Issue - meetings

21.1    The Committee considered a report produced by the Independent Auditor (Grant Thornton –GT) to those charged with governance on the Pension Fund Annual Report 2018/19, including anticipated unqualified audit opinion on the 2018/19 Pension Fund Annual Report.

21.2    The Committee RESOLVED to:

1)         Note the Independent Auditors (Grant Thornton – GT) report to those charged with governance on Pension Fund Annual Report 2018/19;

2)         Approve the Pension Fund Annual Report for publication

Report by the Chief Finance Officer.

40.1     The Committee considered the External Audit Plan for the East Sussex Pension Fund. The Committee asked for clarification of who appoints the actuary for the Pension Fund valuation. Darren Wells confirmed that the Council appoints the actuary for the valuation of the Pension Fund liabilities.

40.2     The Committee RESOLVED to endorse the External Audit Plan for East Sussex Pension Fund for 2018/19.

67.1     The Committee considered a report on the External Audit Plan for the East Sussex Pension Fund 2018/19.

67.2     The Committee RESOLVED to note the report.

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37.1.      The Board considered a report on the East Sussex Pension Fund (ESPF or ‘the Fund’) External Audit Plan for 2018/19.

37.2.      The Chair asked whether the decrease in the core external audit fee from £26,607 in the previous year to £20,487 for 2018/19 meant that there would be a corresponding decrease in the service that the Fund could expect to receive.

37.3.      Ola Owolabi (OO) explained that the fee is set by the Public Sector Audit Appointments (PSAA) Board rather than being agreed between the Fund and Grant Thornton (the external auditors).  He added that the core fee was based on the assumption of the Fund being rated ‘excellent’ and there were no plans for additional audit work, which would incur additional fees.

37.4.      The Chair observed that the level of materiality being set at £33m appeared high and so too did ‘clearly trivial’ uncorrected omissions or misstatements being set at £1.65m. Sue McHugh (SM) said that the role of the external auditor was to express an opinion of the Fund’s financial statements and that it was the role of internal audit to pick up on any lack of internal control processes or governance arrangements that lead to Fund assets being wasted or lost. Nigel Chilcott (NC) confirmed that the revised draft pension fund internal audit strategy would be available for consideration by the Board in June.

37.5.      The Board RESOLVED to note the report.