Agenda item

Vicky Jenks said work was ongoing between the Warwickshire and West Yorkshire Funds to ensure the correct processes were in place and full understanding of roles and responsibilities had been confirmed. Work on the retirement pathway process was nearing completion after what had been a lengthy process out of necessity. It was hoped the results could be shared with members soon. Helen Scargill said the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) would soon be sending out letters to members who were now in scope for remedy, following further clarification from LGA. Helen Scargill informed the Board that an update on the requirements for Pensions Dashboard was included in the latest monthly report sent by West Yorkshire. WYPF would be working on the connectivity to the Dashboard on behalf of the Fire Authorities they administer, but Authorities would need to ensure they were aware of what they would be responsible for.

Helen Scargill confirmed that she had attended the LGA annual conference held on 25 and 26 October. She also reminded members that a full disaster recovery had been undertaken by WYPF, and full notes on the lessons learned would be available soon.

Members’ attention was drawn to the most recent key performance indicator statistics.

Members were reminded of the possible industrial action to take place and advised how this could impact on pension contributions. Helen Scargill advised that if a scheme member were to strike for one hour on a particular day, then the whole day would not count towards their pension. It was felt it was important to communicate this fact to scheme members.

Members’ attention was also drawn to the explanation of how abatement, where members may have more than one firefighter pension in payment and are re-employed within a Fire Authority and may have more than one new employment, would be calculated, after WYPF had received information from the Local Government Association. Helen Scargill said that going forward the WYPF would implement the same policy as the LGA.

Paul Morley said he had received an enquiry from a member Union that had transferred in from a different service and was not able to see it on the member online portal. He asked if this was an issue that had been raised and if there was anything in place to resolve it. Helen Scargill said she was not aware of any global issue. Paul Morley said he would ask some of the individuals affected for more information so the matter could be investigated.

Regarding the potential strike action, Paul Morley asked for clarification regarding how lost pension/service could be made up following a period of strike action. Helen Scargill said they would be given the opportunity to pay pension contributions for the missing period. The payments would be based on the period of time the members had been on strike for, rather than a whole day’s worth of contributions if they had only been on strike for one hour. The Chair clarified that if a member went on strike during a night shift, this would result in two lost days of pension payments. If a member decided not to pay contributions to cover lost pension/service they could work additional days in order to make sure they achieved maximum service for pension purposes.

The Chair stated the Council was able to use its discretion to not pay employer pension contributions, as the member could have to cover both employee and employer contributions, but it was unable to have a blanket policy not to pay.

Vicky Jenks said discussions had been taking place at monthly meetings with the WYPF regarding the reconciliation between the pensioner payroll and the administration systems.

Some communications had been made available to members via the LGA regarding Matthews (2^nd modified retained exercise), and responses were starting to be received. Although this was taking place, clarification was still being sought on who would be responsible for the management of the project. Helen Scargill said WYPF would not get involved until a member chose to become a modified member and a new record was needed.

Following a suggestion made by the Chair, it was agreed that the Board would consider only the most recent monthly report at each Board meeting. It was agreed that if issues arose from previous month’s reports then the matter could be revisited.