Agenda item

This report asks the Committee to agree the proposed joint Pension Committee and Pension Board Training Plan for 2024/25 which is included in the paper prepared by Aon entitled ‘Croydon Training Activity and Plan’ as Appendix B.   

The Acting Head of Pensions and Treasury introduced the item and explained that the Pensions Regulator code which would come out on the 27 March emphasises the importance of training for Members. The Acting Head of Pensions and Treasury informed the Committee that officers had been working with AON to produce a training plan for 2024/25 for Members.

Mary Lambe explained that AON had assisted officers with establishing the key areas for the training plan for 2024/25. Mary Lambe informed the Committee that officers had received a report from Hymans on the National Knowledge Assessment which took place in December 2022. This assessment highlighted the gaps in the training for Committee and Board Members. Mary Lambe stated that there were different requirements for Pension Board and Committee members, Board Members legally had a higher requirement to obtain the relevant knowledge and skills required to perform their role, however there was increasing pressure from Government and other bodies for Committee Members to have the same legal statutory requirements.

Mary Lambe informed the Committee that the pooling consultation from the Government included training policies for Committees ad Mary Lambe understood that work was being carried out on the regulations for these policies and this could be ready by the summer of 2024.

Mary Lambe explained that there was a table in the report which detailed the Pension Boards score on the National Knowledge Assessment findings, where members filled in surveys based on their knowledge and the information submitted was measured against the 8 CIPFA competencies. Mary Lambe stated that there would be a session which Pension Committee and Board members could attend in future and if the Hymans online learning (LOLA) was undertaken by Members, then they would score higher than they did in the National Knowledge Assessment.

Mary Lambe explained that it was expected that the topics in the training plan would align with issues arising, this would be in addition to the foundation level training that would be provided.

In response to questions from members officers informed the Committee that:

• The attendance for any training sessions arranged by officers was recorded.
• The training plan 2024/25 was presented to the Pension Board at a meeting in January 2024.
• In 2022 several new Members on the Committee took part in the National Knowledge Assessment which would partly explain the score that the Council received.
• There was belief that the next time that Members completed the National Knowledge Assessment, the scoring would be higher as Members had undergone several training sessions over the previous two years and the membership of the Committee had been consistent since 2022.
• The Acting Head of Pensions and Treasury was in the process of drafting a business plan for the members training budget and would inform the committee when it had been established.
• Officers were in the process of producing a business plan and assessing their training budget. Once this had been completed, officers would clarify whether there would be a separate budget for pension fund training or whether the training would be paid for from the Members budget.

Councillor Hopley stated that she had attended the Cyber Security training session but her attendance had not been recorded.

Resolved:</AI3>

1.1 To agree the proposed joint Pension Committee and Board Training Plan for 2024/25.