years to train replacement staff and the complication that any changes require agreement with Richmond, which shares the pension service.
Board chair Richard Perry challenged whether the current 98% target was realistic during a recovery period. “Is it perhaps a temporary situation that the target level of 98% is unrealistic, or is it the view that you and the team believe that you can get up to that level within the next 12 months or so?”
He proposed interim targets showing improvement trajectory. “I don’t think it’s fair that you’ve got 98% there if it’s not something that realistically can be achieved in the next year or two. But if we can see gains being made so that we get to that point, I’m more relaxed if that target level is lower in future submissions, and then we can see it increasing over the next two, three years.”
Other board members supported the proposal.
Loose enforcement
National regulators published guidance in March 2024 requiring standardised performance measurement, but Wandsworth did not begin tracking actual transfer completion times until July 2025: a 16-month delay implementing transparency requirements.
When officers finally reported the data in February 2026 papers, they characterised performance as showing “an excellent standard is maintained” and claimed service standards were “consistent with previous years achievements.” But the new measure that covers how long it takes people to actually move their money showing figures ranging from 55% to 29% against the 98% target.
Putney.news revealed the disconnect and the buried data on 4 February.
Officers have committed to return with improvement plans and to review whether interim targets would be more appropriate (likely 75%) than the 98% national standard. But with no deadline set and no monthly monitoring mechanism established, residents experiencing delays today have no clear timeline for when service will improve.
Pension members will likely be waiting years for the fund to work its way back to acceptable standards. What they don’t know is how long their individual cases will take, whether anyone is monitoring progress, or what happens if the promised improvement plans never materialise.
What you can do
If you’re experiencing delays with your Wandsworth Council pension transfer or concerned about your pension administration:
Monitor your transfer: Ask Pensions Shared Service (020 8871 6594, pensions@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk) for updates every 4-6 weeks. Request specific timeline information and completion dates in writing.
Complain if delayed: If your transfer is taking longer than seems reasonable (the council won’t disclose the target timeframe), submit a formal complaint to the Pensions Shared Service. Escalate to the Pensions Ombudsman if unsatisfied.
Access your data: You can request information about your specific case through Subject Access Request under GDPR. Ask for all communications, processing dates, and any internal notes about delays affecting your transfer.
Report serious concerns: Contact The Pensions Regulator if you believe there are serious governance failures. The Scheme Advisory Board also accepts concerns about LGPS administration standards.
