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Agenda and minutes

Venue: Virtual Meeting

Contact: Gerry Rufolo 01392382299  Email: gerry.rufolo@devon.gov.uk

Note: This is a vitual meeting and to view please copy and paste the following link into your browser : https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MmJlNDcyYWUtZmEwZS00Yzk2LWExNjYtMzFlY2RkOTUxMDE1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%228da13783-cb68-443f-bb4b-997f77fd5bfb%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%223d9c340a-0429-4b53-a982-1317fcf719c1%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d&btype=a&role=a 

Items
Note No. Item

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13.

Minutes

Minutes of the meeting held on 13th July 2021 (previously circulated)

Minutes:

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the Meeting held on 13 July 2021 be approved.

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14.

Items Requiring Urgent Attention

Items which in the opinion of the Chairman should be considered at the meeting as matters of urgency.

Minutes:

No item was raised as a matter of urgency.

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15.

Membership

To report the appointment of Rob Jeanes as the Independent Member of the Board.

Minutes:

The Board endorsed and welcomed the appointment of Rob Jeanes as the Independent Member and noted that Carrie Piper would be leaving the Board as an Employers representative due to new professional commitments.

 

The Board thanked Carrie for her service on the Board.

 

Officers would be meeting with Employers shortly when the appointment of a new representative would be considered. 

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16.

Review of Attendance pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/86), attached

Minutes:

The Board noted the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/86) on Member  attendance at meetings and training events.

 

Members discussed the merits of the continuation of remote virtual meetings. 

 

It was MOVED by Councillor C Slade, and SECONDED by C Hearn and

 

RESOLVED that first meeting in the municipal year be held in-person (with an option for any member to attend remotely) and the remainder continue as remote meetings. 

 

 

 

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17.

Budget pdf icon PDF 477 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/87) Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/87), attached

 

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/87) on the direct costs for the Devon Pension Board for 2021-22 and the budget statement as at month 6.

 

           

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18.

Breaches Report pdf icon PDF 87 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/88), attached

Minutes:

The Board considered the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/88) on the Breaches Log for 2020/21 (Appendix 1 of the Report). There had been 3 breaches recorded but these were considered not to be of material significance and did not warrant report to the Pensions Regulator.  This represented the best performance to date.

 

A new software programme had been purchased which would facilitate quarterly reporting to future meeting of this Board. 

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19.

Contribution Monitoring Report pdf icon PDF 204 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/89), attached

Minutes:

The Board received and noted the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/89) on current procedures for monitoring of timely payment of contributions from employers.

 

The Report outlined the monitoring process by Investment Team Officers and included a table which summarised monthly contributions received in Q1 2021/22. Of the contributions received late, these had been in the main one off events for a number of employers rather than repeat offenders and often received just after the deadline.  No action had been taken to report these to the Pensions Regulator.

 

A contributions monitoring report would now be presented to each meeting of the Board.

 

 

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20.

Devon Pension Fund Risk Register pdf icon PDF 346 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/90), attached

 

Minutes:

The Board noted the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/90)  on the Risk Register in regard to the Board’s scrutiny role in relation to risk and compliance. The Board had previously considered the Risk Register at its meeting on 13th July 2021, and comments made had been taken on board in updating the register. These changes and other revisions were outlined in the Report.

 

The Risk Register (attached at Appendix 1 to the Report) highlighted the key risks in relation to the Pension Fund, the current processes in place to mitigate the risk, and the planned improvements in place to provide further assurance. It incorporated the risk register of both the Investments Team and Peninsula Pensions. The Investment and Pension Fund Committee was the ultimate risk owner for the Pension Fund and had been last reviewed the Risk Register in September 2021.

 

Members’ discussion points with Officers included:

 

·         F7: Funding and Investments: the need to further review pay and price inflation in view of recent developments;

·         F16: McCloud and Sargeant legal cases: regulations were still progressing through Parliament and the outcome was not expected until Spring 2022; and the risk was likely to reduce from red to amber and would impact more on administrative arrangements and work was underway with Employers to help ensure their member information was up to date with a target date of 31 March 2022 for this work; and

·         F17: Climate Change: Board members agreed that the current wording was appropriate in terms of risk relating to the Pension Fund and noted this would be subject to further review following consideration of the Notice of Motion from the Council to be considered by the Investment and Pension Committee at its next meeting. 

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21.

Investment and Pension Fund Committee pdf icon PDF 212 KB

Minutes of the Investment and Pension Fund Committee meeting held on 17th September 2021, attached

Minutes:

(Councillor P Bullivant attended in accordance with Standing Order 25 and spoke to this item and answered a question in regard to Minute 24 Investment Strategy Review).

 

The Board noted the Minutes of the Investment and Pension Fund Committee held on 17 September 2021.

 

Officers confirmed that the Investment Strategy review authorised by the Investment and Pension Fund Committee would feed into and help inform the Actuarial Triannual Review to be held by 31 March 2022.   

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22.

Peninsula Pensions Administration Update and Performance Statistics pdf icon PDF 712 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/91), attached

Minutes:

The Board considered the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/91) on

Peninsula Pensions’ internal service standard target and performance against the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2013, which set out the minimum requirements regarding the disclosure of pension information. Performance targets were monitored on a monthly basis via a task management system and reporting tool within the pension database.

 

Appendix 1 of the Report provided a detailed breakdown of administration performance relating to the Devon Pension Fund for the quarter ending 30th June 2021 against Peninsula Pensions’ internal targets and against the Disclosure Regulations. Appendix 2 presented the longer-term performance of Peninsula Pensions (Devon Pension Fund only) from 1st January 2019 to 30th June 2021.

 

Peninsula Pensions had received a total of 35 compliments between 1st April 2021 and 31st 30th June 2021.

 

Members’ discussion points with the Officers included the main reason for a slight drop in performance which related to employer response times in respect of employer queries and Officers were working closely with employers to implement improvements through improved training in this area and an  update on this would be reported in the next performance report. Other areas of underperformance related to staff absences and vacancies which were also  being addressed.

 

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23.

Actions and Recommendations Tracker Reports pdf icon PDF 566 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/92), attached

Minutes:

The Board considered the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/92) on the  Audit action log which tracked progress and completion of audit actions and

recommendations. In addition, the Report included a log of actions and requests raised by the Pension Board and the internal audit programme.

 

Progress against this year’s audit plan was outlined and audit work would focus on the pension fund audits initially though work has now commenced on the revised Peninsula Pension audits.

 

The final audit report for the Member Self Service audit had been finalised since the last Board meeting. The Audit had obtained a ‘Reasonable Assurance’ audit opinion and the actions arising had been added to the Peninsula Pensions audit log and the final audit report was also attached for the Board’s information.

 

The Board noted that within the Pension Fund and Peninsula Pensions planned audits the new Pensions Regulator Code of Practice had been delayed to the Summer of 2022 and a new area of audit was therefore recommended.

 

The Board agreed that the Risk Register was an appropriate area for audit (to replace the planned code of practice audit) with reference in particular to the relatively large number of ‘Green’ designations within the Register.  

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24.

Future Work Programme pdf icon PDF 110 KB

Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/93), attached

Minutes:

The Board received the Report of the County Treasurer (CT/21/93) on the Board’s Work Programme over the next three meetings. Members noted that standing items would include reports on Breaches and Employer contributions and legislative updates.  

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25.

Dates of Future Meetings

The Pension Board will meet at 10.30am on the following dates:

 

2nd February 2022, 4th May 2022, 19 July 2022, 18 October 2022,

 

07 February 2023, and 18 April 2023

 

Minutes:

2nd February 2022, 4th May 2022, 19 July 2022 (in-person meeting), 18 October 2022, 07 February 2023, and 18 April 2023 (all at 10.30 am and to be held remotely, except where otherwise stated).

 

Confirmation of up to date dates and timings of meetings were available on the County Council’s website at:

 

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