Wrthi'n llwytho
Does dim crynodeb o'r cyfarfod hwn eto. Caiff un ei ysgrifennu pan fydd y cyngor yn cyhoeddi'r cofnodion. Mae'r agenda a'r papurau isod.
1.1 Apologies were received from Steve Harford, Rhian Hayden and Merion Rushworth.
2.1 Board Members confirmed the following declarations of personal interest: Board Member In Receipt of Pension Contributor Bob Campbell Self Diane Morley Self Self Ian Reese Self Clive Rogers Self Jane Waters Brother Self Anthea Wellington Self Daughter John Wright Self and wife Daughter 2.2 The Head of Legal Services left the meeting.
3.1 It was agreed that the minutes were an accurate record of the meeting.
4.1 The Head of Pensions confirmed that cross referencing was undertaken between the Fund’s breach policy and the Welsh Pension Partnership’s breach policy, and they were consistent with one another.
5.1 The Pension Board agreed to note the draft minutes.
6.1 The Pension Manager presented the report in detail which provided an update on the administrative services provided by the Pension Fund, she highlighted several areas of activity and development throughout the quarter: • The amount of new work coming into the Fund increased slightly in 2024 compared to 2023 with the largest increase being in New Starters. • Several of the Key Performance Indicators were low during this quarter which was as a result of a member of the team having long periods of absence and also the transfers taking longer to complete due to the demands of McCloud. • During the quarter the overall membership of the Fund had increased by 787. • During the quarter 892 members had registered for My Pension Online System. • A revised Breaches Policy was approved by the Pensions Committee in December and had since been published on the Pension Fund website and all Scheme Employers had been notified. • The Fund continued to work on McCloud and all business-as-usual cases were being processed. The Fund was assessing resources and was expected to recruit two additional members of staff in the coming months to assist with the McCloud Project. • In recent weeks Cyber-attacks had been on the increase, primarily as a result of the Chancellor’s UK Budget and ongoing support for Ukraine. The Pension Manager continued to meet with the Chief Information Security Officer monthly to assess the Fund’s Cyber Security Risk and put measures in place to mitigate the risks. • The Pensions Committee approved the Pension Administration Strategy in December following a consultation period and the Strategy had been published on the Pension Fund’s website, and all Scheme Employers had been notified. • The Fund had procured Heywood Pension Technologies Integrated Service Provider solution to integrate with the Pension Dashboard’s ecosystem. The implementation would take place in two phases, and phase one commenced in December 2024. • It was vital that Pension Funds ensured that member data across all membership categories was complete and accurate to comply with regulations and to assist with this the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund had produced a Data Improvement Plan to improve the quality of its data. 6.2 Following questions from the Board, the Pension Manager confirmed that there had a been a large increase in new work coming in compared to last year, the tables within the report showed an increase in 500 cases in October 2024 compared to October 2023, she was unsure of the reason for this but would make enquires and report back to the Board. 6.3 The Board thanked the Pensions Team for their excellent work. 6.4 The Local Pension Board noted the report.
7.1 The Head of Pensions presented the report in detail, highlighting the following points: • It was good practice for Local Government Pension Scheme funds to prepare and maintain a Business Plan, which set out the Fund’s key priorities and provided evidence on how the priorities would be delivered in the context of the resources and budget available. • The draft Business Plan attached at appendix 1 to the report would continue to be developed in the lead up to the start of the financial year in April, including the key facts and figures to the 31st of March 2025. The Pension Committee would be asked to consider a final version at their meeting in March 2025. • The Head of Pensions went through the draft business plan and stated that they would be looking to make it more user friendly and add further detail around the key messages. The plan currently included an Introduction to the Pension Fund, key statistics, a summary of the year in review, the commitment to the future, outlined the fund’s mission statement, values and objectives, outlined both the governance and operational structures, provided details on its strategic planning processes, presented in detail its change activities with actions against specific officers for accountability, it gave details around the pension fund budget and outlined the training programme. 7.2 Following questions from the Board, Officers made the following points: • The Head of Pensions stated that it was important to make sure that the rates to join the pension scheme were sustainable for all. Work had been ongoing to ensure the benefits of the scheme were promoted. The Pensions Team had been offering training and engagement days and were planning to do more to attract new members to the pension scheme. They would be looking at how to better communicate with wider stakeholders to attract new members. • The Pension Team were actively engaging with both employers and employees to attract new Members to the Pension Scheme. • The reduction in investment costs from 23/24 to 24/25 was as a result of a one-off transaction of between £3 and 4 million, which was an equalisation payment to recognise the fund were late in investing in the scheme, however the value of the investment then increased. 7.3 The Chair of the Board commended the document and thanked the Officers for their work on producing it. 7.4 The Local Pension Board noted the report.
8.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and provided an update on how the Pension Fund approached its management of risk. He commented that the risks were organised into a two-tiered register previously agreed with the Pension Committee. The two tiers of risks were defined within the Fund’s Risk Management policy. All risks, both strategic and operational were categorised by Finance and Investment Risk, Administration Risk or Fund and Governance Risk. The Risk Register included a risk scoring matrix and was also coordinated in a traffic light system to easily identify the level of risk. The Risk register outlined the risk, the category of risk, the potential consequences, who was responsible and the controls which were in place to manage the risk. 8.2 Following questions from the Board, Officers made the following points: • The Team recently welcomed a new Finance and Investments Manager who joined from the Private Sector, and he brought a wealth of experience and knowledge with him. He would be introduced to the Pension Board at their next meeting. • Cyber-attacks were on the increase on a UK wide basis, and it was not specific to Torfaen. The fund had lots of measures in place to prevent cyber-attacks taking place. 8.3 The Local Pension Board: I. Noted the updated Risk Register and II. Commented on the new ‘risk in theme’ approach and potential areas for consideration as part of next quarter’s review.
9.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and provided an update on the work undertaken by the Wales Pension Partnership on behalf of the eight LGPS funds in Wales. He informed the board that as of 31st October 2024, the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund had pooled approximately £3.412bn (77.7% of AuM) of its assets with the WPP. 9.2 Following questions from the Board, the Head on Pensions made the following points: • The reference within the report to a legacy asset was in relation to an investment the fund had made which sat outside of the pool. • No definitive decisions had been made from the UK Government regarding the potential plans to merge local government pension schemes. The Chancellor had undertaken a consultation exercise, which had just closed and a response had been sent on behalf of the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund. 9.3 A Member of the Board commented that even though 77% of the Fund assets were pooled with the WPP, he felt that the range of investments were quite diverse. 9.4 The Local Pension Board noted the report and the respective appendices.
10.1 The Pensions Manager provided an update of training already undertaken by members of the Pension Board and presented the key messages and findings arising from the Hymans National Knowledge Assessment that the Fund and its members participated in 2024. Commenting in particular on the following: • The overall average score for all members (Committee and Board) equated to 67.56%, an increase from 57.41% in 2022, which placed the Fund 6th out of 19 who participated. • Pension Committee performed most strongly in Procurement and Relationship Management and Investment Performance and Risk and it showed that areas to focus on were Pensions Governance and Pension Administration of the Committee. • The Pension Board’s areas of strongest knowledge were Pension Governance, Committee Role and Pension Legislation and the areas to focus on were Financial Markets and Product Knowledge and Actuarial Standards and Practices. • Officers would use the basis of the NKA to develop the Pension Committee and Pension Board’s annual training programme for 2025/2026. 10.2 Following questions from the Board, the Pensions Manager made the following points: • Members of the Board could access the LGPS Online Learning Academy as and when they wanted to, to undertake any training sessions or watch webinars. Officers would send out an email informing Members of any new training available and would also send out alerts to the training they were required to undertake as part of the role. • Officers were looking to get collective knowledge so that each member of the board was bringing something different to the table. • There had been no increase in the number of Local Authorities undertaking the Hymans National Knowledge Assessment from last year, 19 Authorities had carried out the assessment. The Pensions Manager agreed to liaise with Hymans to ask them what they would be doing to increase participation. 10.3 Members of the Board commented that they were enjoying the training sessions and felt that the bitesize sessions were beneficial. 10.4 The Local Pension Board noted the training and development update, together with the outcomes of the Hyman Robertson National Knowledge Assessment.
11.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and highlighted the following points: • In July 2024, the Government launched a Pensions Review of both workplace defined contribution pensions schemes and the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales. • The focus of the review for the LGPS was to look at how tackling fragmentation and inefficiency could unlock the investment potential of the scheme, including through further consolidation. As part of the first phase of the review, the Fund responded to a government Call for Evidence. • In November 2024, the Government launched a consultation on proposals to put the LGPS on a clearer, firmer trajectory to scale and consolidation, as well as measures to improve scheme governance and investment. • The consultation sought views on proposals to strengthen the management of LGPS investments in three key areas, Reforming the LGPS asset pools, Boosting LGPS investment in their localities and regions in the UK, and Strengthening the governance of both LGPS Funds and LGPS pools. • The consultation closed on 16th January 2025 and a response was submitted by the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund. • The Head of Pensions went through the response to the consultation in detail. 11.2 Following questions from the Board, the Head of Pensions made the following points: • There was already a requirement in place for Local Pension Board Members to have appropriate knowledge and understanding. Question 24 of the consultation was seeking views as to whether Pension Committee Members should also have appropriate knowledge and understanding to which the fund responded yes, because as a fund it has always adopted the approach that both the Pension Board and the Pensions Committee have the appropriate training and knowledge to carry out their roles effectively. • There could possibly be duplication in relation to the proposals the Government were considering. The asset pool reform was the biggest area of focus for the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund, who would have the task of creating a regulated entity whilst striving to retain the existing working culture of the Wales Pension Partnership. A number of the existing governance arrangements would continue to have to operate in a similar structure to the existing one to help shape expectations of the pool so there would be a bit of duplication initially whilst the company got itself up to speed but it was about ensuring that the relationship worked. Some of the government requirements, particularly in respect of good governance, were areas that the fund already progressed following the report produced in 2021, and so it would be the case of looking at the revised legislation and seeing if there were any gaps or shortfalls. • It was the intention that Wales would adopt the formal pool operated company model on the basis that the alternative would be to seek discussions with other pools about merger propositions. Going with the former would allow Wales to operate as a standalone pool. • In terms of what the new entity would look like, part of that would be within the gift of the funds involved in developing the pool company. The funds want to ensure the culture of how Wales operated existed in the new company as far as reasonable and were keen on information sharing and being transparent. The Head of Pensions was part of one of the workstreams looking at what the management company would look like, and he would be ensuring that it remains true to the shareholders which were the administrating authorities. 11.3 The Chair of the Board gave the following responses to questions asked: · There was no indication that there would be any forced mergers of pools. The response that the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund submitted stated that the feeling throughout Wales was that they wanted the WPP to remain as an independent pool. · The Government had said that their ideal figure for a pool would be between £75-100 billion but commented that they would not be forcing pools to merge and Wales strongly wanted to retain a separate pool, however, would have a lot less than £75 billion. 11.4 Councillor Nathan Yeowell, Chair of the Pensions Committee made the following comments: • A lot of the good practice undertaken by the fund and the pool was currently being taken forward across the country. There were 86 funds and the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund were quite high up the list of forward thinking funds and the WPP had also had a successful 10 years. • The Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund already had its own administration strategy, which was one key area of the consultation, so the fund was already on the front foot with regards to that aspect. • The Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund had been ahead of the curve in relation impact investment. • Wales had made the case to be standalone and not be part of a mega pool. • He felt that the WPP did however need to change, due to the pace of change and the necessity to become a more refined investment vehicle, the WPP was not currently in a position to achieve that. • The WPP has had a fantastic success and were one of the best in the country but to stay ahead of the momentum, he felt moving to an FCA position may be the best option. • The rented model had been very good, as it allowed the fund a certain amount of control over the behaviours and the investments. The fund, via the WPP, would hopefully remain in a position where it could ensure good behaviours could be rolled forward in to the new organisation. • He felt that moving to the new organisation would allow the fund to have more in-house expertise which would make for a stronger organisation. • He concluded by thanking the Head of Pensions for all his hard work. 11.5 The Local Pension Board noted the report.
12.1 The date of the next meeting was noted.
13.1 The Board agreed to the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting as presentations and meeting papers were not for publication because in accordance with paragraphs 12 and 14 of part 4 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by the Access to Information Variation Order Wales 2007), it contained information about a particular individual and information relating to the financial and business affairs of particular persons including the Council and in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
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