The Chair will announce details of the arrangements in case of fire or other events that might require the meeting room or building’s evacuation.

The Chairman reminded Members of the actions to be taken if they were to be disconnected from the call.

The Chairman also announced that items 6 & 8 of the agenda would be merged.

(if any) – receive.

Apologies were received from Andrew Frater (Scheme Employer Representative).

Members are invited to disclose any interest in any items on the agenda at this point of the meeting.

Members may still disclose any interest in an item at any time prior to the consideration of the matter.

There were no disclosures of interests.

To approve as correct the minutes of the meeting held on 4^th June 2024 (attached) and authorise the Chair to sign them.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 4^th June 2024 were agreed as a correct record.

Minutes of previous Pensions Committee will be circulated when available.

This item was merged with agenda item 8.

The Board was presented with the Pensions Administration and Legislation Update presented by LPPA.

Members noted there had been an increase in membership forms due to the increase of new starters which contradicted the employment freeze to which LPPA agreed to investigate this further and report back with their findings. Members questioned how the end to end experience is for users of the dashboard to which LPPA would also report back on their findings.

Members noted the high dissatisfaction rate of 50% in the first quarter. LPPA responded that the scores related only to the contact centre and from only Havering members. It was noted that any positive feedback is passed onto the call handler and the satisfaction scores were trending upwards in line with other LPPA clients and LPPA will bring back a comparison of satisfaction scores to a future meeting.

The Board noted the report.

The Board were presented with the Communications Plan Update.

It was explained that this report was a follow up report as the document is live and subject to change. It was noted that both Havering and LPPA send out communications and were due to release another set of comms regarding expression of wish and Pension Point.  Members also noted that comms are planned to be sent to employers and members once a month but due to back office pressures in improving the comms being sent out.

The Board noted the report.

The Board was presented with updates from the previous Pensions Committee meeting.

Officers explained that the comments from the LPB with regards to how information was presented in certain reports had been taken on board and members were pleased to hear this. Officers then explained that the fund had increased in value and outlined the work programme for the upcoming meetings.

The Board noted the report.

The Board was presented with all proposed policy changes that had would be presented to the Pensions Committee in November 2024.

Officers explained the policies were largely unchanged but the layouts had been simplified.

Board members proposed the below changes:

·       Remove the term ‘whistleblowing’

·       Reword the final sentence

·       Proof read the document further for any other grammatical errors

Officers explained that a further 2 policies would be circulated to Board members before being presented to the Committee and the Board’s annual report would be circulated before the publication deadline of 1^st December 2024.

Officers requested for members to complete all LOLA v2 training modules to allow officers to formalise additional training where it may be needed.

Members noted the Clerk would circulate provisional dates for the AGM and formalise a date on a majority basis.