ACABQ voices serious concerns regarding Fund performance, 3 December 2016

STATEMENTS MADE DURING THE 71ST SESSION OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE

Note: Important to read the full statement of the Director of External Audit. (LINK BELOW; report symbol is A/71/5, Vol. 1)

Read in full other statements as well LINK TO FULL STATEMENTS BELOW).

SOME STATEMENT HIGHLIGHTS: A total of nine temporary positions should be sufficient to address the additional workload; there is insufficient justification for the creation of two P- 5 positions, including the Senior Communications Officer; in 2015 the Fund did not meet its long-term target of an annualized real rate of return of 3.5 per cent; reiterates its concern regarding the high number of vacant posts; seriously concerned about continued investment underperformance; seriously concerned about the effect of vacant posts on investment underperformance; emphasize strengthening internal control and oversight and “strongly discourages any attempt to create a separate entity or use he external consultants in this regard”; serious concern about the backlog in pension payments and request additional information on provisional payments; look forward to the OIOS audit and results of the end-to-end review, and trust there will be lessons learned by the Fund; create a mechanism for more frequent review of underperforming securities; “establish the client query and complaint redressal system structures as recommended by the Board, and ensure and ensure that the quality of the customer service provided is monitored and adjusted as needed;" in the absence of approved guidelines for the selection of external managers, the Fund may "miss the opportunity to hire better external managers and to negotiate more favourable terms and condition."

ACABQ report highlights Fund shortcomings on the backlog and investment performance, 3 December 2016

REPORT AND EXCERPTS FROM ACABQ REPORT: “United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund”:

Report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, A/71/621, 18 November 2016

NOTE: READ THE FULL REPORT (LINK BELOW)

SOME HIGHLIGHTS: Fund should have undertaken end-to-end review (regarding backlog in pension payments) earlier; increase in the number of separations and associated claims could have been anticipated; insufficient justification for approval of a Senior Communications Officer (P5); Fund should expeditiously fill vacant posts; deficit trend will return if investment performance does not achieve or exceed 3.5 per cent real rate of return and Fund must make efforts to meet this objective; corrective measures to be taken on IPAs implementation; Fund must fill or rejustify high number of vacant posts; Fund must report regularly on social and environmental investments of the Fund; SG report to provide information on the performance of the Representative of the Secretary-General (head of IMD); recommendations of the Board of Auditors are unimplemented or ‘in progress’; the Fund must implement all recommendations of the Board of Auditors expeditiously.

Questions for the CEO, Sergio Arvizu, at the UNJSPF Town Hall meeting, 9 December 2016 (27 November 2016)

Attend the UNJSPF Town Hall meeting at UN HQ New York, on Friday, 9 December (details below) prepared to ask questions about the audit by the Office of Internal Oversight Services into the unprecedented and protracted backlog in pension payments, and many more. 

UN Pension Blog received a UN Intranet message on 25 November 2016 stating that the Pension Fund will hold a town hall meeting on Friday, 9 December 2016 (details below).

Please attend prepared to ask  questions, including those contained in an open letter addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of the UNJSPF, Sergio Arvizu, dated 21 December 2016 titled “Human suffering and the backlog in pension payments”.

http://unpension.blogspot.com/2016/11/open-letter-to-sergio-arvizu-ceo-un.html

Questions for the Senior Communications Officer, UN Pension Fund, November 17, 2016

November 17, 2016

Dear Mr. Woodyear,

This is in reference to your almost 1,500-word (1,493) post on FCUNS yesterday. Perhaps you could, as Senior Communications Officer of the UNJSPF, and as part of your job to “promote clear, easy to understand information to participants and beneficiaries of the Fund” provide answers to the following questions, most, if not all, related to issues you raise in your statement.

Backlog in pension payments

1. A recent iSeek report noted that as of 1 October 2016, there are 674 ‘actionable’ cases of new initial separations pending processing by the Fund. How many other cases are awaiting processing, i.e., "pending receipt of additional information from organizations and/or the separated staff members, as well as a number of deferred pensions (through choice), special cases (such as survivor benefits, child benefits), recalculation cases"?

Open letter to Sergio Arvizu, CEO, UN Joint Staff Pension Fund, Human suffering and the backlog in pension payments, November 21, 2016

21 November 2016

Dear Mr. Arvizu,

Subject: Human suffering and the backlog in pension payments; the UN deserves better than this

I would like to highlight the concern that I believe motivates many retirees and no doubt UN staff federation representatives, while I do not presume to speak for either group, about one of the seemingly overlooked issues related to the Fund, i.e, the human reality behind the payment backlog.

Many of us have concerns when we read newsletters and other reports about Fund activities, about whether sufficient priority is given to addressing the plight of suffering new retirees, separated staff and survivors behind ‘non-actionable’ cases, where some have lost their houses, where others have died while waiting, where vulnerable widows and orphans continue to wait in vain.

The United Nations is an organization based on “human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person.” Yet, there are currently vast numbers of former staff and their families and survivors, who are enduring untold suffering, many for more than a year, because of delays in receiving their pension and separation payments to which they are entitled by dint of their toil, and in many cases, by dint of their blood, for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the performance of their duties.

PLEASE NOTE: THE VENUE FOR THE NOT-THE-AFICS LUNCHEON HAS CHANGED. RESERVATIONS ARE CLOSED. IF YOU'VE ALREADY RESERVED A SPACE AND HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN EMAIL WITH THE NEW INFORMATION, PLEASE EMAIL  UNPENSIONBLOG.INFO@GMAIL.COM.  

Dear AFICS/NY members,

You’ve recently received an invitation from AFICS/NY (Association of Former International Civil Servants of the United Nations) to a fall luncheon at 12.30 pm on Tuesday, 15 November 2016, at Al Bustan Restaurant.

Lowell Flanders and I invite you to attend a ‘Not-the-AFICS Luncheon’ at the same time and on the same date, at the UN Delegates Dining Room, where we propose to discuss ways to advance our efforts to move AFICS/NY toward more inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability toward its dues-paying membership.

UN Special: Problems continue at the UN Pension Fund, 8 November 2016

Loraine Rickard-Martin

In the spring we briefed you on trouble at the top of the pension fund. Over a tumultuous summer, matters only got worse.

“There’s a huge problem of competence in the functioning of the Fund and Board. We must stop pretending it is fine. When someone fails they should not be rated as successful, when people are not paid we should not pretend things are fine.”
Egor Ovtcharenko, CCISUA Vice President, Conditions of Service.

From a New York perspective, the annual Pension board meeting taking place in Vienna last July seemed to unfold in an amped up atmosphere of outreach and transparency. During the week-long meeting, the Fund’s new Chief Communications Officer (COO) posted almost daily updates on a Facebook page for former and current UN staff members, with spirited exchanges taking place from time to time. A communiqué from the Board at the end of the week provided assurances that “the Fund is safe and its future is secure” and it is “able to meet its pension and benefit payment obligations over the long term.” The reassurances were welcome, although the current health of the Fund has never been in doubt. Rather, the issue has been on ensuring its continued health for current and future generations of UN retirees.

READ MORE HERE:https://www.unspecial.org/2016/11/problems-continue-at-the-pension-fund/