To receive apologies for absence.

No apologies were received.

Members are reminded that they should declare any interests which may lead to conflicts of interest in the subject area or any specific agenda item of this meeting.  A conflict of interest is defined as a financial or other interest which is likely to prejudice a person’s exercise of functions as a member of the Pension Board. It does not include a financial or other interest arising merely by virtue of that person being a member of the LGPS.

No conflicts of interest were declared.

The Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2021 are attached for confirmation.

Contact:  Michelle Dulson (01743) 257719

RESOLVED:

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2021 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

To receive any questions from the public, notice of which has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 14.  The deadline for this meeting is 9.30am on Wednesday 21 July 2021.

No public questions had been received.

Report attached.

Contact: Debbie Sharp (01743) 252192

The Board received the report of the Pensions Administration Manager – copy attached to the signed Minutes – which provided Members with the latest administration and regulatory updates affecting the Local Government Pensions Scheme.

The Pensions Administration Manager confirmed that the Finance Act 2021 had now received Royal Assent, freezing the lifetime allowance at £1,073,100m for a number of tax years going forward.  This would be communicated to members and put on the website.  She then drew attention to the consultation launched by the Treasury on proposed changes to the cost control mechanism. 

The Pensions Administration Manager highlighted the results of the Governance and Administration survey set out at paragraph 8 of the report before turning to the Pensions dashboard programme (paragraph 9) which, she explained, was going to be a statutory obligation to ensure that Pensions Funds’ across the country could provide information through the dashboard to it’s members.  She confirmed that it covered public sector schemes and they would ensure officers were aware and were ready to pick up when required.  The Pensions Administration Manager reported that they were at the data collection exercise part of this. 

The Pensions Administration Manager informed the Board that the date for this years’ Employers’ meeting had been set for 22 November 2021 at which the Actuary would attend to give an update about what was happening in the interim and giving employers realistic information that even though the fund was growing well at the moment, there was the other issue of the cost of liabilities so it was not likely at present to see any contribution reduction.

In conclusion, the Pensions Administration Manager drew attention to the updated CIPFA framework and explained that a full assessment would be undertaken in order to keep Board Members’ knowledge and skills up to date.  They would also be looking at what was required going forward as an education programme with remote working and what training methods could be taken forward and delivered in a more robust way.

In response to a query in relation to the consultation on the cost control mechanism the Pensions Administration Manager confirmed that they were looking at widening the 2% corridor to 3%.  She explained that they had not expected the cost control mechanism to be flagged so quickly so they were looking at how it was set up and whether it was too rigid.  In response to a further query, the Pensions Administration Manager explained that the corridor cost referred to how much a benefit was assumed to be costing and how much of that the employer was paying and how much the employee was paying and if the movement went 2% either side of that then something needed to change, so they were looking at that mechanism with a view to widening it.

The Pensions Administration Manager confirmed that Shropshire County Pension Fund would be responding to the consultation and would be looking at it along with the actuary.  The Pensions Administration Manger answered a number of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 17.

The Chairman explained that at a meeting of the Regional Pension Board Chairs it was suggested that some work be done between boards to look at the way they do things, to get ideas of best practice and to set up benchmarks in the long term for the way that Pensions Boards could be run. The Chairman felt that this would be useful and as such attended a meeting of the Cheshire Pensions Board. 

He informed the Board how the Cheshire Pensions Board meeting was run, he noted that although the Agenda was very similar, there were considerable differences in how the board functioned.  For example, meetings of the Cheshire Pensions Board were not held in public, it had its own budget, the Chairman chaired the Employers meeting etc. 

It was hoped to get an agreement to undertake some further work together and to learn from each other going forward.  The Chairman of the Cheshire Pension Board was in attendance and he briefly discussed working together and felt it was a good time to think about how Boards operate whilst the Good Governance Review was ongoing and they were looking to update their Terms of Reference. 

He felt that the formal meeting was very well run.  He explained that the Cheshire Board was not a public meeting as the Committee already provided the public meeting that gave the transparency required as a public organisation and it was felt that the role of the Board was to assist the administering authority.

The Chairman of the Cheshire Pension Board discussed their workplan and how it was created.  The work plan existed so that the Board could prove it had assisted the fund in the achievement of its objectives and he hoped they would never have anything on the Agenda that the fund itself did not think was helpful.

In response to a query, the Chairman of the Cheshire Pensions Board confirmed that although Board Members could attend the Committee, it was rare.  They would perhaps attend for a specific item of interest to the Board but as Chairman he felt it was unnecessary as the Board was not a scrutiny committee.

          RESOLVED:  to note the contents of the report.

The next meeting of the Pensions Board will be held at 9.30am on the 15 October 2021.

The next meeting of the Pensions Board would be held on the 23 July 2021 at 10.00am.

To RESOLVE that in accordance with the provision of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972, Section 5 of the Local Authorities (Executive Arrangements) (Meetings and Access to Information) (England) Regulations and Paragraphs 3 of the Council’s Access to Information Rules, the public and press be excluded during consideration of the following items.

          RESOLVED:

That in accordance with the provisions of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and paragraph 10.2 of the Council’s Access to Information Procedure Rules, the public and press be excluded during consideration of the following items as defined by the categories specified against them.

The Exempt Minutes of the meeting held on the 19 March 2021 are attached for confirmation.

Contact Michelle Dulson (01743) 257719

RESOLVED:

That the Exempt Minutes of the meeting held on 19 March 2021 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

For Board Members to raise any questions following the recent Pensions Committee meeting.

Please click on the link below to access the reports considered by the Pensions Committee at its last meeting on 25 June 2021.

http://shropshire.gov.uk/committee-services/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=260&MId=4321&Ver=4

The reports considered by the Pensions Committee at its meeting on 25 June 2021 had been received by the Board. 

Report attached.

Contact: Rebecca Clough (01743) 254457

          The Board received the report of the Communications and Governance Team Leader – copy attached to the signed Exempt Minutes – which provided an update on the Breaches of LGPS regulations recorded for the quarter 1 October 2020 to 31 December 2020 affecting the Shropshire County Pension Fund.  Updates on all other governance issues were also included within the report.

          RESOLVED:

          That the contents of the report be noted.