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 for absence were received from Randy Plowright.

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 16 below).

There were no items of urgent business.

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.

There were no declarations of interest.

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

Representatives of Haringey Unison attended the meeting. Haringey Unison believed that members’ pensions should be invested in areas which they felt provided social value.

Cllr Dunstall thanked the deputation party for attending the meeting, he explained the committee would discuss a work plan for the development of the fund’s Responsible Investment Policy. Through this policy, the aim was to establish a framework for addressing social, environmental and governance issues across all investments. Alongside this there was also a plan to develop a governance framework for making sure appointed investment managers were accountable based on a set of criteria and in line with the fund’s objectives. It was noted that the Pension Fund operated in a complex regulatory environment and assessing what was possible and in the best interests of members, would take time and could present significant challenges.

The following was noted in response to questions and comments made by the Committee and Board to the deputation group:

• Cllr Hymas asked the deputation party if there were specific beliefs they thought the committee should consider. They explained that the companies listed within their deputation should be investigated.

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.

Cllr Bevan had undertaken the following training:

MARCH

• INFORMA CONNECT ISSB Standards, TCFD & Climate Risk Reporting 2024
• TIKEHAU INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Capital Energy Transition & Decarbonisation
• MALLOW STREET Fixed Income Spotlight
• PFIF Investing in UK Assets - Does it make sense?

APRIL

• SPS Alternative & Real Asset Investments Conference
• PENSIONS AGE Spring Conference
• PARTNERS GROUP London Investor  Conference 2024

MAY

• PREQIN Benchmarking Private Markets
• LBH Climate Action Training
• LOMBARD ODIER Transition Investment Summit 2024
• LOCAL AUTHORITY PENSION FUND FORUM & IndustriALL Webinar: Social protection for garment workers in Bangladesh: the Employment Injury Scheme
• PROFESSIONAL PENSIONS LIVE 2024
• SWFI Global Wealth Conference London

JUNE

• Room 151s LGPS Private Markets Forum
• MÀLLOW STREET Private Markets Investment Focus
• MALLOW STREET Fixed Income Indaba
• PROFESSIONAL PENSIONS Defined Contributions Conference
• MALLOW STREET Renewable Energy Infrastructure
• EPFIF Managing the Transition to Net Zero & Making an Impact

JULY

• CIO INVESTMENT CLUB Fixed Income How to make Impact
• PORTFOLIA INTERNATIONAL ESG Club Conference Sustainable Growth For a New Era
• MALLOW STREET The Evolving Role of Securitised Credit
• EPFIF Asset Allocations Implications, Election and Geopolitical Implications
• AXA Biodiversity and Nature: The why and how of rescuing the planet

Cllr Dunstall had undertaken Chair’s training.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the Pensions Committee and Board meeting held on 5 March as a correct record.

RESOLVED:

That the minutes of the meeting held on 3rd March 2024 be confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Keith Brown requested to note a change specific to the item regarding the deputation. He noted a correction that the goal would be to create an index which could then be invested in.

This report presents the draft audit plan prepared by the Pension Fund’s external auditors, KPMG, for the audit of the Pension Fund’s Annual Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024, for the Pensions Committee and Board’s consideration.

Tim Mpofu, Head of Pensions and Treasury introduced the report. This report presented the draft audit plan prepared by the Pension Fund’s external auditors, KPMG, for the audit of the Pension Fund’s Annual Accounts.

KPMG discussed the audit plan. They explained that they would perform normal audit procedures as mentioned in the report to check if the valuation of assets remained appropriate. The auditors confirmed that a risk assessment of contributions and benefit payments had taken place in preparing for this audit. This was more from the point of view that this remained the first-year audit, but this would be reassessed again at year end once all evidence had been obtained.

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

RESOLVED

This report was noted.

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 administration of the scheme to provide pension benefits to current and former employees of Haringey Council and other employers participating in the pension scheme.

This report provides the Pensions Committee and Board (PCB) with a draft version of the Pension Fund’s revised Administration Strategy, following consultation with scheme employers and seeks approval of that strategy. This revised strategy aims to ensure that the Pension Fund has an effective strategy in place to ensure that both the Administering Authority and scheme employers participating in the Fund understand and fulfil their roles and responsibilities in the Fund’s administration.

Jamie Abbott, Pensions Manager introduced the report. This report provided the Pensions Committee and Board with a draft version of the Pension Fund’s revised Administration Strategy.

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

• Cllr Bevan queried how many external employers were members of the scheme and whether any had been fined in the past for delays in providing information to the Pensions Administration team. Jamie Abbott confirmed that there were 60 external employers, none of whom had received a fine.
• Regarding the consultation process, it was confirmed that this had been circulated to all employers participating in the scheme and the team had received no challenge from any of the employers. It was further noted that it was not the intention of officer to punish employers by imposing fines. The intention was to seek to run the scheme more effectively.
• Cllr Hymas requested that the annual newsletter on the self-service portal be provided to the committee. Jamie Abbott would provide this to members.

RESOLVED

This report was approved by the committee following a vote of 9 for.

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 Service Level Agreement (SLA) statistics

d.       Approval of new admission agreements

Jamie Abbott, Pensions Manager introduced the report. This report provided the Pensions Committee and Board with  updates regarding Pension Fund’s administration activities for the quarter ending 31 March 2024.

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

• Cllr Iyngkaran questioned whether there was a target of what proportion of active members were registered on the portal. Jamie Abbott explained there was no specific target but officers would be happy to continue seeing an increase in registered users. Frequent communications were going out to scheme members regarding this. Officers would continue working to ensure member numbers continued to rise, although it was likely that this was starting to plateau.
• Cllr Bevan queried about performance stats against KPI’s. Jamie Abbott explained that across the board performance was good. However, the processing of transfers was identified as a key issue at the moment. It was noted that the team had recruited two new apprentices and the team were collectively going to re-prioritise the transfer backlog which they had at the start of the year following an internal training programme.

RESOLVED

This report was noted and approved following a vote of 9 for.

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

Jamie Abbott, Pensions Manager introduced the report. This paper was prepared to update the Pensions Committee and Board on the Pension Fund’s risk register.

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

• Craig Pattison queried the cyber risk being rated as green. Tim Mpofu explained that this risk needed to be reviewed again and would likely be changed to amber, at a minimum. It was further noted that internal controls report were received from all investment managers and there was a good level of assurance in terms of cyber security.
• Cllr Dunstall noted that it would be helpful to have a column to note where a risk was subject to change. Tim Mpofu confirmed that the team would seek to reflect this request in future iterations of the risk register.
• Cllr Hymas sought clarification on the backstop date of the outstanding audits. Taryn Eves explained that essentially the consultation under way was setting that backstop date of the 30th of September, however this was not yet agreed. The backstop date would mean that any work on previous years accounts would stop at that point.

RESOLVED

This report was noted.

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

Tim Mpofu, Head of Pensions and Treasury introduced the report. This paper provided an update on the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum’s (LAPFF) engagement and voting activities on behalf of the Fund.

There were no questions from members on this item.

RESOLVED

This report was noted.

This report presents the Responsible Investment (RI) Policy development plan for the Pensions Committee and Board’s consideration.

Tim Mpofu, Head of Pensions and Treasury introduced the report. This report presented the Responsible Investment (RI) Policy development plan for the Pensions Committee and Board’s consideration.

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

• Cllr White noted that he thought it would be useful for officers to talk to other authorities who may have similar plans in place. Tim Mpofu confirmed that representatives from Waltham Forest Council and Haringey Counciil sat on the London CIV’s, sustainable investment working group. It was noted that the key objective of the RI policy development programme would be to get a clearer understanding of the Pensions Fund’s responsible investment implementation framework. Tim Mpofu added that the approved RI policy would have to be investable.
• Steve Turner noted that the most important issue in members consideration was to be aware of the legal position and whether members would be in a sound position to be able to make divestments based on ethical decisions. He also noted that he was aware that the CIV were looking into this issue and were potentially working on making some changes to an existing index tracking fund that might address some of these concerns in terms of disinvestment from owners. Another potential solution was with consider inviting Legal and General, this fund’s equity investment manager to provide an update on their approach to responsible investing. LGIM offered a vast array of different investment strategies, they also had an index tracking fund.

• Patrick Uzice advised that the statutory requirement was for the fund to invest in a wide variety of matters in accordance with the investment strategy and on the face of it would not prevent the fund in deciding not to invest in a specific kind of company. However, the wider impact of such a decision would have to be assessed and as a result the decision may breach the statutory requirement.
• Tim Mpofu explained that for the committee to reach a decision on strategy implementation, it would be helpful to officers if they received a clear steer from the committee regarding their investment beliefs and responsible investment priorities. Some of the planned workshops such as the ESG educational sessions, would touch on the general points related to responsible investing. It was highlighted that an anonymous questionnaire would also be produced, to provide
• officers and advisors with insights into the committee’s priorities. Despite concerns around the tight timelines included in the development plan, officers were committed to complete this process as set out in the document and it was confirmed that an external advisor had been appointed to support the committee with this work.
• Cllr Bevan noted that it would be useful for LGIM to attend a future committee.

RESOLVED

This report was noted.

This paper has been prepared to identify and agree upon the key priorities for the Pensions Committee and Board (PCB) over the upcoming months, as well as seek the PCB’s input into future agendas.

Tim Mpofu, Head of Pensions and Treasury introduced the report. This paper had been prepared to identify and agree upon the key priorities for the Pensions Committee and Board (PCB) over the upcoming months, as well as seek the PCB’s input into future agendas.

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

• Tim Mpofu confirmed that he would share the dates of relevant future training courses to members. Members were reminded and encouraged to undertake any training available, more specifically LOLA the self-directed training programme.

RESOLVED

This report was noted.

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 2024:

a.       Overview of fund performance including funding position update

b.       Independent advisor’s market commentary

c.       Investment manager performance

d.       Asset allocation

e.       Market outlook

Tim Mpofu, Head of Pensions and Treasury introduced the report. This report provided the Pensions Committee and Board (PCB) with the following updates on the Pension Fund’s performance for the quarter ended 31 March 2024.

• This item was to be discussed in depth under the exempt agenda item 19 as it contained some commercial sensitive items.

RESOLVED

This report was noted.

There were no new items of urgent business.

To note the dates of future meetings:

12 December 2022

23 January 2023

21 March 2023

30^TH SEPTEMBER 2024

2^ND DECEMBER 2024

20^TH MARCH 2025

Items 19-22 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 19-21 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.

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 2024:

a.       Overview of fund performance including funding position update

b.       Independent advisor’s market commentary

c.       Investment manager performance

d.       Asset allocation

e.       Market outlook

The exempt information was considered.

To confirm and sign the exempt minutes of the Pensions Committee and Board meeting on 5 March as a correct record.

RESOLVED.

The exempt minutes were approved.

There were no new items of exempt urgent business.