Agenda and minutes

RESOLVED:

That Mr. D. Jennings CC be appointed Chairman of the Local Pension Board for the period ending with the date of the Annual Council meeting in May 2017.

RESOLVED:

That Mr. A.M. Kershaw CC be appointed Vice Chairman of the Local Pension Board for the period ending with the date of the Annual Council meeting in May 2017.

RESOLVED:

The minutes of the meeting held on 4 March 2016 were taken as read, confirmed and signed.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 35.

The Chief Executive reported that no questions had been received under Standing Order 7(3) and 7(5).

There were no urgent items for consideration.

The Chairman invited members who wished to do so to declare any interest in respect of items on the agenda for the meeting. No declarations were made.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources regarding the performance of the Pension Section against its performance indicators.  A copy of the report, marked ‘8’, is filed with these minutes.

The Director reported that whilst there remained a significant amount of valuation work to be completed before the 31 July 2016 deadline, the Section was making good progress. Government revisions to the way in which additional pension contributions were calculated had resulted in additional checking.

In response to members, the Director said that when pension payments and death benefits were processed after the five and ten working days target, it was invariably by a narrow margin.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, which provided an update concerning the progress made towards the Pension Section’s requirement to produce the annual benefit statements for all of the Funds members by 31 August 2016. A copy of the report, marked ‘9’, is filed with these minutes.

The Director said that since the report had been published, one of the two employers which had previously not provided any of the required year end data had now done so. The one remaining employer would be in breach of government legislation if it did not provide the information before the deadline.

RESOLVED:

That the Director be requested to make further contact with the one remaining employer which had failed to provide year - end data to express the Board’s concern over the delay and ask that the information be provided at the earliest opportunity.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, which detailed the internal audit arrangements for the Leicestershire County Council Pension Fund. A copy of the report, marked ‘10’, is filed with these minutes.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, which detailed the changes to the Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) fund choices. A copy of the report, marked ‘11’, is filed with these minutes.

The Board noted and welcomed changes made to the AVC choices offered by the Fund which would provide a more diverse and lower risk selection of investment opportunities to those scheme members who wished to pay additional pension contributions.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, which detailed the changes to the payment of the pension increase and the national guaranteed minimum pension reconciliation exercise. A copy of the report, marked ‘12’, is filed with these minutes.

The Director reported that recent legislative changes making the Fund responsible for paying the pensions increase (PI) to a pensioner (and their spouse) who had reached State Pension Age had resulted in additional work for the Pension Section.  The Section was expected to reconcile the Fund’s Guaranteed Minimum Pension data with the State’s equivalent data to ensure the records of over 46,000 members matched or were within the nationally agreed £2 per week tolerance limit.

In response to questions from members the Director acknowledged that the process would require a significant amount of resource and initially one member of the Pension Section had been allocated to work 3 days per week on the task. 

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

The Board considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, which detailed issues concerning a small number of the Fund members whose employment had been transferred to a private employer. A copy of the report, marked ‘13’, is filed with these minutes.

The Director reported that despite the best efforts of the Pension Section there had been a considerable delay in the completion of four admission body agreements between Chartwells, part of the Compass group (who had taken over four separate catering contracts from various schools) and the Local Government Pension Scheme. Three agreements were yet to be formally confirmed.

The Board recognised the importance of securing agreements when employers within the LGPS outsourced their services to private companies, in order to protect the pension benefits of those employees whose service had been transferred. It noted the hard work of officers who had attempted to resolve the issues and suggested that if the information needed to complete the agreements was not forthcoming officers may wish to contact the members of staff affected and also the head of governors for each of the schools.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.