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Agenda and minutes

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

Contact: Mary Green  Telephone: 020 7527 3005

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Items
No. Item

39.

Apologies for absence

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Valerie Easmon-George.

40.

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.

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest.

41.

Minutes of the previous meeting pdf icon PDF 235 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 14 March 2022 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

42.

Membership, Terms of Reference and dates of meetings of Islington Pension Board 2022/23 pdf icon PDF 208 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

 

It was noted that the terms of reference of the sub committee should not be included in the terms of reference of the Board and it was noted that the Board’s term of reference makes no reference to the quorum

 

RESOLVED:

(a) That the membership of the Pensions Sub-Committee, appointed by the Audit Committee on 26 May 2022, its terms of reference and dates of meetings for the municipal year 2022/23, as set out at Appendix A to the report of the Director of Law and Governance, be noted.

(b) That the membership of the Pensions Board, appointed by the Audit Committee on 13 June 2022, its terms of reference and dates of meetings for the municipal year 2022/23, as set out at Appendix A to the report of the Director of Law and Governance, be noted.

(c) that the Terms of Reference of both the Board and Sub Committee be reviewed

 

43.

Pension administration performance - To follow pdf icon PDF 307 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Meeting received an update on the Pension Administration Performance , with the following points highlighted :

A modest decline of 1.29% and 0.24% in the number of active and members and pensioners respectively. In addition, spouses and dependants pension have also declined marginally by 1.3% and the number of deferred increased by just under 1%.

 

It was noted that despite the Pension Office receiving 12 communications thanking Pension Administration staff for their service, there were 40 complaints, and they were in relation to auto-enrolment. Officers are working through the opt out options and refunding contributions.

 

Board was advised to note the letter from Prudential (Appendix 1) in relation to its administration performance for Local Government AVC schemes which identified issues that need to be resolved.

 

With regard the risk register, Board was reminded that following the March meeting, officers have now revised the format to align it with the Council’s corporate risk register which now outlines the pension’s fund objectives and risk. This will be reviewed at least every 6 months. 

 

The new format of the Risk Register is welcomed but a suggestion that the residual risk scores be made more clearer.

Also it was suggested that the risk element be included as a standard item on the agenda for each Board meeting rather than waiting for its consideration after 6 months.  

RESOLVED:
That the report be noted.

 

44.

Pension Board Forward Work Programme pdf icon PDF 489 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A suggestion that Board would welcome a written statement about fraud prevention to be provided at the next meeting so as to give Members confidence that no material fraud in pensions has arisen or if so, dealt with adequately.

 

It was also noted that Training should be added to support the knowledge base of the Members.

 

Board was invited to note the May 2022 edition of LGPS issues for information.

 

RESOLVED:
That the forward work programme be noted and to include training for members of the Committee.

 

 

 

 

45.

Pension Fund - 2021/22 Draft Income and Expenditure statement account. pdf icon PDF 345 KB

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Board was advised that the final income and expenditure accounts is not ready so a summary has been brought to the committee for consideration.

 

Meeting was advised that the pension fund accounts account are being finalised and handed to the auditors later in July for auditing to be completed and Audit Committee approval by November.

 

A suggestion for the final Report to include the sum that
the Council paid out in 2021/22 to minimise the pension deficit was noted.

RESOLVED
That the 21/22 Draft Income and Expenditure pension fund accounts is noted.

That the draft statement of accounts to be distributed in July before external audit commences be noted and any comments sent by email.