Ms Miriam Adams, Interim Head of Pensions and Treasury stated the report provided information relating to the administration and performance of the Fund over the last quarter as well as updates on key LGPS issues and initiatives which impact the Fund.

She informed members they were being asked to note and comment on the report and approve a new employer to the Fund, Phoenix Autism Trust. She said there had also been a government update relating to academies and said the liability guarantee had been increased to £20m, which meant the government would take responsibility for failed academies and not the Fund.

Ms Adams referred members to the tables at paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2 of the report and said this provided an update on the membership numbers as well as the tasks completed and outstanding. She said the membership numbers were a little superficial, and changed every day, more so the June quarter’s figures, as the scheme is required to auto-enrol existing members every three years and so some active members may opt-out of the scheme with numbers falling over the next quarter.

Referring to the table at paragraph 3.9, page 121 she said this gave a breakdown of how the fund was performing against CIPFA suggested timelines. She said some tasks took longer to complete such as transfers in and out, and also processing deaths and retirements as responses are required from third parties. Ms Adams referred to the table at paragraph 3.10 which showed the active members as at 30^th June 2022.

Referring to the legislative updates, Ms Adams said the GAD cap results showed the LGPS as a whole remained within the 2% corridor and as such there were no changes to benefits or member contributions needed. She noted the Pensions Dashboard had been discussed earlier in the meeting.

In response to comments and questions from members the following was noted:

• Referring to paragraph 3.12, Ms Adams provided clarity that the new employer being admitted into the Fund, was not a secondary school but a Specialist 16+ institution. She said she had personally written to the DfE seeking clarification on their status. They have been admitted as an admitted body, as they are a charityand limited company.
• In response to the Employer Data Quality issue, at paragraph 3.11, Mr Nisar Visram, Director of Finance, Procurement and Audit stated progress on resolving issues on Council’s employee payroll data had been slow and extremely frustrating. He said the Council was working with thepayroll software provider to solve the payroll issues and had recruited a payroll specialist to understand the issues. He said they were working with IT but could not give a timeline as to when it will be solved.

• ACTION: Councillor Blake asked if progress had been made regarding a case study for pension administration and hearing the ‘users voice’ about their experience of using the Pension Service. She also suggested that any new employer also be informed about employer representation on to the Committee, as part of the induction process.

• Ms Adams explained the current process of how new members to the scheme are inducted and said the suggestions made would be taken forward.

The Pensions Committee RESOLVED to:

1. Note and comment on the content of the report and appendix;
2. Noted and approved the admission to the Fund of Phoenix Autism Trust; and
3. Noted the Government Update that it will continue to provide the academy liability guarantee, the ceiling of which had increased to £20m.