Agenda item

(To receive a report from the Head of Pensions, which updates the Board on Fund matters and any current issues)

Consideration was given to a report by the Head of Pensions, which provided an update on Fund matters.

The Board was reminded that to assist in the governance of the Lincolnshire Fund, the Fund assessed itself against the requirements of the Pension Regulator's (TPR's) code of practice 14 for public service pension schemes, as set out in a check list, as detailed at Appendix A to the report.

The Board was assured that no areas had changed since the last quarter's report, however in B12 there was now only one member of the Pensions Committee yet to complete their TPR Toolkit training.  The Board was advised that this would be addressed.

It was highlighted that a meeting of the Joint Committee had been held on 4 June 2019, and the papers had been circulated to all Pension Board members.  A summary of the meeting was detailed on page 19 of the agenda pack. The next meeting of the Joint Committee was scheduled for 11 September 2019.

The scheduled visit to Border to Coast Offices on 11 July 2019 had been cancelled, owing to a low up-take and therefore officers would be looking to rearrange later in 2019 or early 2020.  The Democratic Services Officer was requested to identify potential dates.

The Board was provided an update on the Good Governance Project, as detailed on page 20 of the Agenda Pack, and it was advised that the Scheme Advisory Board had appointed Hymans Robertson in early 2019 to consider options for enhancing LGPS governance arrangements to ensure that the Scheme was ready for the challenges ahead and at the same time retains local democratic accountability. As part of this, a survey was issued, which was open to all stakeholders, requesting views on four example governance models.  The four models were detailed in the report and it was advised that Options 3 – Joint Committee and 4 – New local authority body were like to have been ruled out as a proposal, based on feedback received.

It was expected that the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government would soon introduce a mandatory level of training and knowledge for the Pensions Committee, in line with that already in place for the Board. 

Furthermore, it was reported that the Pensions Committee at its meeting on 18 July 2019 had supported this approach and voted to adopt a requirement for a mandatory minimum level of training for all Committee members.

The Head of Pensions invited Members to provide feedback on any conference or training events that they had recently attended.

Members were asked to notify the Head of Pensions or the Accounting, Investment and Governance Manager if they wished to attend the Border to Coast conference or any other future training events.

It was explained that the Actuarial Contract was due to expire in December 2019, and to reduce any potential impact to the Fund and employers should there be a change of provider, the Pensions Committee at its meeting on 18 July 2019 had approved a ten month extension to the contract to 31 October 2020.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.