Agenda item

44.1     The Board considered a report by the Chief Finance Officer introduced by Dave Kellond, Head of Governance and Compliance together with exempt information contained in a later agenda item.

44.2        The following points were highlighted to the Board:

1)    A new consultation launched 13 October on access and protections following the consultation on access and fairness which took place in May 2025.

2)    This new consultation focuses four key areas: changes to normal minimum pension age increasing from 55 to 57 and the protections available for members who joined the scheme before 4 November 2021; Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) access for councillors, mayors and deputy mayors; multi-academy trusts which have academies within 2 or more LGPS being able to apply to consolidate their participation into a single fund where they can evidence that it would provide value for money; and, the New Fair Deal which includes the removal of the option to offer a broadly comparable scheme for eligible members transferred to a new employer and a deemed employer approach for contractors.

3)    A Ministerial Statement on the previous consultation in May has been published stating that full responses to the access and fairness consultation will be published later this year.

4)    The ongoing consultation on access and protections closes on 22 December 2025 and full responses on behalf of the Fund will be shared with the chairs of the Pension Board and Pension Committee prior to submitting.

5)    In line with the regulations, the Pension Administration Statement has been reviewed and proposed updates are set out in Appendix 2 and Appendix 3 of the report for consideration ahead of consultation with employers.

6)    The Pension Administration Strategy was last agreed in 2023 and the key areas of change involve communications referencing the Communications Strategy, legal deadlines for processing casework, reporting that takes place for Pension Board and Pension Committee around casework targets.

7)    The Pension Administration Strategy will need to be reviewed again following regulatory changes and it is anticipated that a further review will take place in 12 months’ time.

44.3     The Board discussed how the New Fair Deal’s deemed employer approach and how that would affect contractors and scheme members and noted that this approach is not dissimilar to the current approach and could allow for new employees joining a contractor to become a member of the scheme.

44.4     The Board requested that the wording within the draft Pension Administration Strategy is updated to strengthen the position of i-Connect being the default means for the transfer of employee information from employers to the Fund.

44.5     The Board discussed the importance of Pension Board and Pension Committee Member engagement with training and development and the Chair requested that strong effort is made by all Board Members to return the self-assessment to the Fund’s training coordinator.

44.6     The Independent Chair informed the Board that it is his intention to retire following the November 2026 meeting of the Pension Board.

44.7     The Board RESOLVED to:

1) Note the legal and regulatory changes as set out in the report;

2) Note the updated Pension Administration Strategy as set out in Appendix 2 of the report and request the update detailed at minute 44.4 prior to the launch of consultation with employers;

3) Note the updates in relation to Pension Board Member training; and

4) Note that Officers will be initiating a process to replace the Independent Chair in the context of any Governance changes that may be required from the “Fit for the Future” consultation.