Councillors and committees

Agenda item

REPORT FROM SURREY PENSION FUND COMMITTEE - LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSION SCHEME ASSET POOLING

The recently published Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) asset pooling consultation has set out a vision for each administering authority of the LGPS to commit to a national pool. The Surrey Pension Fund was instrumental in setting up the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (BCCP) and submitted a proposal to Government on 15 July 2016, proposing a countrywide pooling arrangement and consisting of 12 administering authorities. This report makes the case for Surrey County Council to officially endorse the Border to Coast pool and create a Joint Committee and Shareholder Board for the purpose of delegating authority for the running of the pool to the Joint Committee and the Shareholder Board, and setting out the administrative issues that need to be considered.

 

Minutes:

The Cabinet Member for Business Services and Resident Experience introduced the report which set out the proposed case for Border to Coast Pension Pool including the Inter Authority Agreement, Articles of Association and Governance documents.  She thanked the Surrey Pension Fund Committee Members and Officers for all their hard work on this.  She thanked the Members of the Scrutiny Board who were looking at the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy.

 

Members made the following comments:

 

·         Asset management would be the role of the pool and the actuary role would remain with the Council.  Discussion had taken place regarding having a pension member as an observer on the committee and further detail had been requested.  There was also some work taking place to look at how to work with other pension boards.

·         The Leader thanked the Cabinet Member for the work she had done for pensioners in relation to increasing the size of the pension fund enormously since she had chaired the Pension Committee. 

·         Nothing of what is on the table will affect the benefits to any member of the pension plan.

·         Guidance was expected from the Scheme Advisory Board regarding non-voting member representation on the committee.

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.    That the Border to Coast Pension Pool (BCPP) be approved as the County Council’s pooling option to provide compliance with the legislation that mandates pooling

 

2.    That the acquisition by the Council, as Administering Authority of the Surrey Pension Fund, of one share in the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Limited be approved and that the Chairman of the Pension Fund Committee (or Vice Chairman in their absence) be nominated to attend any meetings of the BCPP Shareholder Board on behalf of the Council.

 

3.    That the creation of the BCPP Joint Committee be approved and that the Chairman of the Pension Fund Committee (or Vice Chairman in their absence) be nominated to attend on behalf of the Council.

 

4.    That authority be delegated to the Director of Finance and the Monitoring Officer in consultation with the Chairman of the Pension Fund Committee to update the Council’s Constitution to reflect the above approvals and to approve for execution by the Council the final versions of any documents necessary to put these decisions into effect.

 

5.    That the revised Pension Fund Committee Terms of Reference functions as set out within the Constitution be approved with the following addition: “Receive minutes and consider recommendations from and ensure the effective performance of the Joint Committee of the Border to Coast Pensions Pool and any other relevant bodies”.

 

Supporting documents: