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ITEM PF3

PENSION FUND COMMITTEE – 21 FEBRUARY 2001

PENSION FUND COMMITTEE – 31 DECEMBER 2001

Minutes of the Meeting commencing at 10.00 am and finishing at 10.45 am

Present:

The Committee considered the matters, reports and recommendations contained or referred to in the agenda for the meeting and decided as set out below. Except insofar as otherwise specified, the reasons for the decisions are contained in the agenda and reports, copies of which are attached to the signed Minutes.

18/01. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE AND SUBSTITUTIONS

Apologies for absence and substitutions were received from:

Apology from	Substitute
Councillor Brian Law	-
Councillor Mick McAndrews	-

19/01. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 16 November 2001 were approved and signed.

In relation to Minute 12/01 – OCC Fund Manager Visits – Mr Phillips reported that Watson Wyatt had agreed to carry out an asset liability study for the Oxfordshire Pension Fund and would be meeting members and officers on 11 February 2002 at 11.00 am to discuss the outcomes.

20/01. PREMATURE RETIREMENT COMPENSATION SCHEME FOR TEACHERS
(Agenda Item 5)

It was reported that the most recent Premature Retirement Compensation Scheme would expire on 31 December 2001. The scheme allowed Headteachers to retire at age 55 "in cases where there is a national scheme available to subsidise the costs borne by the Council." Standards Funding for this would no longer be available from April 2002. Officers would prepare a report for the next meeting of the Committee requesting that consideration be given to continuing with a limited scheme to allow headteachers to retire at age 55 under strictly defined circumstances. In the meantime, members were asked to renew the existing scheme for the Spring Term

RESOLVED: to renew the Premature Retirement Scheme, without amendment, until 30 April 2002.

21/01.PENSION BENEFITS OF EARLY RETIREMENT APPLICATIONS
(Agenda Item 6)

Members were reminded that the functions relating to local government pensions and the division of the County Superannuation Fund in the Interim Constitution, were delegated to the Pension Fund Committee. These related both to the County Council’s functions as Administering Authority and as Employing Authority and were non-executive functions.

As the "Employing Authority", the Committee were asked to consider whether they wished to set up a separate sub-committee to determine the pension benefits of individual applications for early retirement. Members were advised that the Chief Executive could also determine the benefits under his delegated powers.

The Committee were also asked, if the Chief Executive was to exercise the powers and functions available to him, there ought to be a "ceiling" on the costs of any individual application for early retirement above which the application would be referred to a formally constituted sub-committee.

Mr Phillips reminded members of the requirements of the Audit Commission’s "Retiring Nature" and the resultant recommendations in the District Auditor’s Review on the Planning and Control of Early Retirements, and that in his view there should be a Sub-Committee responsible for setting and reviewing early retirement policy, taking individual early retirement decisions and monitoring numbers/costs, a view shared by the Director for Strategy and Chief Education Officer. Following comments by Councillor Mitchell, members suggested that there ought to be Executive member involvement in dealing with early retirement applications where there were corporate policy/budget implications.

RESOLVED:

1. to establish a Sub-Committee of the Pension Fund Committee comprising the Pension Fund Committee Chair, Deputy Chair and Group Spokesperson of the third of the three main political groups to determine, as the Employing Authority, the benefits for individual applications for early retirement;
2. that the decision to establish the "Pension Benefits Sub-Committee" to consider early retirement applications be referred to the Review of the Interim Constitution in Spring 2002; and
3. that the officers be asked in the meantime, to consider ways of involving Executive members in the policy/budget aspects of applications and to draft proposals for dealing with more routine applications under Chief Officers’ delegated powers.

in the Chair

Date of signing 2002