Transitioning into retirement represents one of the major changes in life. Our customer service assists insureds contemplating their own retirement, as well those for whom pension becomes topical, for instance, on account of disability.
During 2022, we were preparing for the more widespread exploitation of application processing automation and we embarked upon updating our own working methods and work tasks. The transformation process prolonged pension processing times caused occasional ques in customer service and burdened the daily working life of our experts in an unprecedented manner. In the autumn of 2022, the index increase in pensions to be paid, evaluated as being exceptionally high, multiplied the volumes of partial early old-age pension applications as compared to previous years.
We succeeded in the handling of our basic tasks moderately well despite the large volume of pension applications in the autumn and our transformation process. During the year, our experts paid pensions to approximately 39 000 beneficiaries each month and advised a large portion of the entrepreneurs and employees insured by us. We continued to pay out pensions at the correct time and in the correct amounts. The total sum of the pensions and benefits paid amounted to approximately EUR 635 million.
Number of pension recipients
| wdt_ID | Asiakasryhmä | Luvut | (Luvut) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022 | 2021 | |
| 2 | Old-age pension* | 32 208 | 31 364 |
| 3 | Disability pension | 2 419 | 2 543 |
| 4 | Survivor’s pension | 4 158 | 4 056 |
| 5 | Total | 38 785 | 37 965 |
*including part-time pensions and partial early old-age pensions
During the year 2022 (2021 in brackets), we granted 2 802 (2 184) new pensions. 78 percent (72) per cent of the pensions were old-age pensions, 12 (14) per cent disability pensions and 11 (14) per cent survivor’s pensions.
In 2022, the service satisfaction of Veritas’ beneficiaries remained at a solid level. We measure beneficiary satisfaction through NPS surveys conducted after service encounters, and we aim for the results to always be above 50.
Target 1: We focus on customer service
Indicator 1B: Score awarded by beneficiaries on customer service, NPS*
We aim to process pension applications and to issue pension decisions so as to avoid any disruptions in an individual’s livelihood due to retirement. In 2022, pension handling could not be expedited owing to the on-going transformation process. Unfortunately, the average processing period increased and amounted to 29 days (25), i.e., clearly more than our targeted processing time of 22 days. Indeed, the objective for the new year is the significant curtailing of the processing times through finalising the transformation process and establishment of operating methods.
Target 2: We issue pension decisions swiftly and reliably
Indicator 2A: Pension application processing time in days on average
Our objective is for our pension decisions to be lawful, comprehensible and for them to also meet all other criteria set for good decision-making. We are constantly monitoring the decisions made by redress bodies and this allows us to ascertain the lawfulness of our decisions, and to implement modifications to our decision-making policies, where needed. We aim for the percentage of amended decisions to not exceed 15 per cent.