Agenda item

26.1     The Board considered a report by the Chief Finance Officer introduced by Susan Greenwood, Head of Pensions.

26.2     The following points were highlighted to the Board:

1)    East Sussex Pension Fund officers have been working in conjunction with officers from West Sussex and Barnett Waddingham to assess the options available in terms of pooling.

2)    The Pension Committee considered an options analysis undertaken by Barnett Waddingham who presented the options at a meeting on 24 July 2025 and resolved to focus all further due diligence on the Border to Coast LGPS asset pool.

3)    Officers have subsequently carried out further due diligence along with West Sussex and Barnett Waddingham while communicating with key stakeholders about the focus on the Border to Coast asset pool.

4)    In September, the Pension Committee will consider a report setting out the results of the due diligence work and recommendations around approvals to move forward with Border to Coast and leaving ACCESS.

5)    The Pension Committee will consider a proposed updated Terms of Reference ahead of consideration of Full Council to approve. The proposed updates to the Pension Committee Terms of Reference will facilitate the Committee to take decisions in relation to pooling in the future.

6)    ACCESS as a collective will disband following the announcement of 7 Funds within ACCESS expressing a preference for Border to Coast and the remaining 4 Funds expressing a preference for LGPS Central.

7)    There is a focus on governance to ensure that the Fund is a member of an approved pool by 1 April 2026 while the organisation of assets and disbanding of ACCESS will likely take longer.

26.3     The Board discussed the 1 April 2026 deadline and what the expectations are in terms of what needs to be achieved ahead of that date and what is expected to be ongoing work following 1 April 2026.

26.4     The Board noted the collaborative work undertaken across the 7 Funds who have expressed a preference for Border to Coast in terms of legal processes.

26.5     The Board discussed the key objectives of the asset pool transfer process and how governance considerations are prioritised against being cost-effective.

26.6     The Board discussed the implication of consultancy contracts noting that investment advice will eventually be provided by asset pools noting that this transition will likely take years to establish fully.

26.7     The Board discussed ACCESS resource available to manage the transition noting the risk of key officer loss as the ACCESS pool is disbanded.

26.8     The Board noted that there is no definition of ‘local’ in terms of investment and how this term could be interpreted differently at the Fund level and asset pool level. It was noted that local investment’ is not asset class and that local investment overlaps with other allocations such as infrastructure or property and Local Government Pension Scheme investment strategies are likely to include an allocation for ‘local investment’ in the range of 0 to 5%.

26.9     The Board RESOLVED to note the updates in relation to next steps for the East Sussex Pension Fund in terms of pension fund pooling as set out in the report.