Agenda and minutes

Received from 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 28 September 2022 be confirmed as an accurate record of proceedings and the Chair be authorised to sign them.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the number of members auto-enrolled into the LGPS during the period 1 August to 26 October 2022 and the information in respect of the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure, compliments and complaints, all as detailed in the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, be noted.

(b) That the performance data for the administration activities of the Council’s Pensions Office, again as detailed in the report, be noted.

(c) That it be noted that there were currently no Audit Investigations taking place in Pensions Administration.

(d) That progress on key projects by the Pensions team, such as transfer of the pension server to the Cloud and development of a member self-service platform, be noted.

A suggestion was made that a guide for employers, explaining each discretion and its meaning for the employer and employee, be included with the policy document.

RESOLVED:

That the proposal to include a change to the Discretions Policy, by the introduction of a Shared Cost Additional Voluntary Contributions Scheme, be approved and that the Policy be noted.

A representative from Mercer, the Fund Actuary, introduced the report to the Board, setting out the funding strategy for the Fund.

The Board noted that the results of the 31 March 2022 actuarial valuation had shown that the Fund was 96% funded, representing a deficit of £79m.  The Board were keen to see the deficit reduced as far as possible and requested the Corporate Director of Resources to make a formal request to the Council to contribute towards the Fund deficit.

RESOLVED:

(a)That the summary of the main updates in the draft Funding Strategy Statement, which was to be the subject of consultation with employers between December 2022 and January 2023 and attached to the report of the Corporate Director of Resources, be noted.

(b) That officers update the draft Funding Strategy Statement with the Fund Actuary for consultation with the Employers who are admitted into the Islington Fund.

(c) That officers be authorised, where necessary, to update and finalise the draft Funding Strategy Statement at the next meeting in March 2023.

(d) That the Corporate Director of Resources be requested to make a formal request to the Council to contribute towards the Fund deficit.

RESOLVED:

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

(b) That the Risk Register be reviewed every quarter, rather than the current 6 monthly.

(c) That the Pension Regulator Toolkit for Board members on training, knowledge and understanding, be recirculated.

(d) That information be included on future agendas, as necessary, on guidance from the Scheme Advisory Board to ensure that the Board is complying with Pensions’ regulations.

The Chair reminded all present that the Annual Meeting for members of the Fund would take place this coming Thursday, 8 December 2022, at 1.00pm in the Islington Assembly Hall.