To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received by Cllr Law and Cllr Jarvis.

To receive any declarations of interest.

Councillor Brooker declared a personal interest on the agenda as he was a governor for schools that paid into the pension fund, as this was not a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest he stayed and considered the items.

To approve the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2019

Resolved unanimously: that the Part I minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2019 were approved as a true and correct record.

To consider the report.

The Deputy Pension Fund Manager introduced the report that requested that the Panel considered a number of Administering Authority policy statements as set out in the work-plan for 2018/19, approved previously by Members.

Members considered the items listed in appendix 1; Funding Strategy Statement,

Investment Strategy Statement and the  Pension Fund Business Plan 2019-20.

Resolved unanimously:  That Panel notes the report and:

i)          Approved the policy statements set out in Appendix 1 to the report

having put forward any suggested amendments to those policy

documents.

ii)         Requested that officers produce and publish the approved policy

statements on the Berkshire Pension Fund website.

To consider the report.

The Deputy Pension Fund Manager introduced the report regarding the possible reduction or suspension of a Local Government Pension on account of further employment within Local Government after a Scheme member had become entitled to receive their retirement benefits.

The Panel were informed that as the policy had not been considered for a while it had been added as a separate item rather than being updated under the work programme.   Regulations had been updated so this needed to be reflected in the policy.

The Panel were informed that until 31 March 1998 abatement

was mandatory but between 1 April 1998 and 31 March 2014 it became

discretionary and an Administering Authority was still required to issue a

statutory policy as to how it will apply the abatement rules.  Since 2002, the Administering Authority has adopted a policy not to apply abatement, reasons detailed within the report.

In response to questions the Panel were informed that the cost implications of not changing the policy were minimal and the majority of LGPF’s did not apply abatement. 

Resolved unanimously: That Panel notes the report and:

i)          Agrees to maintain its policy not to apply the abatement rules in

any circumstance.

ii)         Approves the updated policy statement in Appendix 1 to the report.

iii)        Requests that officers produce and publish the approved policy on

the Berkshire Pension Fund website.

To consider the report.

The Pension Administration Manager introduced the latest report that dealt with the administration of the Pension Fund for the period 1 October 2018 to 31 December 2018.

The Panel were informed that appendix 1 showed that deferred membership in the unitary authorities outnumbered active members mainly due to the increased outsourcing of services.  Section 1.4, Scheme Employer Key Performance Indicators, showed the benefits of having i-Connect.  Bracknell Forest and Slough Borough councils had gone live with i-Connect since the agenda had been published. All other administrative indicators were on target.

The Panel also received an update on special projects including the following:

-        i-Connect – 70% of scheme members were currently using i-Connect.

-       GMP Reconciliation - With the removal of the contracted-out nature of public service pension schemes the Pension Fund entered into a period of reconciliation against DWP records.

-       Wokingham Schools – Selima.  Wokingham BC’s contract with Selima runs out on 31 March 2019 with a new external payroll provider being appointed from 1 April 2019. Work is already underway with the new provider to on-board i-Connect by 31 May 2019.

The Chairman thanked the administration team for all their work over the 12 years he had been chairman. 

Resolved unanimously: that the Panel notes the report and:

• All areas of governance and administration as reported

• All key performance indicators

To consider passing the following resolution:-

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public

be excluded from the remainder of the meeting whilst discussion takes place

on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as

defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act"

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the remainder of the meeting on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1-7 of part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

To approve the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2019

Resolved unanimously: that the Part II minutes of the meeting held on 14 January 2019 were approved as a true and correct record.

The Panel considered the latest performance report from LPP on the funds’ performance up until December 2018.  This was a high level performance report of the fund. 

The Panel were informed that 3 year performance results remained high.  The one year performance was below expectations mainly due to less favourable market returns especially in equity markets. The long term investment outcomes still remained positive.

Credit performance remained above the benchmark.  Despite the high volatility and market-wide losses over the quarter, the performance of Berkshire’s Credit portfolio was 3.5% for Q4 2018. 

Diversifying Strategies underperformed in Q4, with negative returns driven by fund investments with Securis and Aspect Capital.  And fixed income was also slightly below the benchmark with portfolio returned -0.2% in Q4 2018.

Infrastructure continued to be high performance with Infrastructure assets continuing to be in high demand during 2018.  The Fund had a total of 10 commitments to infrastructure funds, including the recent GBP 50m commitment to LPPI Infrastructure Investments LP bringing total infrastructure commitments to GBP 367m. Overall the portfolio had performed well.

Private equity also continued to perform above the benchmark in both the short and the long term.  The Adams Street funds were significant contributors to performance.  Public equity remained below the benchmark with negative performance from two managers.  Real estate was performing within expectations and showed no concerns. The Panel were informed that page 82 showed the asset allocation for the fund. 

The Panel noted the latest performance update.