Agenda and draft minutes

To elect a Chair for this meeting

RESOLVED to elect Councillor Elin Hywel as Chair of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence

Apologies were received from Cllr Richard M Hughes (Pensions Committee Member - Cyngor Gwynedd), Ned Michael (Pension Board Member - Isle of Anglesey Council), (Sue Hill (ABM Catering), Sally Williams (Conwy Borough County Council Salaries), Lyndsey Campbell-Williams (Medrwn Môn), Caren Byron (Careers Wales), Nia Murray (Eryri), Nikki Lawrence (Careers Wales), Karen Nelson (Grŵp Llandrillo Menai), Rebecca Moss (Menter Môn), Clerk to Bangor City Council, Diana Burns (Conwy Borough County Council), Gemma Browes (Cartrefi Conwy), Sian Owen (Eryri), Alwen Williams (Ambition Board), Sioned Morgan Thomas (Menter Môn), Ffion Griffiths (Menter Môn), Kate Jackson (North Wales Police) and Amanda Hughes (Conwy County Borough Council)

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received from any member present.

To note any items which are urgent business in the opinion of the Chairman so that they may be considered

None to note

To consider and receive the Pension Fund’s Annual Report for 2024 / 2025

Everyone was welcomed to the annual meeting of the Pension Fund.

The Head of Finance introduced the Fund Officers along with Pensions Committee Members and Pensions Board Members to everyone. He referred briefly to the main responsibilities of the Committee including its role as 'Quasi-trustees' to the Fund, determining the general policy objectives, strategy and operation of the Fund in accordance with relevant legislation. He added that they also determined the strategy for investing the Pension Fund's money and monitored and reviewed investment arrangements. He referred to the Committee's work during 2024/25 and it was noted that the reports and minutes of the Committee's meetings could be found on the Council's website.

Referring to the work of the Pension Board (the membership included three member representatives and three employer representatives), it was explained that the Board was an oversight body and although the Board had no decision-making powers it would oversee the operation of the Fund ensuring that it met the legal and administrative requirements.
Reference was made to the Board's work during 2024/25 and it was noted that the reports and minutes of the Pension Board meetings could be found on the Council's website.

Pensions Administration:

The Pensions Manager referred to the main duties of the Administrative Unit presenting the Fund's statistics for 2024/25 and the performance of the Unit.

Reporting on 'My Pension Online' it was noted that the system remained a popular and practical resource. The system had been significantly upgraded in April 2024 with all existing users required to re-register. This, along with the introduction of a new, modern platform and design, had strengthened engagement with members' needs and expanded usability. During 2024 – 2025, around eight thousand had registered with the new portal and the number continued to steadily increase every month.

He drew attention to the Members' Satisfaction Survey which was sent out to all Fund members at the end of each process, e.g. retirements and payment of backpayments, for members to give their opinion on the quality of the service received and on the service provided by the department's staff. It was reported that over 96% of members either strongly agreed or agreed that the quality of the service was high, and that 95% of users strongly agreed or agreed that the quality of the service provided by the staff was high. In order to achieve these high scores, it was noted that the employers' cooperation was crucial, and he thanked the employers for their readiness to provide the information promptly and for their commitment to using the i-connect system that reconciled the data.

The Pension Fund Administrative Unit's priorities for 2025-26 were to continue to update and expand the website, continue to develop process automation and improve correspondence, scan paper files in the office to become a paperless office, continue to update records for the McCloud and Pensions Dashboard projects and reduce the number of 'leave undecided' records, namely members who had left the scheme but whose record had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.