Skip to content

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, Town Hall, Upper Street, N1 2UD

Contact: Mary Green  Telephone: 020 7527 3005

Items
No. Item

31.

Apologies for absence

Minutes:

Received from Maggie Elliott and George Sharkey.

32.

Declaration of interests

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.

 

Minutes:

None.

33.

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 225 KB

Minutes:

 

 

 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 23 November 2021 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them

34.

Pension administration performance pdf icon PDF 116 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The following points were made during discussion:

 

·       A Pensions Tracing Agency was being sought to help trace over 1000 deferred members for whom the Pensions Team did not have a current home address. This was also an issue for other Pension Funds.

·       That the date of auto-enrolment had moved to 1 May 2022, as opposed to the date of 1 April 2022 quoted in the report

·       That, in response to the points raised by Maggie Elliott, Vice-Chair of the Board, relating to access to the complaints procedure for pensioners, the Council’s Communications Team had included a facility on the Council’s website for quick access to a web page which contained general information on pensions and advice on making a complaint.

·       The Pensions Manager undertook to supply figures on unclaimed pensions to Valerie Easmon-George

·       The Pensions Team was aiming for an automated pensions system, recognising that some staff would still require paper versions of their documents

 

RESOLVED:

(a) That the following information detailed in the report of the Corporate Director of Resources be noted:

i) the number of members auto-enrolled into the LGPS during the relevant period

ii) the information in respect of the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure, compliments and complaints

iii) the ongoing work in relation to the McCloud Judgement

iv) the steps taken in relation to the recruitment of experienced Pensions Officers

v) Islington Council’s new staging date of 1 May 2022 for auto re-enrolment

vi) the changes to the Council’s Pension Fund website to make the complaints process clearer to members and customers.

vii) the information detailed in Appendix 2- LGPS Current Issues February 2022

(b) That the contractual engagement of a Pensions Tracing Agency be endorsed.

 

35.

Pension Policy Discretion Review 2022 pdf icon PDF 142 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

 

Members of the Board suggested that the Appendix to the report be revised to indicate clearly where changes in Policy were being recommended by officers.  The revised report should be submitted to the next meeting for consideration.

 

RESOLVED:

That consideration of the report be deferred to the next meeting.

36.

Three year Pension administration cost and annual cashflow pdf icon PDF 106 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

RESOLVED:

That the Fund’s cash flow and forecast of administration cost, attached as Appendix 1 and Appendix 1A to the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, be noted.

37.

Forward Plan of business pdf icon PDF 130 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Members suggested that they should receive at least one training session per annum. It was noted that members were due to receive a training session on the triennial valuation in the near future.

 

Alan Begg offered to meet directly with Pensions officers to review and revise the Risk Register, with a view to improving the style and content of the document.

 

RESOLVED:

(a) That Appendix A attached to the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, comprising the forward plan of business for the Board, be noted.

(b) That the information on the 2022 actuarial valuation process timetable, attached as Appendix B to the report, be noted.

(c) That it be noted that Board members were due to receive a training session on the triennial valuation.

(d) That the Risk Register attached as Appendix C to the report be not approved at this stage and that Alan Begg meet with Pensions Managers to review and revise the Risk Register, with a view to improving the style and content of the document.

 

38.

Start time of next meeting

Minutes:

It was agreed that the next meeting should commence at 5.00pm in order to facilitate discussion on the Pension Discretion Policy Review and the Risk Register, both deferred from this meeting.