Agenda item

Report by Director of Finance and Support Services.

The Board is asked to note the register of policy documents and provide feedback on the policies presented at the meeting.

8.1     The Board received a report by the Director of Finance and Support Services (copy appended to the signed minutes).

8.2     Rachel Wood introduced the report and asked members to consider the list of policy documents at Appendix A.

8.3     The Board made comments including those that follow.

•      Noted the lack of Board review date in the list.  – Rachel Wood explained that the next date of review column referred to the Board.  Tara Atkins (Principal Pensions Consultant (Administration & Employers)) added that the previous appendix had included the last officer review date.  The Board requested that in future the appendix should include the last time the Board reviewed the document, when it should be reviewed next and a link to the document.

•      Queried the lack of the Treasury Management policy which had previously been reviewed by the Board.  – Rachel Wood resolved to add this to future appendices.

8.4     Tara Atkins introduced the Communications Strategy and explained that processes had changed following the appointment of Hampshire County Council (HCC) for pension administration.  HCC had sent out their newsletter and officers would now work with them on the format and contents for next year.  Webpages had been updated to give reassurance and clarification over the change in administration provider.

8.5     The Board made comments including those that follow.

•      Asked who wrote the newsletters.  - Tara Atkins confirmed that HCC wrote the newsletters, that were previously written by Capita.  The process was currently in a transition period.  HCC would discuss future newsletters with the Board.  HCC would be expected to attend Board meetings for the Administration Procedures and Performance item which could be utilised for newsletter discussions.  The Board proposed a working group with HCC on newsletters.  Tara Atkins agreed to the discuss this with HCC.

•      Queried the definition of ‘reasonable timescales’ for response to letters, emails, enquires and phone calls.  – Tara Atkins confirmed that deadlines were covered within the administration strategy.  Rachel Wood clarified that the timescale would be 5 working days.  The Board felt this detail should be added to the policy document.

•      The Board commented that members expect immediate response to email and acknowledged that HCC used an auto response system for emails to confirm receipt.

•      Sought clarity on the phone query process.  – Tara Atkins confirmed that HCC had a dedicated team for this.  The team also monitored the mailbox and would attempt to keep members informed if queries were likely to take longer than expected.  The transition period was resulting in a higher volume of queries than normal.

•      Queried the frequency of payslips for pensioner members.  – Tara Atkins confirmed that pensioner members would receive an annual payslip, but would also receive another payslip if amounts changed.  Payslips were available on the portal.  The £1 threshold had been set by HCC.

•      Asked why the Firefighters Scheme would be looking at Pension Advisory Board documentation.  – Tara Atkins confirmed that this related to the Pension Advisory Board for the Firefighters Scheme.  Tara Atkins resolved to check the title of the Board.

•      Queried if information such as 50/50 contributions was advertised.  – Tara Atkins confirmed that it was the expectation for employers to refer their employees to relevant information.  Newsletters had previously included this information.

•      Felt that communications between the Pensions Panel and the Pension Advisory Board should be clarified.  – Tara Atkins noted that the Board had different objectives to the Panel.

•      Asked if Orbis could be utilised for the legal arrangements.  – Tara Atkins explained that legal were only required for admissions and not for legislative discussions.

•      Highlighted the employer briefing sessions from HCC which had been well received and attended.

8.6     Rachel Wood introduced the Funding Strategy Statement which would be a key piece of work for the valuation.  The Statement outlined how the actuary would consider the funding position.  The statement would be sent to employers for consideration.

8.7     The Board made comments including those that follow.

•      Highlighted that the regulation extract was from Regulation 58 and not Regulation 61.

•      Commented on the difficulty for the Board to ensure compliance when the guidance kept changing.

•      Queried the impact of employer rates from the outcome of the McCloud case.  – Rachel Wood confirmed that employer rates were likely to increase in both outcomes of the appeal.

•      Asked if there had been much take up of ill health insurance.  – Rachel Wood confirmed that this had mainly been taken up by town and parish councils.  As part of the valuation work this could be highlighted to employers.

8.8     Resolved – That the Board notes the register of policy documents, the contents of the Communication Strategy and the Funding Strategy Statement.