Agenda and minutes

The Chair will draw attention to the emergency evacuation procedure as set out under Note 5.

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked the Democratic Services Officer to read out the Emergency Evacuation Procedure.

The Democratic Services Officer informed the Board that apologies had been received from Steve Harman (Employer Representative), Nick Dixon (Head of Pensions) and Jeff Wring (Director of Financial Services, Assurance & Pensions).

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The Board approved the minutes of the previous meeting and they were duly signed by the Chair.

The Pension Board are being asked to review the Investment Strategy Statement for compliance with the regulations and statutory guidance and any feedback will be considered by Committee.

The Group Manager for Funding, Investment & Risk introduced the report to the Board. She explained that regulations state that the Investment Strategy Statement (ISS) must be kept under review and revised from time to time, particularly when there is a material change in risk and reviewed at least every three years.

She informed the Board that the latest ISS was reviewed by the Pensions Committee in March 2024 at the conclusion of the investment strategy review.

She highlighted the following changes that have been made to the investment strategy.

·  Revised climate targets to support the assets aligning with Net Zero by 2045 – including short to medium targets to reduce emissions and divest (by 2030) from companies that are not aligning with the Paris Agreement.

·  Reduction in the Equity Protection Strategy hedge ratio from 100% to 50% - to provide significant downside protect but participate more in rising markets (to reduce the drag on equity returns over the long term).

Stuart Anstead asked if any further comment could be made on the Digital Strategy that was referenced in section 9.1 of the report.

The Group Manager for Funding, Investment & Risk replied that the Pension Fund as a whole was moving to a more online enabled service.

The Pensions Operations Manager added that this was a part of the whole Administration Strategy and explained that this was due to be rewritten later in the year.

The Board RESOLVED to agree that the Investment Strategy Statement complies with the LGPS Regulations 2016 and guidance and they had no additional comments for the Avon Pension Fund Committee.

The purpose of this report is to present the Fund’s administration performance for the three months to 31st March 2024 vs key performance indicators (KPI’s).

The Pensions Operations Manager introduced the report to the Board and the following points were highlighted from it.

·  Recruitment for the two key posts of Employer Services Manager and Member Service Manager are under way.

·  McCloud: Awaiting guidance from the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) with respect to the application of the McCloud remedy. This is now expected to be issued following the General Election (4^th July). Early reporting suggests the fund has c1,000 members that will require the remedy.

·  GMP: The fund is in the final stages of reviewing the Mercer closure report for member reconciliation. 5,150 remain outstanding as “stalemate cases” out of a population of 91,369 members, (a reduction of 8,916 previously reported to the Board in February 2024). The review will aim to be completed in July and we plan to bring recommendations to Board & Committee in September.

·  Process Controls: The fund is working with an external consultancy company to carry out a piece of work to map and review existing processes and relevant controls. The initial project will review the top 15 processes based on risk. The review is due to complete at the end of June and a full report will be brought to Board in September.

The Chair asked to what extent could officers see Altair taking steps to improve some of the controls or how they will use their best practice guidance to attempt to improve processes.

The Pensions Payroll Manager replied that Heywood’s have a core product and that when a new release occurs, the guidance notes relate to that specific moment in time. She added that there is a ‘Help’ function within the product and that if you know enough about what you are looking for you could find some best practice guidance.

The Chair said that he believed that as they support around 60 Funds they should act as more of a conduit to help finding solutions.

The Pensions Operations Manager commented that she and other officers would be attending an AGM next month and hoped to have further discussions on this matter. She added that previously she had asked for a core leaver form to be created for employers to directly access and was told that it would not be possible as every fund would want different elements included within the form.

Stuart Anstead commented that he would expect there to be a number of possibilities to use AI in some way that would help with processing mainstream tasks.

The Chair referred to GMP and asked that when the analysis takes place for the Fund to consider whether they do implement any possible reductions or simply find a way of identifying / quantifying it, so as to not then pay any beneficiaries and therefore know it is a true cost, rather than the likely upset it would cost if the money were to removed.

The Pensions Operations Manager said that she was in agreement with that sentiment, but there was still a process for the Fund to go  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.

The purpose of this report is to update the Pension Board on the latest position concerning the Local Government Pension Scheme [LGPS] and any proposed regulatory matters that could affect scheme administration. 

The Technical and Compliance Manager introduced the report and highlighted the following points to the Board.

McCloud Judgement

A closed consultation on the draft McCloud Statutory guidance ran between March 2024 and April 2024. Generally, across the sector, a number of concerns have been raised on the issues of administrative burden, communication challenges, and consistency of treatment both within the LGPS and across the public sector. A response to the latest consultation is awaited, now expected to be delayed due to the General Election.

Codes of Practice / Good Governance

Following on from publication of the General Code of Practice in January 2024, this became effective on 28 March 2024.

Whilst a further consultation on the outcomes of the SAB’s Good Governance project was expected in the summer, this may now be delayed due to the

General Election.

The Chair asked if the Fund had needed to use consultants to assist them with the Codes of Practice.

The Governance & Risk Advisor replied that they have purchased a checking tool from Hymans. She added that they hope to complete this work by the end of the year if possible.

She also informed the Board that a workshop with Hymans for both Committee and Board members had been arranged for 26^th September online.

The Board RESOLVED to note the current position regarding the developments that could affect the administration of the fund.

The purpose of this report is to receive regular governance updates as well as Training and Work Plan issues from the Board and request high level training needs from Board Members.

The Governance & Risk Advisor introduced the report to the Board and highlighted the following areas from it.

Risk Register

No changes to risks or scores.

Workshop

24^th October – Interim Valuation (Mercer)

Hymans Learning Academy

All modules should be completed by the end of July.

Board Member Recruitment

The process to recruit new Board members has begun and the closing date for applications is 31^st July. Hope to have two new members in place by the Board meeting in September.

The Chair commented that he was pleased to see the Audit Plan in place following the requests for further work to be carried out. He said that it was important to have those assurances in place and asked to be informed if any problems were to occur.

The Board RESOLVED to:

i)  Note the workplan & training plan for 2024.

ii)  Note the dates for future meetings.

iii)  Note the risk register.

iv)  Note the audit plan.