Agenda item
Local Pension Board General Remit and LBTH Pensions Board Work Plan For 2019/20
- Meeting of Pension Board, Thursday, 7th March, 2019 5.00 p.m. (Item 9.2)
- View the background to item 9.2
Minutes:
The Board received the report of Bola Tobun, Investment and Treasury Manager, on the draft work plan for the Pension Board 2019/20.
The Board then asked a number of questions about the report and the points raised are summarised below:
The Board:
· Noted that the report outlined the general remit of a local Pension Board; the indicative Work Plan for 2019/20 for Tower Hamlets Pensions Board and the Role and Responsibilities of the Pension Board are;
· Was advised that their purpose was to monitor internal and external audit reports, monitor performance of administration.
· Was reminded that whilst it has been undertaking external audit reports it has not yet undertaken any monitoring internal audit reports
· Was informed that the last internal audit report had presented to them in 2016 and since then. However, the internal audit reports are now being circulated and should be available to the Board for the year 2017/2018;
· Suggested that a spreadsheet of complaints should be presented to the them and it was suggested for the Pensions Team to add this as an additional element to their report. As complaints are received through the council’s iCasework and the data is extractable from that system.
· On the nature of complaints are diverse, most pertain to the lack of response in a timely manner. Many people also go directly to the complaints process having had never actually contacted the council to raise the issues and allowing an opportunity to rectify.
· Noted the review of the Terms and Conditions that Tower Hamlets is currently undertaking will not have an impact on the work plan as it does not impact the Pensions Fund. The changes will not affect people’s entitlement which is a statutory requirement nor will it affect the funding levels of the fund as contributions will remain the same. The only way it would impact the fund is if there was a rapid contraction in the work force. If there was such an impact, then the impact of such changes would be looked at by both the Board and the Pensions Committee.
· Was informed that it the work plan is an ongoing process and Board Members have been contributing on a regular basis towards the Plan.
· Considered the question of switching to a digital platform rather than posting out paper statements and noted that IT is being brought back in house from Agilisys and the Council is currently renegotiating the contracts to implement the building of a self-service portal and it is hoped to have this finalised by end of the month. Although there is no deadline as such for when the Council will become paperless the initial target is to be 80% paperless by the end of the year.
It was also suggested that the Board:
- Needs to see the risk register twice a year as once a year is not sufficient. It was noted that the register is scheduled to be seen in June and suggested that it would wished to see it again in November.
- Needs a separate report monitoring investment costs and custodian and transaction costs, which would be added in September.
- Felt that it should have a budget which would include things like cost of training. This would be a budget that is separate from the overall Pensions Committee Budget and to outline the allocation for the Pension Board.
ACTIONS:
- The Pensions Team to include complaints statistics as part of their report and present to the Board.
- Investment & Treasury Manager to further investigate if there will be an impact into the pensions fund due to the proposed changes to the Councils terms and conditions.
- The Pensions Team to include in their report an update on the progress of going paperless for statements.
- The Investment & Treasury Team to include the investment, custodian and transaction costs into reporting by September.
- The Pensions Team’s report to include the progress of going towards this paperless model.
Supporting documents:
- Local Pension Board General Remit and LBTH Pensions Board Work Plan For 2019/20, item 9.2 PDF 111 KB
- Appendix 1 – LBTH Pension Board Terms of Reference, item 9.2 PDF 84 KB
- Appendix 2 - PB Work Plan 2019-20, item 9.2 PDF 48 KB