Agenda

To elect a Chair for the duration of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence from any members of the Board.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on Thursday 16 January 2025 as an accurate record.

Disclosure of Interests Members and co-opted Members of the Council are reminded that, in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct and the statutory provisions of the Localism Act 2011, they are required to consider in advance of each meeting whether they have a disclosable pecuniary interest (DPI), some other registrable interest (ORI) or a non-registrable interest (NRI) in relation to any matter on the agenda. If advice is needed, Members should contact the Monitoring Officer in good time before the meeting. If any Member or co-opted Member of the Council identifies a DPI or ORI which they have not already registered on the Council’s register of interests or which requires updating, they must urgently complete the disclosure form which can be obtained from Democratic Services at any time, copies of which will be available at the meeting for return to the Monitoring Officer.

Members and co-opted Members are required in general to disclose any relevant DPIs, ORIs or NRIs at the meeting –

• Where the matter relates to a DPI they may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must not stay in the room unless granted a dispensation.
• Where the matter directly relates to the financial interest or wellbeing of an ORI they may not vote on the matter unless granted a dispensation.
• Where a Member or co-opted Member has an NRI which directly relates to or affects their or a relevant person’s financial interest or wellbeing, whether they can participate in any discussion or vote on the matter or stay in the room depends on the detailed rules in paragraphs 7 of Appendix B of the Members’ Code of Conduct.

The Chair will invite Members to make their disclosure of interests orally at the meeting and they will also be recorded in the minutes.

To receive notice of any business not on the agenda which in the opinion of the Chair, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency.

On 14 November 2024 the Chancellor presented her Mansion House Speech which set out plans to boost growth of the UK economy. Alongside these announcements, the Government published various documents including a Consultation titled ‘Fit for the future’ on Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) reform.

The purpose of this report is to summarise the key issues raised by the Consultation and to advise the Board of the responses to the Consultation made by the Fund, the London CIV and the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board (SAB). The Consultation can be accessed via this link

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-government-pension-scheme-england-and-wales-fit-for-the-future/local-government-pension-scheme-england-and-wales-fit-for-the-future

Officers issued a draft response to the Consultation to members of the Pension Committee and Pension Board on 24 December 2024 and sent the final response (Appendix A) to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on 16 January 2025. The responses of the London CIV and the SAB can be accessed via the hyperlinks in paragraph 4.7 below.

As part of the Consultation all pools were required to submit a report to Government detailing how they intend to deliver the proposed pooling model and how they plan to complete transfers of all assets, including legacy assets. The London CIV made its submission by the deadline of 1 March 2025. The London CIV issued a public statement, which summarises the plan. The public statement titled; ‘Fit for the Future: Strategic Development Plan’ is attached as appendix B.

The report sets out the Key Performance Indictors, measured against the legal requirements for the administration of the Local Government Pension Scheme for the three-month period up to the end of February 2025

This report presents the current Breaches of the Law log (in Appendix A) for the Pension Fund and highlights any changes made since the last review carried out at the Pension Board meeting held on 16 January 2025.

This report presents the current Risk Register (in Appendix A) for the Pension Fund and highlights any changes made since the last review carried out at the Pension Board meeting held on 16 January 2025

This report asks the Board to review the Fund’s draft Communications Policy Statement, prepared in accordance with Regulations, Guidance and best practice, as attached as Appendix A.

The report informs Pension Board of a report presented to the Pension Committee in March 2025, on the employer contribution rates applied to the Council over the last 20 years. It also provides information for the whole of fund employer contribution rates and the funding levels and assumed investment returns (the discount rate) which were effective at each triennial valuation.

The request for the historic contribution rates was made by the Pension Committee at the March 2024 meeting, following a report produced by the Actuary about options to be considered when setting the Fund’s next Funding Strategy. As the Fund is likely to be in surplus one of the options available is the reduction in employer contribution rates

This report asks the Board to consider and comment on the proposed joint Pension Committee and Pension Board Training Plan for 2025/26 which is attached as Appendix A.    

This report advises the Board of information recently provided to the Fund by its Actuary, Hymans Robertson, on matters currently being considered by the Government in respect of protections of pension provision for employees subject to outsourcing arrangements.  

This report advises the Board of the matters currently being considered by the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board and The Pensions Regulator which are relevant to the Fund. Any implications for the Fund have been noted and are being addressed in consultation with Fund advisers

The following motion is to be moved and seconded where it is proposed to exclude the press and public from the remainder of a meeting:

“That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within those paragraphs indicated in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, as amended.”