Issue - meetings

24.1     The Board considered a report providing an update on various governance workstreams completed and changes affecting LGPS and the ESPF.

24.2     Michael Burton (MB) highted to the Board that there will be significant change to its membership in 2023; in April the terms for three members of the Pension Board are due to come to an end and Officers will soon commence planning for the appointment process. Additionally, the Chair of the Pension Board’s term also expires at the same point which will require an appointment process to be completed. Local elections in May 2023 may further impact on Pension Board membership during the year.

24.3     All members of the Pension Board who are coming towards the end of their terms will be asked to confirm with Officers whether they wish to be considered for re-appointment.

24.4     MB highlighted the ministerial changes outlined in the report. At the Department for Work and Pensions, the Rt Hon Mel Stride MP is the current Secretary of State, Laura Trott MP has been appointed as the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Pensions. The Scheme Advisory Board has commented that the change in ministers and a new Prime Minister may cause some delays in projects being run by the Department. The Board will be kept informed of any further changes.

24.5     MB advised that officers have been working with an external advisor to consider the recommendations for the decision-making matrix; the Board will be kept informed of changes.

24.6     MB advised that the issue reported by Prudential in which they had incorrectly managed the lifestyle fund transition near retirement for members only impacted one member. More information is expected from Prudential in the middle of November and further updates will be provided as appropriate.

24.7     Neil Simpson (NS) highlighted that there are several missing policies in the table in Appendix 1. MB and Sian Kunert (SK) confirmed that there is not necessarily a requirement to have a policy for each discretion and that many relate to administration processes. There is a standard approach and guidelines around these. SK confirmed that those with no policy will be looked at by case by case and that work in progress to collate copies of employer policies.

24.8     The Board RESOLVED to:

1) Note the report and its appendices;
2) Request that officers update the table to include where there is an administration process in place;
3) Consider the residual discretions where there is no policy or administration process in further detail.