Issue - meetings

26.1     The Board considered a report on the Internal Audit report carried out on Pension Fund Governance and Investments.

26.2     The Chair asked for clarification about what the purpose of the Pension Administration Strategy (PAS) was. Wendy Neller (WN), Pension Strategy and Governance Manager, said that the PAS will set out the roles and responsibilities of the ESPF and its employers. It will combine all existing strategies that explain how the Fund operates, for example, the communications strategy and funding strategy, and will sit alongside the Pension Investment Strategy (which sets out how the Fund invests its members’ contributions).

26.3     BR asked whether the Fund’s external auditors would need to report on the missed statutory deadline for distributing Annual Benefit Statements. OO explained that the external auditor – KPMG – would not consider a missed statutory deadline in its audit, as the agreed process is for statutory deadlines to be reported to the Pension Regulator. PH added that external auditors are concerned by the integrity of the ESPF accounts and a missed statutory deadline is unlikely to be something that they look at.

26.4     The Board RESOLVED to:

1) note the report; and

2) congratulate the Pension Fund officers on achieving ‘full assurance’ from the internal audit team.