Innovation and developments in the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) were on show at a cross-departmental Innovation Day.
Our session was one of several held by different teams such as:
- planning and running a hackathon
- an insights engine and use of natural language processing
- AI and ethics (panel discussion)
It was a unique opportunity for GAD as we demonstrated the Remedy Benefits Illustrator to other Civil Service colleagues.
Provides insights
GAD developed this online tool that provides benefits insights information to public service pension scheme members.
The calculator helps people understand their pensions more clearly especially following the McCloud legal ruling which gives some members a choice between 2 benefit types.
Innovation and assumptions
The calculator empowers members to understand which scheme might be better for them under a range of assumptions. It illustrates what people could get at their chosen retirement age for both options.
The platform takes pay rises and working patterns into account and empowers them to understand options. These can include retirement at different ages or exchanging pension for a cash lump sum. This then helps people make informed decisions.
Simplies information
GAD's Head of Development, Dipak Hirani, was one of the driving forces behind the Remedy Benefits Illustrator. At the event, GAD's achievement in developing the platform was recognised by Megan Lee-Devlin, CEO of the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO).
Megan Lee-Devlin, CDDO and Dipak Hirani, GAD
Dipak said: "We developed this online tool using programming tools such as JavaScript and Python. This has meant we've been able to create an interface that simplifies the information and offers users the chance to explore options."
