Agenda and minutes

Received from Mike Calvert, Marion Oliver, Thelma Harvey and George Sharkey.

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 meeting held on 5 September 2017 be confirmed as a correct record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

Matter arising

Referring to minute 34 – “Pension Administration Performance”, the Deputy Pensions Manager reported that the Pensions Regulator had decided not to fine Islington Council for not providing scheme members with annual benefit statements in accordance with Regulations. New systems were in place to ensure that this would not be a problem going forward.

The Deputy Pensions Manager reported that staff were being recruited into the Pensions Team and the new staff would be targeting Preserved benefit calculations, one of the key performance indicators which was not being achieved.

RESOLVED:

That the performance against key performance indicators for the period from

1 August 2017 to 31 January 2018, including statistics regarding the internal dispute resolution procedure, complaints and compliments and the number of members auto-enrolled into the Local Government Pensions Scheme, as detailed in the report of the Director of Human Resources, be noted.

A representative from Mercer outlined progress on work undertaken since the Board’s last meeting to determine the potential numbers of members eligible for trivial commutation lump sums.  If implemented, the exercise would realise efficiency savings for the Council. The Board expressed a wish that communications with eligible members would advise them of the need to seek independent financial advice before committing. 

It was noted that there would be a presentation to the Pension Fund AGM in October 2018 on the subject of trivial commutation.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the contents of the exempt feasibility report from Mercer on “Islington Council Pension Fund – trivial commutation analysis” be noted.

(b) That the Pensions Team undertake a bulk exercise to communicate the options to eligible members, with a small pension pot (less than £10k), in the first instance.

(c) That the Pensions Team ensure that the exercise is undertaken in compliance with the Pensions Regulator guidance on good practice on incentive exercises.

The Board noted that this report had been submitted to them for observations to be made to the Pensions Sub-Committee, which would be making a decision on the recommendations relating to the LCIV governance structure and strategy consultation in the report.  

The following points were made during discussion:

·         At the moment, the fund’s global equities had been transferred to the CIV

·         That there was a reluctance to transfer funds rapidly to the CIV and more clarity was needed on the offer.

·         Transparency was an issue

·         More diversity should be encouraged in the membership of the London CIV Board e.g. by the inclusion of 30% women

·         That there would be further transaction costs if more funds were transferred to the CIV

·         The Chair of the main Shareholder group should be independent (p.50)

Noted.

Noted.

Councillor Poyser proposed a vote of thanks to Councillor Greening, the Chair of the Pensions Sub-Committee, who would be standing down as a councillor at this year’s Election.  He congratulated him on his experience and knowledge of pensions matters and his steering of decisions through the Sub-Committee, which had led to the current satisfactory position of the Fund.