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There is no summary of this meeting yet. One is written once the council publishes the minutes. The agenda and papers are below.
1.1 There were no apologies noted. 1.2 Councillor Stuart Keyte was welcomed to the Committee. Great thanks were expressed to Councillor Karl Gauden for his work on the Committee for the previous three years.
Councillor In Receipt of Pension Contributor Alfie Best NONE NONE Jon Horlor NONE Self Stuart Keyte NONE NONE David Williams Self and wife Self and wife Nathan Yeowell Father and two other family members (aunts) Self 2.1 Members confirmed the following declarations of personal interest: 2.2 Councillor David Williams declared a personal interest in item 16 due to sitting on Welsh Government Trees and Hedges Task and Finish Group. 2.3 The HoLS left the meeting.
3.1 The minutes of the meeting held on 09/12/2024 were confirmed as an accurate record.
4.1 The Committee noted the minutes.
5.1 The PM outlined the report and provided an update on the administration services provided by the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund and highlighted the following areas of current activity and development: · Between 27th November 2024 and 28th February 2025, 830 members registered for My Pension Online, bringing the total to 37.93% of Fund Membership registered. · The Pension Fund carried out its annual cyber tabletop exercise with Heywood Pension Technologies on 3rd December 2024 and no issues were found. · Two temporary Benefits Officer posts had been created to assist with the McCloud project. · Work continued on the McCloud rectification process. · The LGPS were required to connect to the pension dashboard by October 31, 2025. · Heywood Pension Technologies ISP had been chosen by the fund for a whole host of reasons including their experience and involvement. · Phase one of the ISP project began in December 2024. · The Pension Committee approved the new Fund Breaches policy and Pension Administration Strategy at the December meeting, and these had since been implemented and published. 5.2 Following questions from the Committee, the Pension Manager made the following points: • My Pensions Online and the new Pension Dashboard would operate as two separate systems. • It was not yet known when the Pension Dashboard would become live, but it was assured that plenty of preparation time would be given to the Fund to ready themselves. 5.3 The Pensions Committee noted the content of this report
6.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and provided an update on the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund Business Plan covering the three-year period 2025-2028. 6.2 This was a draft of the report that was due to be published in April 2025 based on approval from the Committee. This draft provided an in-depth outline of what was to be included in the document. The areas denoted within grey text would be updated in the final document and based on the Committee’s approval and comments at today’s meeting the final version would be circulated via email to the Committee prior to its publication in April. 6.3 There was a summary of the report given and it was noted that all positive metrics established within the report were moving in the correct direction. There were strong links between this document and the strategic objectives and values of the Fund. The three main objectives established were Scheme Sustainability, Accessible and Informed, and Compliant, Efficient and Effective. 6.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Pensions made the following points: • There was no statutory requirement to produce this document, it was however being prepared as best practice policy. 6.5 The Committee suggested that a glossary of terms would be useful for the final draft. 6.6 The Pensions Committee noted the contents of this report and approved the Pension Fund Business Plan 2025-2028.
7.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and presented the Pension Fund annual budget for the financial year 2025/26. 7.2 The Pension Fund prepares a separate budget to that of Torfaen County Borough Council in recognition of it being a separate entity. This is important for good practice and governance. The HoP made several key points in terms of assumptions used to derive the budget: · There had been no major changes envisioned to the way the investment assets were expected to be managed in 2025/26, and so forecast expenses were prepared on that basis · As ever, scheme member had the ability to have a significant influence on the budget due to reasons such as early retirement, pay awards and transfers out. This activity is largely driven by scheme member behaviour and outside of the direct control of the Fund. Therefore, Fund officers prepared the budget using actuarial assumptions together with prior year experience as a baseline estimate. · No major changes expected to the way in which the Fund’s investments in the WPP were being managed · The Fund’s cash management strategy was expected to remain on the lower end of the 0-5% range 7.3 Page 73 showed a table which provided the forecast for the 2024/2025 budget, the revised 2024/2025 budget and finally the projected 2025/2026 budget. The Head of Pensions made the following points: • Equalisation payments/receipts related to new investments pursued by the Fund (and via the WPP) whereby interest is payable as a late investor into a fund or interest received as an early investor. It was explained that these are typically one-off transactions and depend on investment activity during the period. • Cessation payments relating to scheme employer surpluses at the point they exited the scheme totalled £19.8 million for the previous year’s budget as two major employers left the LGPS. At the time of writing there was no indication that this would happen during 2025/26 and hence no budget was envisaged. 7.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Pensions made the following points: • All investment management fees were reflected within the assumption figures. • The business plan was operating within the three yearly timeframes of 2023-2026 and this would be revisited for the next financial year. • The money allocated to the support of the Local Pension Board had been based on the previous financial year. 7.5 The Pension Committee noted the contents of this report and approved the Pension Fund budget for 2025/26.Fund budget for 2025/26.
8.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and provided an update on the Pension Fund investment performance for the period 1st October 2024 through to 31st December 2024 (Q4 2024). 8.2 The fund performed well during and delivered a 2.69% gain but marginally underperformed its customised benchmark by 0.09%. In cash terms this equated to an increase in Fund value of approximately £102m to £4.495bn. The long-term performance of the Fund remains positive, with three, five and ten-year performance delivering +4.87%, +7.18% and +7.81% per annum respectively. 8.3 The Independent Investment Advisor gave insight on the following macroeconomic factors: · The impact of Donald Trump’s election victory had a large impact on the world economy and markets were digesting this impact. Whilst a level of volatility in markets this was expected in respect of the announced trade tariffs, it was unclear how literal to take proposals and the impact of such tariffs. · There was further uncertainty to global markets surrounding Trump’s harsh commentary against Ukraine as well as the reversals in ESG policies. · Inflation was coming down globally but there was some concern around “stagflation” within the UK. · The “Magnificent 7” technology stocks were no longer dominating markets; however, it was noted there was not a huge amount of focus on this within the Fund’s portfolio. · Europe had a resurgence within markets with German markets performing very well. · Spending on Artificial Intelligence was still a focus within global markets. 8.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Independent Investment Advisors, the Independent Research Advisor, and Head of Pensions made the following points: · The Fund had very little exposure to Chinese Markets. However, there was exposure via a very successful Asian Equity Investment Manager within the portfolio. · The table on page 89 gave an overall summary of where all funds were currently invested. 9.5 The Pensions Committee noted the investment performance that has taken place during quarter four of 2024
9.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and provided an update on the work undertaken by the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) on behalf of the eight LGPS funds in Wales. 9.2 The March Welsh Pension Partnership meeting took place in Swansea but due to the tight timescales for Pension Committee agenda despatch, this could not be included in the appendices. 9.3 The response and submission to the LGPS Fit for Future consultation had been provided to Government. The WPP had made a compelling argument for Wales remaining as a separate investment pool for the eight LGPS Administering Authorities in Wales. There had not yet been a response to this submission from Government, but the Committee would be updated accordingly. The full proposal and suggestion made by the WPP, and ratified by the 8 LGPS Authorities, could be seen within the appendices. 9.4 Following questions from the Committee, the Head of Pensions, Independent Investment Advisor and Independent Research Advisor made the following points: · The role of the Pensions Committee would remain under the proposals outlined by Government but would focus specifically on investment objectives, beliefs and strategic asset allocation decisions, with implementation delegated to the pool. · It was expected that there would still be place for the Pensions Committee and the holistic advice provided by independent advisors, within the newly evolving structure, to hold the pool company to account and apply any necessary pressure to investment managers to ensure they’re delivering in line with the Committee’s fiduciary responsibilities. 9.5 The Committee noted that there was a reservation with this new proposal as it may add unnecessary difficulties. The Chair gave assurance that he felt comfortable with the suggested measures and plans that had been presented within meetings. 9.6 The Pensions Committee noted the content of this report as well as the respective appendices.
10.1 The Head of Pensions outlined the report and provided an update on quarterly update on how the Pension Fund approaches its management of risk. 10.2 There had been no changes to residual risk scores. Any minor changes to risk status were reflected within red text within the appendices. 10.3 The Pension Committee noted the updated Risk Register.
11.1 There had been an additional section added to the training log to track training on LOLA (LGPS Online Learning Academy). 11.2 The results of the National Knowledge Assessment had been 67.56% which was an increase from 57.41% in 2022. This placed the Fund 6th out of all 19 funds. 11.3 The Pensions Committee noted the training and development update received, together with the outcomes of the Hyman Robertson National Knowledge Assessment.
12.1 The next meeting is scheduled to take place on 9th June 2025.
13.1 The Committee 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. 13.2 The Chair invited the six members of the Pension Board to continue observing the meeting.
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