Issue - meetings

The report presented to members detailed the Whistleblowing requirements of the Pensions Act, 2004.  These provisions came into place on 6 April, 2015.

The basic requirement is that nearly all persons who are involved with a pension scheme have a duty to report to the Pensions Regulator where they have reasonable cause to believe that there has been a breach in the law, relevant to the administration of the scheme which is likely to be of material significance to the Regulator.  The pensions Regulator has issued a Code of Practice which sets out the guidance for compliance.

Members noted that along with a number of other Funds, Havering did not manage to deliver the annual benefits statements to deferred members by the statutory deadline of 31 August, 2016.  This was due to a lack of resources at this time.  The statements were however distributed by 18 October, 2016.

The non-compliance was reported to the Pensions Regulator and was informed of future processes to mitigate the risk of this happening again.  There has been no further action or correspondence received from the Pensions Regulator.

A robust plan has been put into place to mitigate the risk of not meeting the deadline going forward and the deadline for 2017 was met.

Members agreed to delete the third paragraph on page 163 of the agenda and noted that there were no background papers for the report.

The Pensions Committee:

·       Noted the results of the annual review and the fact that no breaches have been reported.