Issue - meetings

RESOLVED:

(a)  The Committee considered the update and provided comments. The Committee agreed to return their self-assessment training needs analysis forms by 19 February as referred to in paragraph in 1.07 of the report.

(b)  The Committee approved the Governance Policy and Compliance Statement, including the new objective relating to cybercrime, referred to in paragraph 1.06 of the report and attached in Appendix 2.

Mr Latham said that there was a Scheme Advisory Board meeting on 3 February but there are no formal meeting notes published yet. 

            Mr Latham highlighted the key change to the Governance Policy which is the inclusion of an objective focussed on data security and cybercrime; this was shown on page 141 - Ensuring confidentiality, integrity and accessibility of the Fund's data, systems and services is protected and preserved.

            Mr Latham reminded the Committee about completing their self-assessment forms, and added that Mrs Fielder had hard copies available to complete if that was the preferred option.

            Cllr Hughes attended the two day LGA Governance Conference on 23 and 24 January. He highlighted it was a very useful event with lots of discussion about McCloud but there had been no explanation of the background which would have been helpful.  

            Mrs Williams gave a brief overview explaining that McCloud is an age discrimination case and there was a ruling relating to the firefighters and judicial pension schemes which said younger people put in the new schemes, would now be worse off. People complained that this was ageist and it was upheld so the case needed to be remedied. The Government agreed this needed to be considered for all public sector schemes including the LGPS.

            For the LGPS it is likely that the Fund will need to implement a remedy which involving checking which is the better of the old and new schemes for certain members, given that this was the approach provided to all members who were active on 1 April 2012 and within 10 years of retirement.  This may be extended to all members who were active at 1 April 2012 irrespective of age. Whilst this has a potential to increase funding costs (as discussed in an earlier item) it is likely to have a much more material impact on the administration, due to the need to recalculate benefits for many members who have left or retired since 2012.

            It also affects employers as the Fund will need to gather part time hour changes from employers from April 2014, which will then have to be updated on the Fund's administration system. Mrs Williams explained that, even though the remedy is not likely to be implemented until 2022 at the earliest, the administration team will go ahead with updating the systems so that it will be up to date and the team are prepared. They are expected to them have to and recalculate historical benefits and make payments accordingly (to existing pensioners).

            Cllr Rutherford suggested that the two-day conference could have been completed in one day and he also agreed with Cllr Hughes regarding the clarity on McCloud.  Mrs McWilliam suggested that further training on McCloud could be provided on the 18 March training day that has been scheduled for the Committee and Board. The Committee welcomed that opportunity for further training.

            Mrs McWilliam highlighted to the Committee that there is a Local Authority Responsible Investment Seminar on 8 July in Hertfordshire.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 104