Items
| No. |
Item |
13/24 |
APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Chairman welcomed officers and the new
Vice-Chairman, Sally Wilson, to the Board. The Chairman thanked the
previous Vice-Chairman, Dan Quin, for his service to the Board.
No apologies for absence were received.
|
14/24 |
MINUTES FROM THE PREVIOUS MEETING: 8 February 2024  PDF 119 KB
To agree the minutes as a true record of the
meeting.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The minutes from the meeting on 8 February
2024 were agreed as an accurate record of the meeting.
|
15/24 |
DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
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:
|
16/24 |
QUESTIONS AND PETITIONS
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
2024).
2. The deadline for public questions is seven
days before the meeting (19 April 2024)
3. The deadline for petitions was 14 days
before the meeting, and no petitions have been received.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
|
17/24 |
SURREY FIREFIGHTERS' PENSION BOARD ACTION AND RECOMMENDATION TRACKER PDF 158 KB
The Board to note the Action and
Recommendation Tracker.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Danni Lamaignere, Scheme
Manager
Gary Bartliff, Senior Pensions
Advisor
Key
points raised during the discussion:
- The Chairman
introduced the Action and Recommendation Tracker and thanked
officers for their work updating the latest tracker. The following
comments were raised:
Action A7/23 – The
Vice-Chairman asked whether the pensions regulator had been updated
in regard to the completion of Annual Benefit Statements. A
discussion was had on whether this was necessary, as it was an
internal breech, which had been remidied, and, following
discussion, officers were asked to provide members with an update
at the next meeting.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
None.
Resolved:
The Board noted the Actions and
Recommendations Tracker.
|
18/24 |
SCHEME MANAGEMENT UPDATE REPORT PDF 196 KB
The Board has requested an update on Scheme
management activities.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Witnesses:
|
Danni Lamaignere,
Scheme Manager
Gary Bartliff, Senior
Pensions Advisor
|
Key
points raised during the discussion:
- The Scheme Manager
introduced the report and highlighted the following points:
- McCloud - Age
Discrimination Remedy – It was noted that the GAD calculation
data was sent to XPS for the unprotected & tapered pension
members in March 2024 in order to meet the deadline for the
production of their Remediable Service Statements
(RSS). The Pension Team continued to
work on the GAD data collection exercise to collate and report the
GAD calculator data to XPS for each cohort of membership, in
accordance with the RSS timetable. Members further noted that the
Project Implementation Data Requests had been
completed.
- 10% Pensionable
Allowance – Members noted that the project had been put on
hold due to resources in the Pensions Team and the priority given
to dealing with issues arising from the implementation of Unit
4.
- Pension Team
Resourcing – it was noted that the Pensions Team had
appointed to the post of Pensions Officer; however the individual
concerned secured another role elsewhere in the Council. The Job
description is currently being reviewed and will be placed out to
advert imminently.
- Matthews –
Retained Scheme – On-Call Access – It was noted that
the Pensions Team continued to receive completed EOI forms and
currently have received replies from roughly 41%. The Workforce
Working Group agreed to a tracing exercise in January
2024. The Pensions Team are currently
looking at potential data protection
issues before carrying out the trace. In regard to the timeline for
completion of statements, members noted that the project completion
deadline was March 2025. To date, 11 statements had been sent of
the 60 that should have been issued - due to low resources, the
complexity of the calculations and statement completion, and the
data needed to complete the calculations. Members of the Board
stated that it would be helpful to receive a further update at the
next meeting on the project’s progress. Following further
discussion, the Board asked for detail on the implications for the
SFRS and pension members if the deadline was missed. Officers
agreed to provide a response following the meeting.
- Annual Benefit
Statements / Remediable Service Statement – Members noted a
correction sent to members in the newsletter, signposting to
information on the SharePoint site in April 2024.
- Guaranteed Minimum
Pension (GMP) Rectification – Members noted that data from
Mercer had recently been sent to XPS to allow completion of the
exercise.
- Pension Dashboard
– Members noted that XPS had created a document to help
schemes get Pensions Dashboard ready and would follow with a
Dashboard Connection Readiness Report which will be more specific
to SFRS. The expected staging date for
Public Service Pension Schemes will be around September
2025.
- Pre-Retirement Course
– noted that, following positive feedback from the first two
courses held by Affinity Connect in 2023, the Pension Team have
arranged two further course dates, in April 2024 and September
2024. Members noted that 8 -10 ...
view the full minutes text for item 18/24
|
19/24 |
XPS - SURREY FIRE & RESCUE AUTHORITY PENSION BOARD REPORT PDF 470 KB
To note the XPS – Surrey Fire and Rescue
Authority Pension Board report.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Paul Mudd, XPS
Key
points raised during the discussion:
- The representative
from XPS introduced the item and provided a summary of its content.
Members noted that an early version of the report had been
published and an updated report is attached to these minutes as
appendix 1. The following points were noted:
- that XPS had recently
received an AAF accreditation.
- details regarding
system developments around the implementation of the Macleod
Remedy.
- details related to
recruitment.
- in regard to
Conditional Data Testing, Scheme Specific data testing tools had
been purchased and training sessions are commencing on this new
software from 25th April 2024. This training should allow XPS to
identify data gaps and this will be fed into the dashboard
readiness programme.
- details related to
Member Self-Service outlined in the published report and attached
appendix. The representative from XPS made a suggestion to improve
the link to the self-service area on the SharePoint
site.
- Members noted data
related to the completed cases overview as outlined within the
report. The representative from XPS stated that XPS were focused on
improving the percentage of completed cases. The Chairman asked for
detail on data included within the ‘general’ section
within the tables under Completed Cases by Month. The
representative from XPS stated that he understood the Board’s
confusion on what was included under the ‘general’
section and would seek more information to be shared with the Board
and the Pensions Team. A Member of the Board stated that he was
aware of members of the pension scheme who had not received their
pension forecast figures on time and further stated that members of
the scheme were frustrated with the lack of information. The
Chairman requested the detail be shared with XPS allowing an
investigation. Following further discussion, it was agreed that it
would be beneficial for XPS and the Pension Team to liaise further
in order to better understand each other’s
processes.
Actions/ further information to be provided:
A3/24 - A Member of the Board
stated that he was aware of members of the pension scheme who had
not received their pension forecast figures on time and further
stated that members of the scheme were frustrated with the lack of
information. The Chairman requested the detail be shared with XPS
allowing an investigation.
A4/24 – The Chairman
asked for detail on data included within the ‘general’
section within the tables under Completed Cases by Month. The
representative from XPS would seek more information to be shared
with the Board and the Pensions Team.
A5/24 - it was agreed that it
would be beneficial for XPS and the Pension Team to liaise further
in order to better understand each other’s
processes.
Resolved:
The Board noted the
report.
|
20/24 |
FIRE BULLETINS PDF 241 KB
The Pensions Board has adopted a procedure to
ensure that any FPS Bulletins released by LGA are reviewed and any
necessary actions are noted and tracked through to completion.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Witnesses:
Danni Lamaignere, Scheme Manager
Gary Bartliff, Senior Pensions Advisor
Key points raised
during the discussion:
1.
The Board noted the fire bulletins.
Actions/ further
information to be provided:
None.
Resolved:
The Board noted the fire
bulletins.
|
21/24 |
RISK REGISTERS PDF 140 KB
The Board to consider relevant risk
registers.
Additional documents:
Minutes:
Witnesses:
|
Danni Lamaignere, Scheme Manager
Gary Bartliff, Senior Pensions Advisor
|
Key points raised
during the discussion:
1.
The Board noted the risk registers.
Actions/ further
information to be provided:
None.
Resolved:
The Board noted the risk
register.
|
22/24 |
DATE OF THE NEXT MEETING
The next meeting will be on 25 July 2024
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Board noted that the date of the next
meeting was 25 July 2024.
|