Agenda item

The Board are invited to review the position against the Annual Business Plan for 2023/24 as considered by the Pension Fund Committee at their meeting on 9 June 2023 and to offer any comments to the Committee.

The report set out the latest progress against the key service priorities set in the business plan for the Pension Fund for 2023/24, as agreed at the meeting of the Pension Fund Committee, held on 3 March 2023.

Sean Collins, Service Manager, Insurance and Money Management, presented the report, outlined the service priorities, and answered queries raised.

The Board enquired about resourcing issues, including recruitment, when implementing McCloud. The Service Manager confirmed that the Committee had approved temporary recruitment resources to support the McCloud agenda. The team had support from Hyman’s Robertson and would bring in further resources wherever possible. Timing could potentially be an issue, depending on how quickly cases would be expected to be dealt with, particularly complex ones.

The Board discussed the possibility of Funds within the Brunel pool being available to help if required. The Service Manager explained that all Funds worked differently and whilst knowledgeable regarding the system and processes, may not be compatible with the way OCC worked.  A standardised way of working would be useful.

The Service Manager informed the board that the advert for a Governance Officer closed last week, and interviews would take place later this month. It was hoped that there would be a Governance Officer in post by the next Pension Fund Committee meeting.

The Board enquired about the date for the next National Knowledge assessment and were informed that these took place every two years with the next one due September 2024.

The Service Manager reported that due to a deadline of 31 May, a Stewardship Code application had been made outside of the committee cycle, but a Stewardships Outcomes Report would be brought to Committee for review in September.

The Service Manager reported that Committee had agreed changes in fund investments and determined that they would reduce the allocation to UK as the UK FTSE 100 portfolio was carbon intensive. The Committee decided that based on available data, the Sustainable Equity portfolio was best aligned to the goals of investment policy, as opposed to the Paris Aligned Passive Fund, therefore most of the allocation was moved there.

It was reported that to deliver improvements through enhancements to technology, there had been monthly meetings with Heywood, a supplier of pension system software. It was too early to gauge how effective these changes would be, but the Board would be kept updated throughout the year.

The Board enquired about the piloted member/employer satisfaction survey and requested that the survey questions and results are brought to the next meeting. This was agreed with officers.

The Board noted the report and: -

1)    would review the member/employer satisfaction survey questions and results at a future Board meeting

2)    that the Committee had noted progress against each of the key service priorities as set out in the report

3)    that the Committee had agreed any further actions to be taken to address those areas not currently on target to deliver the required objectives

4)    that the Committee had delegated authority to the Head of Finance to make necessary arrangements regarding the new fund.