Agenda and minutes

To elect a Chairperson for the ensuing civic year.

Councillor Stowe was duly elected as  Chairperson for the ensuing civic year.

To elect a Vice Chairperson for the ensuing civic year.

Councillor Brown was duly elected as Vice-Chairperson for the ensuing civic year.

Members of the Committee are invited to declare any financial or pecuniary interest related to specific matters on the agenda.

Please see note (a) at the end of the agenda.

No declarations of interest were made. 

To answer any written questions about matters that are within the powers and duties of the Committee. The closing date/time for the receipt of questions is 10.00am on 9^th June 2022.

One public question had been received and the response was tabled at the meeting. 

To answer any written members’ questions. The closing date/time for the receipt of questions is 10.00am on 9^th June 2022.

No member questions were received. 

To approve as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd March 2022.

Resolved

That the minutes of the 3^rd March 2022 were approved as a correct record. 

To note the Pension Board draft notes of the meeting held on the 27^th April 2022. 

It was noted that the Pension Board meeting was not quorate, so notes of the meeting were taken.

The Committee received the notes of the meeting held on the 27^th April 2022. 

The Committee is asked to note the report.

The Head of Pensions presented the report which summarised the Fund’s funding position, market value, asset allocation, investment performance for the quarter ending 31 March 2022.

Members noted that by the end of the quarter to 31 March 2022, the Fund’s total market value had decreased by £120.655m, to £3,106.093m and over the quarter, total Fund assets produced a negative return of -3.8%, compared to a target of -1.5%, underperforming the strategic benchmark by 2.3%. It was reported that performance over the 3 years to 31 March 2022 was 8.3% annualised slightly behind the benchmark by 0.2%.

The Head of Pensions explained that Fund Administration remained challenging and he explained that two Group Pension Leader posts had been appointed to internal candidates, providing career progression. Their posts will now require backfilling, so currently no actual additional resources have been introduced into the team.

Members were also advised that the Pensions Administration Manager had applied for and been granted flexible retirement as of November 2022 and he would be actively working on the triennial valuation from now until November 2022.  The Head of Pensions explained it was vital in retaining the Manager’s knowledge at this time within the service. It was noted that currently the performance statistics were not meeting their targets. The Head of Pensions advised that the team current focus was on delivering an equal service to all members of the fund and this can be seen by the average case time only being marginally outside of the performance target. This situation will improve with the addition of the new resources agreed by Committee, but it was advised that the onboarding and upskilling of new recruits into the technical nature of the work of the team and LGPS regulations will take time, before it will result in improvements in the key performance indicators.

The Committee noted the Taskforce for Climate related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) consultation document is now due in the Autumn 2022.  It was explained there a number of core projects were tracking the 2022/23 business plan and these were detailed within the report. 

During the discussion it was noted that an Employer Representative had been recruited to the Pension Board and the appointment process for the Employer Representative position on the Committee was currently underway. 

Members raised concerns regarding the Pension Fund Administration figure of 90%, they felt this figure was unrealistic as it hadn’t been achieved for over six years.  The Committee wondered if agile working had impacted this figure.  The Head of Pensions referred to year prior to the pandemic and he explained that the service had been under resourced for a considerable amount of time and it would undoubtedly take time to bring in staffing resources as individual’s knowledge needed to be built upon as it was a complex area of work.  He advised the committee that the issues cannot be resolved just by appointing new staff as it would take six to 12 months to see these additional resources being in a position  ...  view the full minutes text for item 65.

The Committee is asked to note the report.

The Head of Pensions explained that in accordance with the Risk Management policy agreed by Committee on 3 December 2021, progress and activity in managing risks would be monitored and recorded on a risk register and key information would be provided on a quarterly basis to the Pension Committee and the Pension Board, as part of the regular update reports on governance, investments and funding, and administration and communications.  The Committee were advised that there were no major changes and the next version of the risk register would be brought to the September Committee meeting. 

In response to a question, it was confirmed that statutory risks were graded as amber.  Members also sought assurance that pension fund cyber security was tested regularly, this was confirmed by the Head of Pensions. 

Resolved

That the Committee noted the risk register and the current elevated risks and the new risks as outlined in the report. 

Resolved

 That in accordance with Section 100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following agenda items, because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

Resolved

That in accordance with Section 100 A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following agenda items, because it is likely that if members of the public were present there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12 A to the Act and the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information to the public.

To approve as a correct record the exempt minutes of the meetings held on 3^rd March 2022.

The exempt minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd March 2022 were agreed as a correct record. 

The Committee is asked to consider the report recommendation. 

The Independent Advisor presented the report in detail and advised members of the Fund Asset Allocation and investment performance for the quarter ending 31 March 2022.  

Resolved

That the Committee noted the report. 

The Committee is asked to consider the report recommendation.

The Head of Pensions presented the report in conjunction with the Independent Adviser and explained that the report was designed to be read in conjunction with the Part 1 report, which provided more detailed analysis and commentary on the Fund’s asset allocation, investment performance for the quarter ending 31 March 2022. 

Resolved

That the Committee noted the detailed performance reports for the quarter ending 31 March 2022 and the employer, Brunel and future investment activities of the Fund.

The Committee also approved the change to the actuarial assumption, as stated within the report.