Venue: Ystafell Gwyrfai, Council Offices, Caernarfon, Gwynedd. LL55 1SH
Contact: Lowri Haf Evans 01286 679878
No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES To receive any apologies for absence Minutes: Apologies were received from Councillor Aled Evans (Gwynedd Council)
Councillor John Pughe Roberts, (Chair of the Pensions Committee) and Dafydd
Edwards (Head of Finance) Best wishes for a
speedy recovery were sent to the Head of Finance. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest Minutes: None to note |
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URGENT ITEMS To
note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so that
they may be considered Minutes: None to note |
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The Chairman shall propose that the minutes
of the meeting of this committee held on 24 September 2019 be signed as a true
record. Minutes: The Chair signed the minutes of a meeting of
this Board, held on 24 September 2019, as a true record. In response to a request for an update on
the process of recruiting and appointing a new employer representative for the
Pension Board, it was highlighted, having corresponded with every employer,
that applications had been submitted. It was added that the
closing date was the 15th of January 2020, and it was proposed to hold
interviews on the 23rd of January 2020. |
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MINUTES OF PENSIONS COMMITTEE AND PENSION FUND ANNUAL MEETING To submit, for information, - minutes of the Pensions Committee meeting held 27th July 2019 - minutes of the Pension Fund Annual Meeting held 24th October 2019 Additional documents: Minutes: The minutes of the Pensions
Committee held on 27 July 2019, were received for information, together with
the minutes of the annual Pension Fund meeting held on 24 October 2019. Members
had no further observations arising from the minutes. |
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EXCLUSION OF PRESS AND PUBLIC The Chairman shall propose that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during the discussion on the following items due to the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 14 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. Although there is a public interest in gaining an understanding of the operation of the pension fund, this report is about proposed rates, which are being shared with Scheme Employers as a forewarning of rates. This information has not been shared through the governance arrangements of each Employer and publication at this point could have an impact on the interests of the Employers by undermining their budget reporting ad preparation. On balance the Monitoring Officer is satisfied that the public interest does not support publication of this report. Minutes: RESOLVED
to
exclude the press and public from the meeting during the discussion on the
following item due to the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in
paragraph 12, Section 4, Schedule 12A, Local Government Act 1972. Although
there is public interest in having an understanding of how the pension fund operates,
this report regarding proposed rates is shared as a prior warning with the
Employers of the Scheme. This
information has not been shared within the managerial systems of each of these
Employers, and its publication at this point may have an impact on the
Employers' interests by undermining their reporting arrangements and financial
preparations. On balance, the Monitoring Officer was satisfied that there was
no public interest to support the publication of this report. |
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PENSION FUND VALUATION RESULTS To consider the report (separate copy for Board Members only) Minutes: Submitted - the
report of the Pensions Manager highlighting the Pension Fund valuation
results. It was noted
that there had been an improvement in the Fund's position with the budget level
increasing from 91% on 31 March 2016 to 108% on 31 March 2019. It was noted that this was very good news. In response to a
question, it was noted that all employers who were
part of the fund were aware of their individual results and discussions had
taken place with them. The information was ACCEPTED. |
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REOPEN MEETING FOR PRESS AND PUBLIC The Chairman shall propose that the meeting be reopened for the press and public Minutes: RESOLVED to re-open the meeting to the press and public |
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GWYNEDD PENSION FUND PERFORMANCE 2019-20 To consider the
Investment Managers report Minutes: The Investment
Manager submitted a report updating Members on the work of monitoring and the
performance of Pension Fund investments.
It was highlighted that the Fund stood fairly healthily and its value
had increased gradually since 2010 and the performance of the fund's
investments was above the benchmark in each of the periods measured. It was reported that there
were positive returns on bonds and equity together with fairly regular returns
on property investments. It was explained
that the main factor that had an impact on the funding position between 2016
and 2019 was the increase of £505 million from the investment returns. It was noted that a proportion of the increase was due
to money exchange rates as the Fund had been valued in terms of pounds and the
assets were listed in terms of foreign money e.g euros and dollars. However, it was added that the majority of
the movement in the Fund's value was an actual increase in local money as a
result of the favourable performance of the Fund's assets. It was stated that the position of individual
employers within the Fund was different, however, generally, the Fund's
strength had allowed it to take a flexible approach to employer contribution
rates, which would be in effect from April 2020. The officer was thanked for the information. It was
noted that the situation appeared to be very good. The
information was ACCEPTED. |
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COMMUNICATING WITH NEW AND YOUNG MEMBERS To consider the
report Minutes: In response to the
Board's concerns that young members were opting out of the Pension Scheme, a
report was submitted by the Pensions Manager detailing the communications work
undertaken to engage with Members to try and encourage them to remain within
the Scheme. The procedure to join and
opt out was discussed as well as how the Scheme is promoted. It was explained
that a request had been made to the Wages Departments at Gwynedd, Conwy and
Anglesey Councils for information on the number of staff who have opted out of
the Scheme. Although only one response
had been received, from Gwynedd Council, it gave a fairly clear picture of the
situation. During the discussion, the
following matters were noted as ones requiring attention: ·
Include more information in the membership pack
with full details of the benefits ·
Hold a campaign to encourage staff under 40 years
old to join the Pension Scheme ·
It was suggested that a letter should be sent
before the first pay-packet giving details about payment sums. ·
Compare how other funds communicate with staff -
request for examples of their handbooks / membership pack ·
Ask staff who choose to opt out, about their
reasons for their choice. RESOLVED -
to accept the
information. -
request a response to the above observations by the
next meeting |
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To consider the
Investment Managers report Minutes: A report was
submitted by the Investment Manager updating the Board on the impact of the
result of the McCloud judgement on fund administrators and employers who are
members of the Local Government Pension Scheme It was reported
that since the decision of the Supreme Court (June 2019) to deny the
Government's right to appeal the decision that uncorroborated defences were
illegal due to discrimination on the grounds of age, no guidance had been
presented as a result of the Appeal Court's judgement. It was added that discussions about the
likely impact were taking place with the investment advisor, Hymans Robertson The information was ACCEPTED. |
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SELECT REPRESENTATIVES TO ATTEND EVENTS To consider the Head
of Finace’s report Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted - a report informing members about relevant conferences and
events and seeking nominations for attendance on behalf of the Gwynedd Pension
Fund. The following was
RESOLVED Link and Russell Presentation 16 January 2020 Osian Richards, Hywel Eifion Jones and Sharon
Warnes ‘LGC Investment
Seminar’, Carden Park, Cheshire 27 – 28 February
2020 Hywel Eifion Jones, Huw Trainor and Sharon Warnes |
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THE PENSION REGULATOR: PUBLIC SERVICE GOVERNANCE SURVEY 2019 Receive
feedback from the Board in order to complete the survey Minutes: A survey published
by the Pensions Regulator for each Local Scheme Manager was submitted. It was
highlighted that Gwynedd Council was the Local Scheme Manager for the Gwynedd
Pension Fund and therefore had a responsibility to complete the survey jointly
with the Chair of the Pensions Board. It was explained that the closing date
for responses was 29 November 2019, however, the deadline had been extended by
the Regulator in order to receive the Board's input. In accordance with
the Chair's decision to receive the input of Board Members on the survey, the
on-line survey was completed and submitted to the Pensions Regulator's website
during the meeting. During the discussion, the following matters were noted as ones
requiring attention: ·
That a register was
required of the interests of Pension Board Members (A2) ·
That the Scheme's Manager
or the Pension Board needed to hold an official evaluation of the information,
understanding and the Board's skills in relation to running the Scheme
(A6). o
It was suggested that the
Communication Policy should be discussed at the next meeting. o
The Scheme's Administration
Strategy - it was suggested that other examples should be looked at. o
Need to update policies -
some documents were historical ·
It was necessary to include
and recognise the cyber risk on the Scheme's risk register (B4) ·
It was necessary to report
to the Pensions Regulator the closing date that was
missed to publish the statements of executive members (F2) ·
It
was necessary to record the reasoning for not reporting on any breaches of the
law (F3). Accuracy was more important
than reaching a target. Consider an item for the next meeting |