Councillors and committees

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Woodhatch Place, 11 Cockshot Hill Reigate Surrey RH2 8EF

Contact: Joss Butler 

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Items
No. Item

11/22

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

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    Minutes:

    Apologies were received from Dan Quin.

12/22

MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING: 25 November 2021 & 13 January 2022 pdf icon PDF 212 KB

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    The minutes of the meeting on 25 November 2021 were informally agreed at the informal Board meeting on 13 January 2022.

     

    This item is to formally agree the minutes of the meeting on 25 November 2021 and the minutes of the informal meeting on 13 January 2022 as a true record of the meeting.

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    Minutes:

    The minutes were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.

13/22

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.

     

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    None.

14/22

QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS

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    To receive any questions or petitions.

     

    Notes:

     

    1. The deadline for Member’s questions is 12.00pm four working days before the meeting (22 April 2022).

    2. The deadline for public questions is seven days before the meeting (21 April 2022)

    3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    There were none.

15/22

SURREY LOCAL FIREFIGHTERS' PENSION BOARD ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS TRACKER pdf icon PDF 404 KB

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    To agree the actions and recommendations tracker.

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    Minutes:

    Officers:

     

    None.

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The Chairman introduced the item and read through the actions and recommendations tracker.

    2.    Members agreed to close Action 19/20.

    3.    Members agreed to close Action 8/20.

    4.    The Chairman highlighted that the action tracker would be amended where necessary to give further explanation to agreed actions.  

     

     

    Resolved:

     

    The Board noted the recommendations tracker.

16/22

Scheme Management Update Report pdf icon PDF 322 KB

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    The Board is asked to note the report and actions taken.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Carrie Pearce, Pensions Project Officer

    Phillip Johnson, Senior Pensions Advisor

    Paul Mudd, XPS

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    Officers introduced the report.

    2.    The Chairman noted that all Board members and the Pensions Project Team undertook training on 29 March 2022. Further detail was provided within the report.

    3.    Members highlighted that the Pension Project Team had been working through an overarching policy for the SFRS pension. The policy was shared with Board members for review. Officers stated that officers were working on a policy on returning to work following retirement, the Voluntary Scheme Pays policy and a review of the conflict of interest and substitution process for the Board.

    4.    A Member of the Board noted issues related to the Modified Options Scheme and requested an update. Officers provided a brief overview of works taking place which included a review of resource and the software legacy system. Members noted that it was currently unconfirmed whether works would be carried out internally or externally.

    5.    The Board agreed to receive regular updates on the progress of the Modified Options Scheme.

    6.    The representative from XPS stated that XPS had previous experience working on a similar exercise with other Fire clients.

     

    Resolved:

     

    The Board noted the report.

     

17/22

XPS - Surrey Fire & Rescue Authority Pension Board Report pdf icon PDF 2 MB

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    To note the XPS Surrey Fire & Rescue Authority Pension Board report.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Carrie Pearce, Pensions Project Officer

    Phillip Johnson, Senior Pensions Advisor

    Paul Mudd, XPS

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The representative from XPS introduced the item and provided an overview of each section of the report. The Board noted details related to regulations and guidance, member self-service, common data, membership, completed case overview and by month, and complaints.

    2.    The Board noted that a video had been sent to the service which aimed to provide support when signing up and using the member self-service portal. Officers confirmed that the video had bene received but had not yet been distributed to members of the scheme.

    3.    In regard to membership, the Board noted that the number within the deferred section had increased. The representative from XPS explained that the data within the table was likely inaccurate and that further work was needed to display the correct figures. The representative from XPS agreed to provide a response outside of the meeting.

    4.    In regard to completed cases, the representative from XPS informed the Board that the performance of XPS had decreased due to a backlog of work and staff leave / absence. XPS were aware of these issues and stated that they were progressing towards increasing performance to an acceptable level. The Chairman requested that, going forward, XPS provide a managerial statement to the board to comment on and explain the reasoning for any significant performance issues.

    5.    A member of the Board noted that the level of service had decreased over recent months however there were no complaints reported. Further to this, the member stated that they had received feedback from scheme members that XPS were not responding to issues raised by members of the scheme. The representative from XPS explained that XPS had a set process for recording complaints and would be interested to have a conversation with the board member on the issue outside the meeting.

    6.    In regard to the tracking of performance, members of the board said that it would be helpful to have data available on cases where key performance indictors (KPIs) were not met. The Chairman added that he would challenge XPS to present other information on performance which could help identify potential future issues and backlog.

     

    Actions / further information to be provided:

     

    The representative from XPS agreed to circulate the correct data on ‘membership movements within the schemes’ to the Board.

     

    Resolved:

     

    The Board noted the report.

     

     

     

18/22

Administration Bulletin Update pdf icon PDF 336 KB

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    The Pensions Board has adopted a procedure to ensure that any FPS Bulletins released by Local Government Association (LGA) are reviewed and any necessary actions are noted and tracked through to completion.

     

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

     

    Witnesses:

    Carrie Pearce, Pensions Project Officer

    Phillip Johnson, Senior Pensions Advisor

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The Chairman introduced the item. No comments were raised.

     

    Actions/ further information to be provided:

     

    None.

     

    Resolved:

     

    The Board noted the report.

19/22

Risk Register pdf icon PDF 207 KB

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    To note the Risk Register.

    Additional documents:

    Minutes:

    Witnesses:

    Carrie Pearce, Pensions Project Officer

    Phillip Johnson, Senior Pensions Advisor

     

    Key points raised during the discussion:

     

    1.    The Chairman introduced the item.  

    2.    The Board agreed to close Risk F2 and Risk F23.

     

    Actions/ further information to be provided:

     

    To close Risk F2 and Risk F23.

     

    Resolved:

     

    The Board noted the report.

20/22

DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING

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    The date of the next meeting is 28 July 2022.

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    Minutes:

    The date of the next meeting was noted to be 28 July 2022.