Agenda and minutes

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.

(if any) – receive.

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 apologies for absence.

To approve as correct the minutes of the meeting held on 10 October 2023 (attached) and authorise the Chair to sign them.

The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record.

The Board received a brief update on the previous Pensions Committee.

The Board received a report from the Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA) with a Pensions Administration update.

It was explained to Members that the performance for al case types was above the target however the performance for retirements, bereavements and deaths was below the targets.  LPPA officers then outlined the helpdesk performance and the Board noted the satisfaction rate was consistently around 80% but LPPA were aiming for a higher score.

Members quested how LPPA was improving its performance and it was explained that new staff had been recruited to help increase the performance of those case types. LPPA then explained to the Board that it was undergoing big innovations including validations to check for missing information within cases both before and after the case had been handled. It was explained that the innovations would help to increase performance across all types.

The Board agreed for LPPA to attend a future meeting to elaborate on the learning following the satisfaction scores and comments.

The Board noted the report.

The Board received an LPPA Internal Control Assurance report.

Board members noted the report outlined control objectives set by LPPA during the year 2022-2023. Members noted the current report would be replaced by an external report by AAF which would be given to LPPA by the end of November 2023 with an annual review process following that. It was also explained that the control objectives set by AAF would be the same as the objectives previously set by LPPA.

It was explained to the Board that the overall assurance of the Pensions Administration had been performing to compliance, however, with challenges with customer services. Members questioned if the migration to the new system had been incorporated into the report of which officers confirmed and explained the auditing of that stalled the report.

Members then questioned the internal auditor at LPPA and officers explained that the internal auditor did have resources to conduct research and investigations, however, there was no consideration to employ more auditors.

Members also questioned why not all areas had been tested to which officers answered that LPPA had a 3 year plan to test all areas so not all areas are tested for each annual report. It was explained that tests are risk-based.

The Board noted the report.

The Board received a report on the Risk Register.

The Board noted the grammatical errors raised had been corrected and the date on risk 2.2 had been corrected to read March 2026.

Officers explained to the Board that the Pensions Committee had recommended that a risk be added to reflect the financial position of the Council and paying the statutory contribution rates as risk 4.4. It was also explained that the Committee had recommended that risk 5.4 be changed the post-mitigation score to amber and suggested the Council’s internal audit team conduct reviews of the post-mitigation scores to ensure they are reasonable and realistic and to possibly benchmark the scores against neighbouring boroughs. The Board however, suggested the internal audit team may not be best suited and suggested the Council consider an external provider.

The Board agreed for a report from AAF on cyber security to be presented at a future meeting.

The Board noted the report.