Agenda item

To receive an update on and to approve, subject to the completion of the external audit, the Haringey Pension Fund Annual Report.

Under s100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972, the Chair of the meeting was of the opinion that the report should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency by reason of special circumstances. These circumstances were so that the Pensions Committee and Board could consider and approve the Pension Fund draft annual report before the publication deadline of 1 December 2022 and that the information required for the report was not available at the time of the agenda publication. This was agreed by the Chair on 22 November 2022.

The Head of Pensions and Treasury introduced the report which presented the Haringey Pension Fund Annual Report and unaudited accounts for 2021/22 for approval, subject to the successful completion of the external audit exercise.

It was explained that, under the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013, it was a requirement for all schemes to produce and publish an annual report by 1 December each year. Normally, the accounts would be finalised, an audit opinion would be provided, member approval would be sought, and then the report would be published. However, due to the delays caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the audit for 2020-21 was still ongoing; this had been explained in more detail at the Pensions Committee and Board meeting on 15 September 2022.

The Head of Pensions and Treasury stated that the annual report relied on the finalised accounts but that, in order to meet the 1 December deadline, it was proposed that the Pensions Committee and Board approved the draft Pension Fund Annual Report; this would be uploaded to the website to meet the deadline. Once the audit was completed, an update would be presented to the Pensions Committee and Board and, if relevant, an updated version of the Pension Fund Annual Report would be proposed for approval and uploaded to the Haringey Pension Fund’s website. It was highlighted that the report sought approval of the draft report, rather than the final report, to reflect what was currently possible with the delays to the external audit.

The Committee accepted that the proposal to agree the draft report was the best approach in the circumstances. It was confirmed that members could send any further comments or questions to the Head of Pensions and Treasury if required. It was also clarified that no significant changes to the Pension Fund Annual Report were anticipated and any outstanding issues were expected to be resolved; if there were any material issues, the auditors would attend a meeting of the Pensions Committee and Board to communicate these.

Some members enquired about the increased cost of management expenses noted in the Pension Fund Accounts. The Head of Pensions and Treasury noted that, overall, management fees had increased. It was explained that this was generally driven by performance-related fees and that, as the total assets of the Pension Fund had increased from £1.6 billion to £1.8 billion, an increase in management fees was to be expected. It was added that the process for performance-related fees was to be reviewed in greater detail in the upcoming year.

RESOLVED

1.    To note the draft Haringey Pension Fund Annual Accounts and unaudited accounts for 2021/22, appended as Appendix 1 to the report.

2.    To approve that the draft version of the Pension Fund’s Annual Report be uploaded on to the Haringey Pension Fund’s website by 30 November 2022, pending the successful completion of the external audit exercise which was expected to commence in early 2023.

3.    To note that an update on the external audit exercise would be provided to the Pensions Committee and Board in early 2023 and that an updated version of the Pension Fund Annual Report would be proposed for approval and uploaded to the Haringey Pension Fund’s website following the successful completion of the external audit exercise.