Agenda and minutes

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 13 September 2017 as an accurate record and note any actions.

This minutes were not approved as the meeting was not quorate.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Ali Hashem, Matt Hopson, Neil Netwon and Eric Kersey.

If a Councillor has a disclosable pecuniary interest in a particular item, whether or not it is entered in the Authority’s register of interests, or any other significant interest which they consider should be declared in the public interest, they should declare the existence and, unless it is a sensitive interest as defined in the Member Code of Conduct, the nature of the interest at the commencement of the consideration of that item or as soon as it becomes apparent.

At meetings where members of the public are allowed to be in attendance and speak, any Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest or other significant interest may also make representations, give evidence or answer questions about the matter. The Councillor must then withdraw immediately from the meeting before the matter is discussed and any vote taken.

Where Members of the public are not allowed to be in attendance and speak, then the Councillor with a disclosable pecuniary interest should withdraw from the meeting whilst the matter is under consideration. Councillors who have declared other significant interests should also withdraw from the meeting if they consider their continued participation in the matter would not be reasonable in the circumstances and may give rise to a perception of a conflict of interest.

Councillors are not obliged to withdraw from the meeting where a dispensation to that effect has been obtained from the Audit, Pensions and Standards Committee.

There were no declarations of interest.

Minutes of the Pensions Sub Committee meetings held on 19 September and 21 November 2017.

The minutes of the Pensions Sub-Committee were not noted as the meeting was not quorate.

Update report from Interim Director of Pensions and Treasury.

Phil Triggs presented the quarterly update pack for the quarter ended 30 September 2017. He noted that over the 12-month period, the fund delivered a net return of 8.4%, outperforming the benchmark by 0.1%. The fund remained ahead of the benchmark over the three and five-year periods by 2.4% p.a and 5.3% p.a, respectively.

The Sub Committee decided to make a £30m investment to the Aviva’s infrastructure income fund which would be funded from the fund’s majedie holdings. This investment along with the undrawn partners group infrastructure investment would rebalance the fund back to the benchmark weights, once both products had been fully drawn down.

Councillor Vaughan, referring to page 59 of the agenda (risk 18) noted that as a score this was high. Phil Triggs said that all the mitigated actions were in place, therefore this risk needed to be re-scored and corrected.

Councillor Vaughan, referring to page 55 of the agenda (risk 9) noted that this was a past risk as the MiFID II process had been completed. Therefore, needed to be removed from the risk register.

Orin Miller noted that the Council needed to notify members of the Local Pensions Scheme (LGPS) that there were no risks to the fund following the profit warning issued by Interserve. He suggested improving communication by sending out a newsletter, reassuring and updating members of their pensions funds. David Coates noted that a newsletter would be sent in April to all members of the Pensions Scheme. Furthermore, he said that the Council was the guarantor of the LPGS therefore pensions funds were secure. Additionally, scheme members would be contacted advising them of the arrangements put into place and reassuring them that their contributions were secure.

Update from David Coates.

David Coates provided an update of the performance of SCC pension administration services to 30 September June 2017. In September 79% of helpdesk queries were handled without the need to refer to another colleague, which indicated that they were reaching their target. All targets apart from the pensioners newsletter had been achieved for annual exercises and monthly pensioner payroll.

Day to day work had a target of 100%, however projections requests from employees had a score of 51% which was not ideal, however would expect this to improve as the new system allowed employees to run their own projections. SCC were also processing monthly BT files for starters, changes, and leavers from April 2017 therefore the score for deferred benefits would also improve.

Orin Miller asked how often would pensioners receive a payslip. David Coates said that payslips were issued twice a year in March and April and pensioners would also be notified if there was a difference in their net pay from the previous month.

David Coates, in reference to page 121 of the agenda provided an update on the inherited Capita backlog performance and noted that there were 138 cases that had not yet been brought into payment. These cases were being traced as members could not be contacted at their last known address. Tracing services were being introduced to identify individuals.

David Coates said that overall, he was satisfied with how SCC had performed. Councillor Vaughan thanked David Coates for providing a report on the performance and acknowledged the good work and efforts made by SCC.

The Committee is invited to resolve, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, that the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that they contain the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, that the public and press be excluded from the meeting during the consideration of the following items of business, on the grounds that they contain the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the said Act, and that the public interest in maintaining the exemption currently outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Update report from Interim Director of Pensions and Treasury.

Phil Triggs introduced the report and noted that an extensive governance review was carried out by Willis Towers Watson on the London CIV (CIV). The report highlighted a number of issues within the LCIV and made some recommendations for change and improvement in LCIV’s governance arrangements and operating model.

He highlighted that the key concern surrounding the engagement of a wide stakeholder base with conflicting priorities and managing these different groups to achieve joint outcomes. Additionally, the Chief Investment Officer of the London CIV Julian Pendock had also left the organisation, with a search for a replacement yet to formally begin. The London CIV were reluctant to recruit a replacement until they were certain about their strategy going forward. 

Phil Triggs said that a meeting would be held with relevant officers and the report would be presented at the Pensions Sub Committee for further discussions. Councillor Vaughan said that it was good to hear that all relevant officers were taking interest and working together to consider the arrangements.