Agenda and draft minutes

Please note this meeting may be filmed or recorded by the Council for live or subsequent broadcast via the Council’s internet site or by anyone attending the meeting using any communication method.  Members of the public participating in the meeting (e.g. making deputations, asking questions, making oral protests) should be aware that they are likely to be filmed, recorded or reported on.  By entering the ‘meeting room’, you are consenting to being filmed and to the possible use of those images and sound recordings.

The Chair of the meeting has the discretion to terminate or suspend filming or recording, if in his or her opinion continuation of the filming, recording or reporting would disrupt or prejudice the proceedings, infringe the rights of any individual, or may lead to the breach of a legal obligation by the Council.

The Chair referred Members present to agenda Item 1 as shown on the agenda in respect of filming at this meeting, and Members noted the information contained therein.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies had been received from Mr Keith Brown, Mr Craig Pattinson and Councillor Iyngkaran (Councillor Brennan was substituting in his place). 

The Chair will consider the admission of any late items of Urgent Business.  (Late items of Urgent Business will be considered under the agenda item where they appear. New items of Urgent Business will be dealt with under item 15 or 21).

None.

A member with a disclosable pecuniary interest or a prejudicial interest in a matter who attends a meeting of the authority at which the matter is considered:

(i) must disclose the interest at the start of the meeting or when the interest becomes apparent, and

(ii) may not participate in any discussion or vote on the matter and must withdraw from the meeting room.

A member who discloses at a meeting a disclosable pecuniary interest which is not registered in the Register of Members’ Interests or the subject of a pending notification must notify the Monitoring Officer of the interest within 28 days of the disclosure.

Disclosable pecuniary interests, personal interests and prejudicial interests are defined at Paragraphs 5-7 and Appendix A of the Members’ Code of Conduct

The Public Service Pensions Act 2013 defines a conflict of interest as a financial or other interest which is likely to prejudice a person’s exercise of functions. Therefore, a conflict of interest may arise when an individual:

i)             Has a responsibility or duty in relation to the management of, or provision of advice to, the LBHPF, and

ii)            At the same time, has:

-       a separate personal interest (financial or otherwise) or

-       another responsibility in relation to that matter,

giving rise to a possible conflict with their first responsibility. An interest could also arise due to a family member or close colleague having a specific responsibility or interest in a matter.

At the commencement of the meeting, the Chair will ask all Members of the Committee and Board to declare any new potential conflicts and these will be recorded in the minutes of the meeting and the Fund’s Register of Conflicts of Interest. Any individual who considers that they or another individual has a potential or actual conflict of interest which relates to an item of business at a meeting must advise the Chair prior to the meeting, where possible, or state this clearly at the meeting at the earliest possible opportunity.

None.

To consider any requests received in accordance with Part 4, Section B, paragraph 29 of the Council’s constitution.

None.

Note from the Head of Legal and Governance (Monitoring Officer)

When considering the items below, the Committee will be operating in its capacity as ‘Administering Authority’. When the Committee is operating in its capacity as an Administering Authority, Members must have due regard to their duty as quasi-trustees to act in the best interest of the Pension Fund above all other considerations.

Councillor Bevan had reported his training to Democratic Services.

The Pensions Committee and Board had received training on cashflow requirements shortly before the start of the meeting. 

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Pensions Committee and Board meeting held on 21 March 2023 as a correct record.

To follow

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.  

This report provides the Pensions Committee and Board (PCB) with the following updates regarding Pension Fund’s administration activities:

a.       Pension Fund membership update

b.       Online Member Self Service portal update

c.       Update on the Pensions Dashboard Programme

d.       Approval of new admission agreements

Mr Jamie Abbot, Pensions Manager, presented the item.

The meeting heard that:

· The second recommendation on the agenda papers stating ‘to note’ referred to

table listing the companies and the range of the services they offered. The

recommendation to approve was to seek approval for admitting the listed

companies into the Council’s LGPS scheme.

· There had been a recent appointment to the role of Pensions Officer and there

was now a fully staffed Pensions team.

· The department were looking to explore the appointments of apprentices. The

Committee would be kept updated with progress on this issue. It was difficult to

recruit for pensions expertise, but now that an appointment had been made,

Human Resources would be contacted before the end of the year to ensure

that an apprentice could be appointed.

RESOLVED

1. To note the report and the information provided regarding the Pension Fund’s

administration activities.

2. To note and approve the admission of the entities listed in section 6.14 of the

report, as new employers participating in the Haringey Local Government

Pension Scheme.

This report provides the Pensions Committee and Board (PCB) with the following updates on the Pension Fund’s performance for the quarter ended 31 March 2023:

a.       Independent advisor’s market commentary

b.       Investment performance

c.       Investment asset allocation

d.       London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV) update

e.       Funding position update

The Chair noted that the item was also to be heard under item 19 as part of the

exempt papers.

Mr Tim Mpofu, Head of Finance, presented the item.

The meeting heard that:

· It would be useful if a representative of London CIV were to attend a meeting and discuss with the Committee: their future funds, the pooling company and other relevant issues.

· A future investment and governance working group was suggested by members.

· There was an arrangement with two big asset managers in the UK. These managers did a lot of the passive funds and essentially those funds were not directly managed by the London CIV. However, there would be an arrangement in place where it considered these funds as pooled. The London CIV, since its inception, had set up different funds which were invested in directly, such as the Land London Safe Multi Asset credit, the London CIV. The Renewable Infrastructure Fund and the London Fund. These were investments that the London CIV had set up themselves. They had appointed their managers and regularly monitored, managed and reported their performance. The other passive managed assets, although considered to be pooled assets, were not directly under their oversight. They didn't manage or make any decisions on those portfolios, and they just had an agreement in place.

RESOLVED:

To note the information provided in section 6 of this report regarding the Pension

Fund’s investment performance and activity for the quarter ended 31 March 2023.The

meeting later considered the item under item 19.

This report provides the Pensions Committee and Board (PCB) with an update on the important issues related to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The issues covered in this paper are:

a.       Changes to pensions taxation

b.       Further consultation on “McCloud” (Age discrimination in the LGPS)

c.       Climate reporting – Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosure

d.       Investment pooling

e.       The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill

f.         The Pensions Regulator: New general code

Mr Tim Mpofu, Head of Finance, presented the item, noting that the Planning level

funding position had improved from 113 to 132%.

The following was noted in response to questions from the Committee:

· LGPS funds in UK were not too small. The present funding level average was

106%. It was a highly funded scheme, achieved because individual LGPS

funds made sensible asset allocations.

· Lancashire City Council had passed a motion calling on county councils to

divest from investments in occupied territories. It was noted that this did not

relate to the LGPS.

· It was noted that it was legitimate not to invest in an individual company on

ESG grounds or financial grounds.

· There was a live petition asking the Committee to commit to not investing in

occupied territories in Israel. The bill dealt with procurement as well as

pensions. It was noted that there was a need to wait for final legislation for

more certainty.

· If any fund was going to do exclusions, they would have to make sure it was

strictly on investment grounds or ESG grounds; not the ESG grounds which

could be said to be politically motivated.

· There were concerns over restrictions on members democratic rights related to

demands being made by Members as well as infringed ability to make

decisions over fiduciary duty. Chair to raise with Council Leader.

· The Chair asked for there to be an update on the second House of Commons

reading at the next meeting.

The Chair sought clarification around whether more resource was required for

McCloud work, officers stated this wasn’t clear yet.

RESOLVED

To note the Independent Advisors, LGPS Update, June 2023 paper, appended as

Appendix 1 to this report.

This paper provides an update on the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum’s (LAPFF) engagement and voting activities on behalf of the Pension Fund. The Pension Fund is a member of LAPFF, and the Pensions Committee and Board has previously agreed that the Pension Fund’s investment managers should cast its votes at investor meetings in line with the LAPFF voting recommendations.

Mr Tim Mpofu, Head of Finance, presented the item.

· The Committee would be kept updated on the levels of engagement and if any

other companies were coming forward with new climate transition plans.

· Members were reminded that LAPFF sent out a lot of information about the

activities they had done. They also invited members to events to get a better

understanding of the work being completed.

RESOLVED

To note the content of this report.

This paper has been prepared to update the Pensions Committee and Board on the Pension Fund’s risk register and provide and opportunity for the Pension Committee and Board to further review the risk score allocation.

Mr Tim Mpofu, Head of Finance, presented the item.

The following was noted in response to questions from the Committee:

· Apprenticeships within the Pensions Team had not been appointed to as yet. The team had appointed a Graduate Trainee who would be joining in September.

· It was important to distinguish short and long-term periods. Over longer time periods where inflation had averaged to the 2% target, the Investment Strategy in place had an expected return that was significantly higher. The fund had outperformed inflation over longer time periods.

· Regarding Gov4, a big challenge of the fund was to engage with the employers

and employees. For employers, officers were soon to work over a new platform

called IConnect – this would give employers more control over their data. Employees would have a member self-service.

· Regarding the Annual Pension Statement, last year the team did a double approach for active members. These members received the statement online via their members self-service portal. For deferred members, the team posted them out. There had not been a decision on how this would be done this year.

RESOLVED

To note and provide any comments on the Pension Fund’s risk register. The area of

focus for review at this meeting was Governance-related risks.

This paper has been prepared to identify and agree upon the key priorities for the Pensions Committee and Board over the upcoming months, as well as seek members’ input into future agendas.  An overview of the planned investment strategy review work that will follow the completion of the actuarial valuation exercise has also been included for members’ consideration.

Mr Tim Mpofu, Head of Finance, presented the item.

The following was noted in response to questions from the Committee:

· There would be further strategy discussions outside of the formal Committee meeting.

· Reminders were set out to members of the dates of future LGA training sessions.

RESOLVED

To note the progress made towards the agreed key priorities outlined in section 6 of

this report, specifically in relation to the investment strategy review work. To identify

additional matters and training requirements for inclusion within the Pensions

Committee and Board’s forward plan

This report provides the Pensions Committee and Board with a review of the Pensions Fund’s cashflow requirement over the short to medium term.

Haringey Council is the designated statutory Administering Authority for the Haringey Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Administering Authorities are responsible for operating the scheme in accordance with the LGPS regulations, which includes the investment of Pension Fund assets and paying pension benefits.

This report aims to ensure that the Pension Fund has an appropriate strategy in place to fulfil its obligation of paying member pension benefits.

Mr Tim Mpofu, Head of Finance, presented the item,

The Chair noted that the item was also to be heard as part of the exempt papers.

The Committee heard that:

· The papers that were brought forward are specifically to discuss what the cash flow requirement looked like and also would look at the options of making any changes to the investment strategy to ensure that we had a good cash strategy in place for the pension scheme.

RESOLVED:

1. To note Hymans Robertson’s Cashflow Projections paper, appended as

Confidential Appendix 1 to this report, and the advice contained therein.

2. To note Mercer’s Income Considerations paper, appended as Confidential

Appendix 1 to this report, and the advice contained therein.

3. To approve a change to the income distribution policy for the applicable global listed equities strategies managed by Legal and General Investment Management within the investment portfolio.

4. To delegate the authority to the Head of Pensions & Treasury to implement the above changes (if approved), after consultation with the Chair of the Pensions Committee and Board

None

To note the dates of future meetings:

6 September 2023

4 December 2023

30 January 2024

5 March 2024

6 September 2023

Items 18-21 are likely to be subject to a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as they contain exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); para 3 – namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and para 5 – information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

Items 18- 21 were subject to a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting as they contained exempt information as defined in Section 100a of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended by Section 12A of the Local Government Act 1985); paras 3 and 5; namely information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information) and information in respect of which a claim to legal professional privilege could be maintained in legal proceedings.

The meeting adjourned at 8:10pm for a short recess and reconvened at 8:17pm

To confirm and sign the exempt minutes of the Pensions Committee and Board meeting on 21 March 2023 as a correct record.

To follow

RESOLVED: That the exempt minutes of the meeting held on 21 March 2023 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.  

Exempt information pertaining to agenda item 9.

The exempt recommendations were approved.

Exempt information pertaining to item 14.

The exempt recommendations were approved.

None.