To agree the minutes of the informal meeting
held on 6 August 2020.
Minutes:
The notes of the informal meeting held on 6
August were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.
It was noted that minute 9c, regarding the 10%
adjustment having its own entry on the risk register had not been
actioned.
There was some discussion about the training
for new members of the Board being completed before they could join
discussions at the meeting. The
Chairman noted the concern and stated that there was a need to be
practical in such situations and that the same rule would apply for
substitute representatives. The Scheme
Manager pointed out the Terms of Reference were not that
specific.
14/20
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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To receive
any declarations of disclosable
pecuniary interests from Members in respect of any item to be
considered at the meeting.
Notes:
·In line with the Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations 2012,
declarations may relate to the interest of the member, or the
member’s spouse or civil partner, or a person with whom the
member is living as husband or wife, or a person with whom the
member is living as if they were civil partners and the member is
aware they have the interest.
·Members need only disclose interests not currently
listed on the Register of Disclosable
Pecuniary Interests.
·Members must notify the Monitoring Officer of any
interests disclosed at the meeting so they may be added to the
Register.
·Members are reminded that they must not participate
in any item where they have a disclosable pecuniary interest.
Minutes:
There were none.
15/20
QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
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Due to the Covid-19
pandemic all questions and petitions received will be responded to
in writing and will be contained within the minutes of the
meeting.
To receive any questions or petitions.
Notes:
1. The deadline for Member’s questions
is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (12/11/2020).
2. The deadline for public questions is seven
days before the meeting (11/11/2020)
3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days
before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.
The Board is asked to review
and note its action tracker.
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Sally Wilson, Scheme Manager
Key
points raised during the discussion:
A Member requested
that a copy of all advice and reports from Weightman’s to the
Service or Surrey County Council on pensionable pay with regard to
tracker item A16/20, be shared with the Board.
The Board requested
that each item on the tracker be updated for future meetings and
for old items in particular.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
The Board concurred
with the Member’s request for copies of Weightman’s
reports which the Scheme Manager agreed to consider.
That the Action
Tracker have an update for each item for each meeting.
The
Pensions Support & Development Manager introduced the updated
report and highlighted paragraph 7 relating to the successful
delivery of theAnnual Allowance Statement to
members. The Board noted that the
tracker stated that tracing would be done in May 2020 and asked if
this was delayed due to Covid. It was thought
that the comment may have referred to some other project as
officers would not have known about these cases in May. The tracing was due to take place in January
2021.
The Pensions Support & Development Manager also
spoke of the progress that had been made with regard to the180 outstanding tasks in the administration
system. The Chairman referred to the
total number of cases in the KPI annex and asked if the 106 total
outstanding cases would go down considerably for the next meeting
as most of them were issues with transferring in or
out. This was confirmed. The Chairman also stated that if someone asks for
information about a transfer and it is supplied then the case
should be closed down until the member made a decision to
transfer. The Workforce
Information Officer stated that a few people had made requests but
were a long way off retirement. There
were a few transfers to London Fire Brigade but these cases had
been dealt with. The Chairman requested
that she inform thePensions Support &
Development Manager of any members whose requests were delayed so
they can be expedited.
The Pensions Support & Development
Managerconfirmed that the statutory TPR
scheme return was scheduled to be completed by the
deadline. He then went on to talk about
bulletin 38 which had been received but was not on the
agenda. The Chairman asked that any
bulletins received before a meeting be included in the papers
rather than waiting until the next meeting.
There was some discussion regarding the pensions
helpdesk and the work being undertaken to support the helpdesk and
deal with the staff shortage. It was
reported that recruitment was being undertaken now and some leavers
had been retained as bank staff to help with training new
staff. The Chairman requested an update
on the backlog and on recruitment on a monthly basis from the end
of November.
The Scheme Manager explained that she was looking at
pension administration options for the future and was working with
the procurement team to go out to market at the end of
November. They would then be looking
for a supplier in December with the aim to have them confirmed and
in place by April 2021. She also
explained that all policies were being reviewed to ensure they were
compliant and current, and that governance arrangements were being
reconfirmed to ensure that decisions were being made at an
appropriate level. A written report
would be forthcoming from the Scheme Manager to future
meetings. She also confirmed that there
was ...
view the full minutes text for item 17/20
The
Board is asked to note the content of this report and to make
recommendations of any amendments to the Surrey FFPS Risk
Register.
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Sally Wilson, Scheme Manager
Key
points raised during the discussion:
1.It was confirmed that the Scheme Manager would be
taking ownership and responsibility for the risk register and would
ensure that it was updated for the next meeting. She had updated it for the meeting to remove
duplications. Risk owners should also
be updating their individual risks as appropriate.
2.Regarding risk F16 (Workforce strategy leads to
changes in working arrangements without consideration of pensions
implications), a Member highlighted there had been another
incidence of a workforce change being made without consideration of
pensions implications and the risk should be ranked red and the
control measures broadened. The Scheme
Manager stated that she would review the risk and mitigating
actions and will continue to ensure pensions were considered going
forward. The Scheme Manager also
confirmed that she forms part of the Service Workforce Working
Group for this purpose.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
That the
issues of 10%, resources and the O’Brien case show as
separate risks and be rated accordingly.
Regarding
risk F16, the risk and control measures should be
reviewed.
The Board has requested an
update on pensionable pay relating to Day Related Flexible Hours
Allowance and Variable Crewing Hours Allowance. The Board
are asked to note the update.
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Sally Wilson, Scheme Manager
Key points raised
during the discussion:
The Scheme Manager
introduced an update report on pensionable pay and highlighted that
following taking of legal advice all those affected had received
communication. Governance processes and
financial implications had been reviewed. Further communications would be sent to members
aligned to their individual circumstances and an email box had been
set up to deal with concerns raised.
A Member stated that
the last sentence of paragraph 2.2 was incorrect in that the Fire
Brigade Union did consider this to be pensionable pay. The Scheme Manager, although not involved in
historical discussions, explained that legal advice was taken at
the time and this was the national picture.
A Member stated that
the letter sent out regarding overpayment made no mention of
entitlement to additional pension benefit and had caused
confusion. He requested that a second
letter be sent. The Scheme Manager
explained that the letter was intended to highlight both and that
it had been worked with legal colleagues. She assured the Board that future communications
would be clear and undertook to update the ‘Frequently Asked
Questions’ page.
A Member asked what
criteria had been applied in determining which members should or
shouldn’t have their entitlement increased because of this or
have all those that have either worked on the variable duty crewing
system or on the day contracts since their inception in 2004 and
2008 been written to. The Scheme
Manager confirmed that they had all been written to.
A Member asked what
criteria had been applied to determine who would or wouldn’t
have to pay the difference in their pension contributions and how
any underpayments on contributions were to be made. The Scheme Manager explained that this was being
looked at and was part of the next steps to be taken and was happy
to update outside of the Board meeting as well as to the next Board
meeting. The Chairman requested that
both happen.
A Member questioned
why overpayments could be requested before underpayments had been
paid to members. He also stated that
the statute of limitations gives a limit of six years for
underpayments and the legislation regarding overpayment is separate
and has no limit. Therefore, payments
need to be made quickly to members. The
Scheme Manager explained that this was a complex process and these
questions were being discussed at the project board but action was
being taken as quickly as possible and not waiting until all the
answers were known.
A Member stated that,
in relation to the risk register, in April 2020 some members pay
had been reduced and the variable crewing contract had
ceased. Members that were working that
contract until April could now be asked to pay overpayments but
receive no pension benefits for that service on a final salary
scheme. He also stated that members
were asking why they were being chased for payments when their
contracts stated it was not pensionable and this influenced their
signing to the contract ...
view the full minutes text for item 19/20