Agenda and minutes

Received from George Sharkey and Councillor Satnam Gill.

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.

Councillors Watts and Convery declared an interest in items on the agenda as members of the Pension Fund.

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations made at the informal meeting of the Board held on

8 December 2020 be confirmed.

As part of his introduction to the report, the Deputy Pensions Manager outlined the possible consequences of the impact of the McCloud/Sargeant Judgment resulting in significant additional work and staff resource pressures on the Council’s Pensions Team.   He hoped to report to the Board in June on the scope of the work involved to comply with requirements.  

The Deputy Pensions Manager noted that, due to software issues, it would not be possible to introduce pension increases in April 2021 and that they would be delayed until May 2021.  Members were hopeful that there would be no recurrence of a delay such as this in the future.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the report of the Corporate Director of Resources detailing: the number of members auto-enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme during the relevant period: the information in respect of the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure, compliments and complaints:  the impact of the McCloud/Sargeant judgement on Local Government Pension Administration:  the revocation of the public-sector exit payment cap by HM Treasury; the High Court ruling on equalising past GMP transfers: and Government plans to increase the minimum pension age from 55 to 57, be noted.

The Board noted that there could be substantial costs associated with the McCloud/Sargeant issue which had not been reflected in the Pension Fund budget.

RESOLVED:

That the Fund’s 2021/22 cashflow forecast and 3 year budget of

administration cost for the period covering 2021/22 to 2023/24, as detailed in the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, be noted.

The Chair suggested that it would be helpful for members of the Pensions Board and Sub-Committee hold an informal meeting before September to consider all of the recommendations proposed by the Scheme Advisory Board and whether any should be adopted into Islington’s Fund.  It would also provide an opportunity for the Board to reflect more generally on its operations, vacancies etc.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Good Governance Review published by the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) be noted.

(b) That the action plan also prepared by SAB and sent to MHCLG to support best practice governance building on the recommendations of the review, attached as Appendix 1 to the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, be noted.

(c) That a further report be submitted to the Board in September to consider some of the recommendations in the SAB report and its implementation for Islington’s Fund.

(d) That members of the Pensions Board and Sub-Committeed meet in advance of September to consider which of the SAB recommendations should be adopted by Islington’s Fund.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the contents of the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, comprising information on forthcoming business for the Board, be noted.

(b) That an item on “Implications for the Pensions Board of the McCloud/Sargeant judgement” be added to the list for consideration at the June 2021 Board meeting.

(c) That the LGPS “Current Issues – January 2021”, attached as Appendix B to the report, be noted.