Suffolk Pension Board (Quorum 2 – 1 member of each representative group) Scheme Employer Representatives: Councillor Gordon Jones, representing Suffolk County Council. John Chance, representing all Borough, District, Town and Parish Councils. Thomas Jarrett, representing all other employers in the Fund. Scheme Member Representatives: Suzanne Williams, representing the Unions. David Rowe, representing Active Members. Eric Prince, representing Pensioners. Date: Friday, 2 October 2020 Venue: This meeting will be a remote meeting and therefore will not take place in a physical location following guidelines set in Section 78 of the Coronavirus Act 2020. The live broadcast is available to watch online Time: 11:00 am For further information on any of the agenda items, please contact Rebekah Butcher, Democratic Services Officer, on 01473 264371 or [email protected] Business to be taken in public: 1. Apologies for Absence To note and record any apologies for absence. 2. Declarations of Interest and Dispensations To receive any declarations of interests, and the nature of that interest, in respect of any matter to be considered at this meeting. 3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting Pages 5-10 To approve as a correct record, the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2020. 4. Pensions Administration Performance Pages 11-14 To receive a report summarising the compliments, complaints and administration performance of the Fund. 5. Pension Fund Annual Report and Accounts 2019/20 Pages 15-160 To review the Annual Report and Accounts of the Pension Fund for 2019/20 6. Annual Employers Meeting To receive a verbal update on the Annual Employers meeting that was held virtually on 25 September 2020. 7. ACCESS Update Pages 161-163 To receive an update on the ACCESS pool and the progress of pooling assets. 8. Consultation on the McCloud Remedy Pages 165-177 To consider the consultation on the McCloud Remedy 9. Exit Payment Regulations Pages 179-183 To receive an update on the introduction of the £95k exit cap and other measures that the Government intend to introduce. 10. Pension Board Risk Register Pages 185-196 To review the Board’s Risk Register. 2 11. Information Bulletin Pages 197-201 To receive an information bulletin on some recent developments that will be of interest to the Board. 12. Forward Work Programme Pages 203-205 To consider whether there are any matters which the Board would wish to have included in its Forward Work Programme. Date of next scheduled meeting: Friday, 11 December 2020 at 11:00 am 3 Access to Meetings Suffolk County Council is committed to open government. The proceedings of this meeting are open to the public, apart from any confidential or exempt items which may have to be considered in the absence of the press and public. For more information about this meeting, including access arrangements and facilities for people with disabilities, please contact Democratic Services on: Telephone: 01473 264371; Email: [email protected]; or by writing to: Democratic Services, Suffolk County Council, Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 2BX. Filming, Recording or Taking Photographs at Meetings Further information about the Council’s procedure with regard to the filming, recording or taking of photographs at meetings can be found at: www.suffolk.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/the-council-and-its-committees/apply-to- take-part-in-a-public-meeting#filming. Nicola Beach Chief Executive 4 Agenda Item 3 Unconfirmed Minutes of the Suffolk Pension Board Meeting held remotely on 20 July 2020 at 2.00pm. Present: Councillor Gordon Jones (Chairman) (representing Suffolk County Council), Eric Prince (representing Pensioners), David Rowe (representing Active Members) and Suzanne Williams (representing the Unions). Also present: Simon Bainbridge (Relationship Manager, HSBC) and John Drummond (Performance Measurement and Risk Manager, HSBC) – Agenda Item 4. Supporting officers Rebekah Butcher (Democratic Services Officer), Paul present: Finbow (Senior Pensions Specialist), Stuart Potter (Pensions Operations Manager) and Sharon Tan (Pensions Technical Specialist). 48. Apologies for Absence Apologies for absence were received from John Chance (representing all Borough, District, Town and Parish Councils). 49. Declarations of Interest and Dispensations Eric Prince and Suzanne Williams declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact they were each in receipt of a local government pension. David Rowe declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact he was an active member of the pension scheme. 50. Minutes of the Previous Meeting The minutes of the meeting held on 13 March 2020 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman. 51. Investment Performance The Board received a report at Agenda Item 4 which provided a summary of the performance of the Suffolk Pension Fund for the 2019/20 financial year and performance against other local authority pension funds. The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Simon Bainbridge (Relationship Manager, HSBC) and John Drummond (Performance Measurement and Risk Manager, HSBC) to present the report. Decision: The Board: a) noted the report; and b) requested to see how the Suffolk Pension Fund’s profile compared to Lancashire’s. 5 Reason for decision: a) The Board was interested in the overall investment performance of the Fund. b) The Board noted that Lancashire had performed consistently well over the past 30 years. The Senior Pensions Specialist confirmed he would investigate and update the Board at a future meeting. Alternative options: There were none considered. Declarations of interest: Eric Prince and Suzanne Williams declared a non- pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact they were each in receipt of a local government pension. David Rowe declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact he was an active member of the pension scheme. Dispensations: There were none granted. 52. Pensions Administration Performance At Agenda Item 5, the Board received a report which provided an update on the performance of the Pensions Administration Team. This report also included details of compliments and complaints, and the timeliness of contribution payments received from Employers. Decision: The Board noted the report. Reason for decision: The Board was interested in being provided with regular updates on the performance of the Pensions Administration Team including updates on statutory requirements and Service Level Agreements. Alternative options: There were none considered. Declarations of interest: Eric Prince and Suzanne Williams declared a non- pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact they were each in receipt of a local government pension. David Rowe declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact he was an active member of the pension scheme. Dispensations: There were none granted. 53. Pensions Regulator Update The Board receive a report at Agenda Item 6 which provided an update on the progress against actions noted during the Pensions Regulator visit in 2019. In response to a question from a Member, it was confirmed that the Regulator had not been informed of the Boards decision to continue to hold a separate Risk Register to the Pension Fund Committee. Decision: The Board noted the report. Reason for decision: The Board was interested in being provided with an update on the actions noted during the Pensions Regulator visit during 2019. Alternative options: There were none considered. 6 Declarations of interest: Eric Prince and Suzanne Williams declared a non- pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact they were each in receipt of a local government pension. David Rowe declared a non-pecuniary interest by virtue of the fact he was an active member of the pension scheme. Dispensations: There were none granted. 54. Pooling Update At Agenda Item 7, the Board received an update from the Senior Pensions Specialist in relation to the ACCESS pool. Members were informed that the last meeting of the ACCESS Joint Committee was on Friday 17 July and considered its Annual Report. Originally it was expected that the running costs for ACCESS would cost £1.2 million to be shared amongst the 11 funds; at Outturn it had only cost £800,000, nearly £400,000 underspent. This was mainly related to the fact that moving to the Alternative asset classes of investing, which was envisaged to need a lot of input from the Legal Advisors, did not get done in 2019/20 and some of that had been delayed until 2020/21. However, in effect that meant each fund had overpaid by £35,000 as their commitment to support ACCESS last year, which would be reduced from the 2020/21 contribution. Also, the net savings achieved in 2019/20 for all 11 funds totalled just short of £9.5 million, net of the fees paid to Link and the depository fees, which was positive. The cumulative savings for all 11 funds was just over £12 million from the start of pooling. The reason for this was because the rental model was being used for ACCESS, and it therefore did not have significant upfront costs of creating our own Operator. Whereas some other pools have had significant costs, taking them a few years to get back to break-even. Members also noted that the Inter-Authority Agreement was delayed from 17 July ACCESS committee meeting and was now going to be submitted to the September meeting. This would mean the Suffolk Pension Fund Committee would approve it at its 16 September meeting, before being presented to the Constitution Working Party and subsequently Full Council for adoption. It was also confirmed that ACCESS were looking at the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) issues and the guidance it used to set up sub-funds. This work included how the ESG requirements of the 11 funds had changed or were changing. When the guidance was written two years ago, most funds were following a similar policy, however since then some funds have had more engagement with either scheme members or Groups that have contacted local funds about particular issues.