Agenda item

A draft Annual Work Plan 2016/17 was considered by Board Members.

In regard to compliance by scheme employers, it was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain data from some employers in the Fund such as academy schools, some of whom like other employers, were using outsourced  payroll providers. It was becoming particularly difficult to obtain data for the production of Annual Benefit Statements and to ensure a consistent provision of quality data, it was intended (as a last resort) to consult on a Pensions Administration Strategy which will aid employers and may include a provision for financial penalties on employers providing poor (or no) data.

Reference was made to a review commissioned by the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) on the impact of schools converting to academies. The work required is to investigate the impact of significant increases in the number of academy employers in the LGPS including administrative, actuarial, legal and investment issues and develop options to manage those implications for consideration by the SAB. LPB Members were informed that the majority of schools within the Bromley Fund were already academies.

Concerning ongoing administration projects, reference was made to Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) reconciliation, the GMP being the minimum pension a scheme has to provide for employees contracted out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) between April 1978 and April 1997 - the amount being broadly equivalent to the amount a member would have received had he/she not been contracted out.

It is necessary to reconcile L B Bromley/Liberata GMP data with data held by HMRC, prior to HMRC informing individuals of their contracting out history in December 2018. It may be necessary to secure external resources for the reconciliation work starting early in the New Year. Pension under or over payments could possibly arise following the reconciliation.

Following a suggestion by the former Chairman at the last meeting of the LPB, the L B Croydon have agreed to allow Bromley LPB Members to attend a meeting of their Local Pension Board and/or Pension Committee as observers, should they wish to, as part of their formal Board Member training. 

In addition to an annual meeting, Board Members were provided with monthly Pensions Administration Reports to review and invited to attend meetings of the Pensions Investment Sub-Committee. Training also included online material from the Pensions Regulator.

Training received, such as the online modules produced by the Pensions Regulator, were considered helpful in providing a high level overview. In addition to this the Pensions Manager offered to provide monthly training notes on the application of the training to the L B Bromley scheme (e.g. notes showing how the focus of a particular training module applied to L B Bromley).

Attendance at meetings of the Pension Investment Sub-Committee helped LPB Members in their role and LPB Members were able to contribute at the meetings when appropriate.

The Risk Register was in the process of being updated. A Board Member suggested that there appeared to be no account of the effect (risk) of having a number of different fund managers. Another Board Member suggested that it would be interesting to see the known risks and how these are to be dealt with. The Pensions Manager agreed to provide a copy of the updated Risk Register (in so far as it relates to pensions) to members of the LPB once it had been finalised. 

Following the meeting, Board Members were encouraged to suggest anything further for the Work Plan; it was possible to add additional items. Two further policy documents could also be shown to LPB Members– a document on cessation and a document on prospective employers.

To accommodate a desire from Board Members for some location based training (in addition to online training), Council officers would try and arrange an event in March 2017 (the Chairman could be available on Monday evenings from 6pm onwards). Items for further training were requested as follows:

·  the level to which Board Members should be pro-active in their role; and

·  an awareness of expectations from the Pensions Regulator for a Local Pension Board and individual LPB Members.

It was agreed to provide Board Members with further written material and to include information in a training event next spring.