Agenda item

The Board is invited to develop a work programme for the forthcoming year. To support this item, the Board will receive a presentation on a number of key fund documents - these being:

·         The Annual Report & Accounts 2014/15

·         The Fund Risk Register

·         A recent Pension Fund Committee report on Employer Issues

·         The draft Key Performance Indicator framework which has been developed by the Scheme Advisory Board.

All of these documents are attached at LPB7.

This session will provide Board Members with training in respect of major features of the Oxfordshire Pension Fund; and will aim to identify areas which the Board will wish to follow up at a future meeting.

The Board will also be invited to note that the Pension Fund Committee will be discussing their own future work programme at their meeting on 4 December 2015. This will include a discussion on the support and advice they would wish to receive from this Board.

The Board was invited to begin to develop a work programme for the forthcoming year. To assist with consideration on this matter, Sean Collins gave the Board a presentation on a number of key fund documents, these being:

·         The Annual Report & Accounts 2014/15

·         The Fund Risk Register

·         A recent Pension Fund Committee report on employer issues

·         The draft Key Performance Indicator framework which had been developed by the Scheme Advisory Board

All documents were attached at LPB7.

The aim of this session was also to provide the Board members with training in respect of the major features of the Oxfordshire Pension Fund. It also aimed to identify areas which the Board may wish to follow up at a future meeting.

The Board noted that the Pension Fund Committee would be discussing their future work programme at their meeting on 4 December 2015. This would include a discussion on the support and advice they would wish to receive from the Board.

The major work issues that the Pension Fund Committee was, or would be, facing in the next year, as highlighted by Sean Collins, were as follows:

·         Education of employers in Pension Fund matters – to look at the communication process to ensure that it is fit for purpose.

·         Fund Valuation - The next fund Valuation process for 31 March 2016 to 1 April 2017 – the contribution rate is set every 3 years by the Fund’s Actuary,

NB: since this meeting it has been decided, at the request of the Pension Fund Committee, to ask Barnett Waddington, the Committee’s Actuary to deliver a training session to both the Committee and the Board on the valuation process. The date for this has been set for 10 June 2016 (during the scheduled meeting of the Committee) – though the time is to be confirmed.

·         Member training – during discussion in relation to the Governance Compliance Statement, the Board AGREED to request a report on the Committee's approach to member training for the Committee and now the Board, how needs were understood and how training was planned. The Board also discussed the allowance of substitutes, for possible future consideration.

·         The approach to risk management  - with regard to breaches on the part of the Committee of its statutory responsibility to send Annual Benefit Statements to all members of the Fund by a particular deadline, the Board AGREED to look at the problem in more depth and to advise the Committee accordingly. The Board was informed that the Committee was due to agree a set of Key Performance Indicators which would serve to indicate where there are issues to focus on.

Mr Collins also AGREED to report to the Board on whether the Annual Position Statements were also sent to dependents of Pensioners and to those that have deferred their pension. He informed the Board that there was a proposal to install a member self –service as part of the IT system so that people could view their latest position statement. He added also that best practice in pension regulated guidance had not been produced as yet.

The Board also AGREED to request the officers to:

(a)  produce an indication of trends for people coming out of the Pension Scheme, together with demographics; and

(b)  produce the key statistics over a longer period of time of the Fund’s funding level.

Mr Collins then briefly reviewed what was to be considered at the Pension Fund Committee at its meeting on 4 December 2015. He reminded the Board that the Committee may wish to request the Board to look into an issue and give provide advice on it.

Mr Collins advised the Board that a report was to be submitted to the Committee on 4 December on the Government’s requirement for the pooling of Fund’s to create a small number of Funds, each with a capacity of £25b (termed ‘Collaboration’), in a bid to reduce fees and costs, and to create better governance and larger mandates with more bargaining power. The Government’s consultation was awaited and outline arrangements were required by February 2016.

NB: Since this meeting the Committee decided at its meeting on 4 December to hold a special meeting on 29 January 2016 at which Board members will be invited, to ensure that both are fully briefed on collaboration and views sought on proposals for Oxfordshire.