Minutes of Police Pension Board for Hampshire Constabulary

Thursday 4 June 2015

Present:

Richard Croucher (RC) – Chairman Paul Robertson (PR) – Co Chairman Nicole Cornelius (NC) – ACO Business and Support Services D/Superintendent Ben Snuggs (BS) – Superintendents Association Brian Woodhall (BW) – Hampshire Branch NARPO Richard Andrews (RA)– OPCC

In attendance: Tony Norton (TN) – Technical Adviser

Minute No. Action 1. The Chairman declared the meeting to be quorate. 2. The Chairman explained the role of the board, e.g. an overview of the administrators and that training would be required for all members. The Chairman then went on to explain the balance of the chairmanship, i.e. that it could be split with himself and the Federation Secretary, Paul Robertson, alternating in chairing the meetings. It was agreed that Chairmanship would be reviewed on an annual basis. The Chairman advised that the Constabulary could join with Hampshire County Council or other partners to operate a Pensions Board but, with there being different schemes it was felt that this was not good use of time. There was consensus within the meeting. There is a possibility later that we can collaborate with other Forces who are setting up their own boards. The advantages and disadvantages were discussed, e.g. how we could learn from how other schemes operate and the potential benefits of this but the disadvantages were seen to be the timelines and travel. This will, however, be kept under review at future meetings. 3. No conflicts of interest were declared but it was agreed that this issue must be examined with each case. An example given was that Richard Croucher in an employee of Hampshire County Council who are the Constabulary’s pensions administrators.

4. The Chairman gave a background to the administration of the scheme and explained that the Board could be required to review decisions made in cases of dispute and also Ill Health Retirement appeals. Tony Norton spoke about the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and how there was a potential conflict with Injury Benefits where the ESA and the Injury Benefit were for the same case. The Home Office have agreed that there is a likely conflict but the Injury Benefit Regulations will not be amended for some time and so we are to continue to issue Injury Benefits in full (i.e. without deduction of the ESA) until the Injury Benefit Regulations are amended. 5. The Terms of Reference, as recommended in Schedule D of the ACPO Guidance were discussed and the completed version of the Terms of Reference is attached. 6. The Code of Conduct to be adopted by the board is to be the Hampshire Constabulary Code of Ethics. 7. All members of the board agreed to sign the undertaking when it is available. 8. The board’s annual budget for 2015-16 was agreed as £20,000. 9. It was agreed that the Conflict of Interest and Expenses to be Paid policies will be written and presented at the next board meeting. 10. It was agreed that the objectives for 2015 – 16 would be to establish the board and ensure that all members were trained and capable of the delivery of their duties. A further objective is to keep under review the work of the administrators, Hampshire County Council. 11. TN was tasked with arranging suitable training for the board. TN 12. PB raised the question of current members over 55 year not being able to get a pension forecast for a future date, i.e. forecasts only appeared to be aimed at the original compulsory retirement date of the 55th birthday. TN was tasked with raising the requirement of forecasts also being required to be available for the anticipated date of retirement. TN 13. BW raised the question of having the pension payroll date changed. Currently the payment date is the first of the month for the current month, e.g. September 2015 pension will be paid in to the bank on Tuesday 1 September. If the first of the month, however, is either a public holiday or a weekend, then the payment is made on the last working day of the month. This makes it difficult for pensioners to operate bank accounts that require a payment in to the account on a monthly basis, as in some months there will be two payments in to the account and some months none. This can lead to them not being able to take advantage of higher interest earning accounts. The Board agreed that Pension Services should be asked to amend the pension payroll date to, say, the 28th of the month which would avoid this problem. TN/RC 14. Proposed dates of meetings for the next year will be requested by circular e-mail. TN