Agenda item

Report by the Director of Finance and Support Services.

The Committee is asked to approve the updated Funding Strategy Statement at Appendix B.

24.1     The Committee considered a report by the Director of Finance and Support Services (copy appended to the signed minutes).

24.2     Rachel Wood, Pension Fund Strategist, introduced the report and highlighted key points as set out in the summary.  Committee Members’ attention was also drawn to the ‘Project Work: AVC Review’ section and arrangements to move from provider Standard Life to Legal and General.

24.3     The Committee made comments including:

a.    to note that single schools converting to academy status often needed professional support to handle the pensions element of their conversion and given that the external trusts often employ professional pay bodies it was surprising that the provision of internal advice was not better.  Stephen Law, Fund Actuary, acknowledged that the outsourced payroll bodies often struggled with this work

b.    to note with regard to paragraph 7.6, concerning four scheme members nearing retirement with AVC funds currently at Standard Life, that the pensions officer team would write to them to advise that the funds would close.  Rachel Wood added that legal advice was being sought on the reasonable timescales for this process

c.    on employer performance on data return to question, whether there were sanctions that could be applied to those who persistently failed to share data in a timely way.  Rachel Wood explained that there was opportunity to charge employers where costs had been incurred.  Andrew Lowe, Assistant Director Pensions, Hampshire County Council, added that the approach of the administrative officer team was always on support, engagement and education

d.   on portal access, to highlight that the top line figure on website hits had doubled over the quarter.  Andrew Lowe explained that hits generally increased at this time as it was the time of publication of new payslips (for pensioners) and Annual Benefit Statements (for active and deferred scheme members)

e.   on academy employers, to question what could be done to improve their engagement and performance.  Rachel Wood confirmed that support and training was offered and that the team was aware of the growth of these employers and the challenge posed.  Taryn Eves, undertook to bring to the Committee a report on the employers training process and any options to enact discretions

f.    on reporting, whether an analysis was made of poor compliance, timeliness and quality of data supplied by employers.  Rachel Wood explained that this was gathered at end of the financial year and a mid-year validation exercise undertaken and that targeted training was available, also that development of the employer portal continued and this would reduce form-filling requirements

g.   on compliance, to question whether the Pensions Advisory Board had a role in supporting good quality employer returns.  Rachel Wood agreed that it did and could be asked to monitor assistance to the Scheme Manager to secure compliance and report back in due course

h.   on portal access, to question whether the figures set out related to the number of scheme members accessing the portal over the quarter or the number of times the portal was accessed.  Rachel Wood and Andrew Lowe explained that the data referred to the number of times the portal was accessed.

24.4     The Chairman thanked Committee Members for their comments and confirmed that no one had any questions on Appendix B.

24.5     Resolved – that the Pensions Committee noted the report and                      approved the updated Funding Strategy Statement at                       Appendix B.