Decision details

It was reported that the published discretions which the administering authority can exercise under the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Regulations had been reviewed in order to ensure that they were still appropriate in terms of the decision making process, especially following the formation of the Local Pension Partnership.

The Board was informed that following the review it was proposed to make changes to the Admissions and Termination policy, the Pensions Administration Strategy Statement and the actuarial calculation of early retirement costs (Pension Strain). Details of the proposed changes were set out in the report presented.

In considering the report the Board the intention was to present a report on the revised Pension Administration Strategy Statement (PASS) to the Pension Fund Committee in March 2018. In view of the timescales it was suggested that once it was finalised the draft PASS should be circulated to the members of the Board for comment so that any views could be included in the report to the Committee.

It was also suggested that employers within the Fund should be given advance notice of the proposal to increase pension strain costs by 5% in relation to early retirement as this would need to be taken into account when planning future budgets.

Resolved:

1.  That the Admissions and Termination Policy, as set out at Appendix 'A' to the report presented, and the proposal to revise the actuarial calculation for pension strain from 1 April 2018 as detailed in the report are noted.

2.  That the proposed amendments to the Pensions Administration Strategy Statement, as set out in the report, are noted and that once finalised a copy of the draft Statement be circulated to members of the Board for comment so that any views can be reported to the Pension Fund Committee on 23^rd March 2018 when the Statement is presented for approval.

3.  That the contents of the current discretionary policy statement, as set out at Appendix ‘B’ to the report presented, and the intended actions to review the powers of delegation within those statements are noted.