Agenda item

A report proposes a draft Breaches Policy for review and recommendation to the Pension Fund Committee

The purpose of this report is for the Local Pension Board (LPB) to consider the attached draft Breaches Policy Guidelines and to recommend:

a) any changes to be made by the Head of Pensions; and

b) adoption by the Pension Fund Committee as amended by the Head of Pensions. 

The Board received a draft Breaches policy that the Pension Fund Committee was to consider its next meeting.

It was acknowledged that in the event of a breach, a special meeting of the Board may need to be called to discuss these between scheduled meetings. Comments on the breaches policy included that breaches should be monitored by the Board, and reported in the Fund’s annual report and also on the Fund’s website. The Head of Pensions would ensure that all members of the Board undertook the Pension Regulator (tPR) training as this was a statutory requirement, and the Board strongly recommended that Pension Fund Committee members also undertake this training. It was suggested that a collective session for both Board and Committee members could be appropriate. There was also discussion as to whether the Monitoring Officer should be the person responsible for the reporting of breaches and not the Section 151 Officer due to the potential for a conflict of interest.  Officers felt that this could be managed and that the Board would be monitoring the reporting of breaches

Resolved:

To endorse the draft Breaches Policy and recommend adoption by the Pension Fund Committee subject to the following additional requirements: that breaches be reported to the Board, published in the Fund’s annual report and also on the Funds website

That the Pension Fund Committee consider whether the Monitoring Officer should be responsible for the reporting of breaches instead of the Section 151 officer.

That future amendments to the Breaches Policy be reported to the Local Pension Board.

To recommend to the Pension Fund Committee that its members undertake tPR training.