Issue - meetings

55.1       The Committee considered a report introduced by Michael Burton who drew the Committee’s attention to the following points:

1)    Governance updates, a further consultation has taken around the annual revaluation date proposal to move from the 1^st to 6^th April, the Funds response in currently in draft and once issued will be shared with the Committee and the Pension Board. The timelines are very short with a twoweek consultation window.

2)  Following Stephen Osbourne’s departure, it is hoped that a new employer representative recommendation will be made to the Governance Committee in April to join the Pension Board.

3)  GMB have been asked to propose a replacement for Nicoletta Palermo and a name has not yet been put forward, the wider membership will be asked if no recommendation from GMB.

4)  There are District and Borough elections and Brighton and Hove City Council will be holding elections in May which will impact Board membership as the current representatives are standing down. Senior officers can be appointed as well as councillors which would increase continuity.

5)  Applications have been received for the post of Chair of Pension Board.

6)   Costs will be introduced to employers for processing multiple early retirement form enquiries. Officers are reviewing whether this is general practice in the wider market and the Committee noted that some Funds do charge for the work undertaken by their administration teams.  A number of Local Authorities are looking into this and as part of the drive towards self service, there are online tools provided for free to members and employers.

7)   More detail has been added to the Administering authority discretions against current processes following a request from the Pension Board.

8)   The Pension Administration Strategy requires a review every three years and the draft report will go out to employers for consultation. Significant reformatting was required in order to meet accessibility requirements which means it is harder to provide track changes, the cover report therefore outlines the changes to the strategy for ease of reference.

55.2     The Pension Committee RESOLVED to:

1) Note the updates

2) Approve the updated Administering Authority Discretions policy

3) Approve the draft Pensions Administration Strategy for consultation with employers