Agenda and draft minutes

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the Pension Board held on 25 September 2023 be confirmed, agreed, and signed as an accurate record.

No interest was declared at the meeting.

The Board received an update report relating to the Breaches Log, and a confirmation from the Treasury and Investment Manager that there had been no occurrence of a breach since the last meeting.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Board received an update report relating to the Action Log, and confirmation from the Treasury and Investment Manager that the list of planned items was related to actions that had been completed, and that outstanding actions formed aspects of the “General Update” and the “Work Programme” reports for consideration later at the meeting.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Board noted the following updates regarding the Training Log:

·                That the new member, Mark Adu-Brobbey, had reported that he had undertaken three hours of training via the Pensions Regulator’s dashboard and would be completing the remainder of his training.  It was noted that Mark was keen to ensure currency of his knowledge and skills regarding workplace pensions.

·                That the Chair, Stephen Warren, recently participated in additional training by virtue of his role as a trustee of another occupational pension scheme.  Stephen confirmed that his recent training was significantly relevant to the terms of reference of the Board, and that he would send the details of the record to the appropriate officers within Lewisham Council.

The Board also received confirmation as follows:

·                That discussions were underway to invite members of the Pensions and Investment Committee to forthcoming events, and that the details would be circulated in the new year.

·                That the Pensions Regulator expected that training should be completed within six months by individuals joining as trustees of occupational pension schemes.  The Chair encouraged new members to increase their knowledge and understanding using the Trustee toolkit.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Treasury and Investment Manager presented an update report relating to the work of the Board that arose since the last meeting on the following matters:

(1)           Draft Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Board considered the updates, and noted the following:

·            That the Council’s external auditors, Grant Thornton, were finalising their work on the 2022/23 Accounts.

·            That the draft annual Pension Fund report for the period was subjected to audit adjustments and would be presented at the next meeting of the Pension Investment Committee (PIC) prior to presentation to the Board for consideration and subsequent resubmission to the external auditors for their consistency opinion. 

In response to a question, Officers clarified to the Board as follows:

·            That the delay in signing the Pension Fund report was because the Technical Review Team and the Audit Team made a couple of queries about valuation and sought additional statements, and that there was nothing substantive to suggest that materiality had impacted on the accounts. 

(2)           Draft Administrative Strategy (AS) and Data Improvement Plan (DIP)

The Board considered updates relating to the draft AS and DIP, and noted the following:

·            That both documents were reviewed by officers and revised to reflect comments made at the last Board meeting, and that the next steps would involve meetings with data suppliers, training for staff in the use of new tools, and the development of a project plan with formulated deadlines.

·            That the Administrative Team and the Investment Team had respective roles in the development of the AS and the DIP, and how the duties were working together were outlined in the report. 

·            That the Council was satisfied that the AS was within the expected thresholds in relation to current processes, both in terms of materiality and time-in value.

The meeting noted requests from Officers for more ideas and suggestions to inform future updates, and the Board’s view was that to further understand current processes:

·               Officers should produce a project plan and data development pointers with indicators of priorities, dependencies, and expertise. 

·               The plan should include potential risks, targets and timescales using the pensions industry’s benchmark and the Pensions Regulator’s levels for consideration as an agenda item at the next meeting of the Board.

·               There should be clarification in regarding timescales and long-term targets of the measures of data quality, and explanations about how achievements would be monitored.

·               That additional information about what ongoing measures would be, such as targets for the number of missing addresses, rather than simply having the baseline right would be welcomed. 

·               That revisions to draft or ‘live’ documentation should always be circulated with control pointers to highlight comparisons between earlier versions.

·                That while it was understood that some elements of data quality were more important than others, officers should identify the prioritising elements in terms of expected achievements.

·                That some data fields could be developed to identify satisfaction levels, probably by traffic lighting the different data development to aid understanding about priorities, dependencies, and expertise, with an explanation about the rationale  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Board received and endorsed the Work Programme report.  The Board reiterated that among the listed items, the Data Improvement Plan and the Administrative Strategy would be considered at the next meeting.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

There was no other business for consideration.

The provisional dates relating to future meetings of the Board were noted as follows:

11 March 2024

18 June 2024

RESOLVED that the provisional dates of meetings be noted.

It was recommended that under Section 100(A)(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 they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12(A) of the Act, as amended by the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Access to Information) (Amendments) (England) Regulations.2006:

Item 11. General Update – Part Two.

The Board noted and considered aspects of Part Two of the report, and that in terms of investment monitoring, officers considered overall performance, monitoring of individual funds, and the longer-term trends.

The Board reiterated that for members to measure against policies, strategies and engagement results, future update reports should include some elements of quantifiable targets and description of activities against monitoring trends.

The meeting closed at 12.40 pm.

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Chair