Venue: Minster Court - 22-30 York Road Maidenhead
No. | Item |
---|---|
Introduction and Apologies To receive any apologies for absence. Minutes: Nominations for Chairman and Vice Chairman were requested. Tony Pettitt proposed Alan Cross as Chairman. This was seconded by Jeff Ford. Alan Cross proposed that Neil Wilcox remained Vice Chairman, this was seconded by Tony Pettitt.
Apologies for absence were received from Neil Wilcox. |
|
Declaration of Interest PDF 131 KB To receive any declarations of interest. Minutes: No Declarations of Interest were received. |
|
To approve the minutes of the meeting held on February 20th 2019. Minutes: The Chairman highlighted that the Agenda pack had missing pages.
ACTION: Clerk to add full set of agenda papers to the public website.
RESOLVED Unanimously: The minutes of the last meeting of 20 February 2019 were agreed as a true and accurate record.
|
|
To note the contents of the Action Tracker. Minutes: Both Alan Cross and Jeff Ford had both attended the in-house training. Both had found the training sessions very useful. They thanked Kevin Taylor for organising.
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: The Board noted the contents of the Action Tracker.
|
|
Scheme and Regulatory Update PDF 2 MB To receive updates from Kevin Taylor on: a. TPR Governance and administration risk in public service pension schemes; and engagement report b. Fair Deal Consultation Additional documents: Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that The Pensions Regulator had issued a report called Governance and Administration Risks in Public Service Pension Schemes: An Engagement Report. Ten local authority funds had been put forward to engage with the TPR. The Berkshire Pension Fund was not one of the ten put forward.
A number of key risk areas had been reviewed including record-keeping, administration, internal controls and dispute procedures. A number of recommendations resulted from the review and the Board considered the findings.
Kevin Taylor reported to the Board that in general the Berkshire Pension Fund was in a good position but would consider ways in which to improve the service further in light of some of the recommendations made in the report.
One issue that had been recognised was that the Chairman of the Panel and the Chairman of the Board could increase their interaction. Kevin Taylor explained that this had been discussed at a recent training day and that he would confirm with the Chairman that Members of the Pension Panel had previously agreed that the Chairman of the Board could attend Panel meetings.
ACTION: Kevin Taylor to send evidence of Panel approval to the Chairman.
Kevin Taylor informed the Board that a pension administration strategy was already in place and reviewed regularly by the Berkshire Pension Fund Panels.
The Chairman noted from the risk register that the loss of key staff had been identified as a key risk. Nikki Craig informed the Board that this risk had been recognised by the RBWM MD across other areas of the Borough staffing and that appropriate succession planning was being considered.
Kevin Taylor informed the Board that at the last meeting of the Pension Panel it had been agreed that an exceptions report would be provided at each meeting with the full risk policy and assessment register being taken once a year to Panel for review.
The Chairman raised a question concerning access to the Pension Fund’s website and whether or not the number of hits was recorded. Kevin Taylor explained that this was reported in the administration report each quarter and that he would seek to find out if it was possible to identify whether individuals were accessing the website on multiple occasions.
ACTION: Kevin Taylor to find out if it is possible to identify if individuals access the website on multiple occasions (i.e. both “hits” and “unique hits”).
The Board discussed carrying out a survey for the Fund’s members. Nikki Craig suggested having five simple questions on Survey Monkey aimed at scheme Members across each scheme type. The sample would not have to be very large. Members could be targeted by having to answer the survey questions as they were trying to log in. Kevin Taylor explained that the Fund has been considering how best to survey its members and that this was ongoing.
The Pension Panel had identified that cyber security was not included in the risk register. Kevin Taylor did inform the Panel and the Board ... view the full minutes text for item 201. |
|
Administration Report PDF 1 MB To note the contents of the report. Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that:
· The number of contributing members was now lower than the number of deferred members. · All Unitary Authorities and around 80% of the membership were now using i-Connect with a plan to have all employers using the system by March 2021. · The Pension Panel had suggested looking key performance indicators used by CIPFA and the Fund had agreed to revise its targets in line with CIPFA guidance. · Pension surgeries continue to be well received and popular with events being held twice a year at each Unitary Authority. · All year end submissions had been completed well in advance of the 31 August deadline in part due to iConnect. · Membership data continues to be of a high standard as evidenced by the data quality reports presented to the Board. · The member data extract required by the Actuary for valuation purposes had been sent well in advance of the deadline with further online data checking taking place. · A private meeting had been scheduled in November with the Actuary to discuss the initial results of the triennial valuation process. The Actuary will report publicly to Panel on 16 December 2019.
RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY: The Board noted the report and all the key areas of governance and administration and all key performance indicators.
|
|
Local Pension Board Workplan 2019-20 PDF 97 KB To note the contents of the workplan Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that the
workplan had been revamped to align
with the Pension Panel meetings. The Board had no further dates in
the diary for meetings but it was suggested that the Board met
three to four weeks before the Panel in order to be able to advise
them. The Chairman would like to see that in the future the Board
comments be submitted to the Panel.
|
|
Training Item - Overview of Scheme Governance and LGPS Benefits PDF 315 KB To receive an overview of the Local Governance Board scheme governance and LGPS benefits. Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that the slides were a refresher and a high level overview. Kevin Taylor went through the slides in the agenda pack.
|
|
Pension Fund Annual Report and Accounts PDF 18 MB To receive an overview from Kevin Taylor. Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that the Pension Fund annual report and accounts had been substantively agreed by the Pension Panel. The Panel had been advised that some of the figures may change. The accounts could not be signed off until the report and accounts were complete.
|
|
Internal Audit Report PDF 322 KB To receive an overview from Kevin Taylor. Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that five
concerns had been identified in the audit report, all of which were
of moderate concern. All concerns had been resolved before the
report was issued. |
|
Risk Management Policy PDF 444 KB To receive an overview from Kevin Taylor. Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that the Panel
had recognised that there was no risk in the policy to do with
cyber security. The Panel had asked this to be considered and
added. |
|
Risk Assessment Register PDF 87 KB To receive an overview from Kevin Taylor. Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that the register had identified four medium risks to be of concern. They (and their mitigations) were as follows:
· PEN 004 – Inaccuracy of employer data - all employers to be using iConnect by March 2021. · PEN 011 – Loss of key staff – succession planning under consideration · PEN 017 – Funding level below 100% - Nikki Craig pointed out this was a fact as opposed to a risk and that the risk should really be what would happen if the Fund does not return to being 100% funded – Actuarial review has a plan to get to 100% · PEN 025 – Inability of scheme employer to meet their obligation – currently an employer covenant review is underway.
|
|
Identified or Registered Breaches For Members to note any identified or registered breaches. Minutes: Kevin Taylor informed the Board that there was no identified or registered breaches. |
|
Feedback from Recent Barnett Waddingham/CIPFA Seminar To receive a verbal report from Alan Cross and Jeff Ford. Minutes: Jeff Ford and the Chairman had attended the seminar and had found it a very useful day. The next annual one was on 24 June 2020 (with other CIPFA sessions in the interim).
ACTION: Kevin Taylor to circulate brief to Board Members. |
|
Any Other Business To discuss any other items of business. Minutes: It was raised that the timing of the meeting be considered and scheduled for three hours as it always overran. |