Issue - meetings

Vicky Jenks introduced the item and explained that the Pension Fund discretions policy had been agreed and signed off by the Staff and Pensions Committee. There had been a small number of changes to the policy and these were highlighted in the report. This was the first full review of the policy since it was implemented in 2016. Vicky Jenks said these would be reviewed on a regular basis in future.

Responding to a question from Jeff Carruthers, Vicky Jenks said an employer would be entitled to make its own decisions based on its circumstances regarding which of the Fund’s policies to follow. Although there were several mandatory discretions there were also a number of discretionary ones that an employer could choose to follow. Information and support on this was available online. Vicky Jenks said the Fund was planning to do more work in the next few months to engage with employers about the discretions that were available, how to make decisions on which to apply and how they would affect an employer’s policy. The Board agreed to have an action point on assessing the level of discretionary policy compliance amongst Fund members.

Regarding the 85-year rule referenced in the report, it was clarified following a question from Alan Kidner that the legislation stated the default position was it would be switched off; employers however had the ability to switch it on. Alan Kidner noted that the Council had proposed a policy of switching it off, when this was already the default position. He spoke of his experience when the position was changed to switching off, and he would not be able to retire at 60 with 25 years’ service pension, as he had previously been led to believe. Alan Kidner stated his belief that this was unfair. Vicky Jenks said some discretions would be in place and in certain circumstances no reductions would be applied. However there would be cost implications for the Fund and this needed to be taken into consideration. Alan Kidner stated his belief that in situations where an employer with a policy of leaving the 85-year rule switched on became defunct and administration of pensions passed to the authority, then the authority should leave the policy switched on. Vicky Jenks said the intention was to have a blanket policy rather than having a separate one for defunct employers.

Following a request made by Keith Francis, it was agreed that future training sessions would include a section relating to discretions.

There were no other items of business to discuss.

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as 12 July. It was hoped this could be held in-person rather than online.

14.Summary of Key Actions