Agenda and minutes

Received from Maggie Elliot.

If you have a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest* in an item of business:

         if it is not yet on the council’s register, you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent;

         you may choose to declare a Disclosable Pecuniary Interest that is already in the register in the interests of openness and transparency. 

In both the above cases, you must leave the room without participating in discussion of the item.

If you have a personal interest in an item of business and you intend to speak or vote on the item you must declare both the existence and details of it at the start of the meeting or when it becomes apparent but you may participate in the discussion and vote on the item.

*(a)      Employment, etc - Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.

(b)        Sponsorship - Any payment or other financial benefit in respect of your expenses in carrying out duties as a member, or of your election; including from a trade union.

(c)        Contracts - Any current contract for goods, services or works, between you or your partner (or a body in which one of you has a beneficial interest) and the council.

(d)        Land - Any beneficial interest in land which is within the council’s area.

(e)        Licences- Any licence to occupy land in the council’s area for a month or longer.

(f)        Corporate tenancies - Any tenancy between the council and a body in which you or your partner have a beneficial interest.

 (g) Securities - Any beneficial interest in securities of a body which has a place of business or land in the council’s area, if the total nominal value of the securities exceeds £25,000 or one hundredth of the total issued share capital of that body or of any one class of its issued share capital. 

This applies to all members present at the meeting.

None.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the Board meeting held on 21 September 2016 be confirmed as a correct record and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Matter arising:

Chair of the Pensions Board – It was reported that Vaughan West, the former Chair of the Board, had left Islington to take up a new position with the GMB. The Trades Unions had nominated Mr George Sharkey as a replacement Scheme Member representative.   It was agreed that a letter be sent to Vaughan West thanking him for his services as Chair of the Board and also for his services as a non-voting adviser on the Pensions Sub-Committee over many years.

The Democratic Services Officer undertook to consult the Constitution of the Board to clarify which body was responsible for the appointment of a new Chair of the Board and to progress Mr Sharkey’s appointment to the Board.

Communications  strategy

The Pensions Manager confirmed that the Strategy had been updated and published on Izzi and on Islington’s external website.  The Board’s comments at the previous meeting relating to the inclusion of Frequently Asked Questions, how to encourage people to save more money in their pensions and figures on auto-enrolment, in next year’s pension statements, was being addressed. Workshops were being arranged with the Prudential.  He undertook to provide information at the next meeting on progress on auto-enrolment.

The Pensions Manager reported that overall performance had improved slightly,to 89.64%, compared to the target of 95%. He stated that this suite of key performance indicators had been agreed by all London boroughs. The reduced performance was attributed to a lack of resources and he expected to recruit a new member of staff  to drive up performance on the targets to 95%.  It was noted that the costs of the recruitment of a full-time member of staff to the Pensions Team would be taken from the Fund.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Pensions Sub-Committee be requested to consider the funding of a full-time post in the Pensions Team to assist with administrative work to assist the Team in achieving its performance targets.

(b) That the fact that there have been an increase of approximately 200 active members to the Fund be welcomed.

(b) That the performance against key performance indicators for the period from

1 September 2016 to 31 January 2017, including statistics regarding the internal dispute resolution procedure, complaints and compliments, as detailed in the report of the Director of Governance and Human Resources, be noted.

The Head of the Pension Fund and Treasury Management introduced her report, explaining that the Strategy set out a funding and recovery plan for the employers admitted to the Fund.

Members of the Fund noted the position of “Volunteering Matters”, which showed a deficit recovery contribution of £318,300 in 2017/18 and queried how sustainable it was to retain them in the Fund.   Officers explained that the organisation had been admitted to the Fund in 1973 as their headquarters were in Islington and they provided a service to residents.  In the past, the organisation had sold properties to cover a part of their deficit. They were due to sell a property in the near future and it was expected that a lump sum would be paid in to the Fund to lower their deficit.

A member of the Board asked for information on the basis of the determination of the overall discount rate of 4.5%.  The Head of the Pension Fund and Treasury Management reminded the Board that the assumptions had been explained at the last meeting. She undertook to circulate the presentation from that meeting to the Board members, highlighting the slides relating to the discount rate.

RESOLVED:

That the views of the Pensions Board set out below be relayed to the Pensions Sub-Committee to inform their discussion on the Funding Strategy Statement.

The Director of Financial Management highlighted the fact that members of the Board were not covered by the Council’s insurance policy.

It was agreed that a report would be submitted to the next meeting of the Board on indemnification for Pension Board members.