Pension Fund Committee Venue
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Agenda Meeting: Pension Fund Committee Venue: Remote meeting Date: Friday 11 September 2020 at 10 am Pursuant to The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020, this meeting will be held using video conferencing. The live broadcast of this meeting will start when the meeting commences. Members of the press and public who would like to view it can do so via the County Council’s website. For help and support in accessing the meeting, please contact the Democracy Officer responsible for the meeting (see contact details below). Business 1. Exclusion of the public from the meeting during consideration of each of the items of business listed in Column 1 of the following table on the grounds that they each involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraph(s) specified in column 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Access to information)(Variation) Order 2006:- Item number on the agenda Paragraph Number Item 2 – Confidential Minutes only 3 Item 7 – Appendix 3 only 3 Item 10 3 2. Minutes of the meeting held on 3 July 2020, the public Minutes of the Special meeting held on 10 August 2020, and the Confidential Minutes of the Special meeting held on 10 August 2020 (Pages 4 to 7) 3. Declarations of Interest Enquiries relating to this agenda please contact Steve Loach Tel: 01609 532216 or e-mail [email protected] Website: www.northyorks.gov.uk 4. Public Questions or Statements Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this meeting if they have given notice (including the text of the question/statement) to Steve Loach of Democratic Services (contact details at the foot of page 1 of the Agenda sheet) by midday on Tuesday 8th September 2020. Each speaker should limit themselves to 3 minutes on any item. Members of the public who have given notice will be invited to speak:- at this point in the meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30 minutes); when the relevant Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on the Agenda for this meeting. If you are exercising your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please inform the Chairman who will instruct those taking a recording to cease while you speak. 5 Death Grant Payment - Report of the Treasurer (Pages 8 to 43) 6. Governance of the Fund - Report of the Treasurer (Pages 44 to 154) 7. Budget/Statistics - Report of the Treasurer (Pages 155 to 159) 8. Pensions Administration Report - Report of the Treasurer (Pages 160 to 175) 9. Performance of the Fund - Report of the Investment Consultants (Pages 176 to 185) 10. Investment Strategy Review – Report of the Treasurer (Pages 186 to 198) 11. Pension Board – Report back by Chair of informal meeting held on 9th July 2020 Verbal update by the Chair of the Pension Board 12. Such other business as, in the opinion of the Chairman should, by reason of special circumstances, be considered as a matter of urgency NB – A Skype Pension Fund Workshop will take place on Thursday 10 September 2020 at 2pm and an invitation will be sent to Members accordingly. Barry Khan Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Democratic Services) County Hall Northallerton September 2020 For all enquiries relating to this agenda or to register to speak at the meeting, please contact Steve Loach, Democratic Services Officer on Tel: 01609 532216 or by e-mail at: [email protected] PENSION FUND COMMITTEE 1. Membership County Councillors (8) Councillors Names Political Group 1 CHAMBERS, Michael MBE Conservative 2 LUNN, Cliff Conservative 3 MULLIGAN, Patrick Conservative 4 PARSONS, Stuart NY Independent 5 SOLLOWAY, Andy Independent 6 SWIERS, Helen (Vice-Chairman) Conservative 7 THOMPSON, Angus Conservative 8 WEIGHELL, John OBE (Chairman) Conservative Members other than County Councillors (1 and 2) Voting (3) Non-voting 1 VASSIE, Christian City of York 2 CLARK, Jim North Yorkshire District Councils 3 PORTLOCK, David Chair of the Pension Board Total Membership – (10) Quorum – (3) County Councillors Con Lib Dem NY Ind Labour Ind Other Voting Members 6 0 1 0 1 2 2. Substitute Members Conservative Councillors Names Councillors Names 1 BLADES, David 1 2 PEARSON, Chris 2 3 LES, Carl 3 4 WINDASS, Robert 4 5 MANN, John 5 NY Independents Councillors Names 1 2 3 4 5 3. Substitute Members 1 AYRE, Nigel City of York 2 DALE, Angie North Yorkshire District Councils ITEM 2 North Yorkshire County Council Pension Fund Committee Minutes of the meeting held on 10 August 2020 held remotely by Skype commencing at 11 am. Present:- County Councillors John Weighell OBE (Chair), Michael Chambers MBE, Cliff Lunn, Angus Thompson and Carl Les. Councillor Jim Clark - North Yorkshire District Councils. Councillor Christian Vassie - City of York Council. David Portlock - Chair of the Pension Board. Apologies: County Councillors Don Mackay, Patrick Mulligan, Andy Solloway and Helen Swiers Copies of all documents considered are in the Minute Book 175. Welcome and Introduction The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting of the Pension Fund Committee held remotely under The Local Authorities and Police and Crime Panels (Coronavirus) (Flexibility of Local Authority Police and Crime Panel Meetings) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020 and introduced those present. 176. Exclusion of the Public and Press Resolved – That on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, the public was excluded from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 3 – Investment Review – Report of the Treasurer 177. Declarations of Interest There were no declarations of interest. Agenda item 3 was considered in private and the public have no right of access to this section of the Minutes. NYCC Pension Fund - Minutes – 10 August 2020 4 178. Investment Review – Report of the Treasurer Considered - The report of the Treasurer to the North Yorkshire Pension Fund regarding an investment review. Resolved – That the recommendations in the report as amended at the meeting, be agreed. The meeting concluded at 12:25pm MLC NYCC Pension Fund - Minutes – 10 August 2020 5 ITEM 5 North Yorkshire County Council Pension Fund Committee 11 September 2020 Death Benefit – Mr A 1.0 Purpose of the Report To provide Members with information relating to the death of Mr A on 5 May 2020 in order that a decision can be made as to the beneficiary of the death grant now payable. It is an administering authority discretion under the regulations to decide to whom death grants are paid. The following wording is taken from the ‘Administering Authority Discretions for NYCC’ document: “The administering authority has determined where a nomination has been made it will be taken into account along with any other relevant factors. In practice, the decision will normally be to pay the death grant to the nominee(s), but this may not be the case where there have been significant changes in circumstances since the nomination was made or where there are other material factors which indicate that this would not be appropriate. Where there is no nomination and payment is to be made to the member’s spouse or civil partner then Letters of Administration or a Grant of Probate will not be required. Similarly, payment to the estate can be made without Letters of Administration or a Grant of Probate where the death grant is less than £5,000. Where necessary, cases will be referred to the Pension Fund Committee for a decision.” It is standard practice for the NYPF to pay death benefits in accordance with the Nomination Form completed by the member however, we believe there are other material factors which indicate that this may not be appropriate. 2.0 Background Mr A was an active member of the NYPF and died on 5 May 2020. We received notification of the death from Mr A’s sister on 14 May 2020. The member was married at the time of his death and his third wife is nominated to receive 100% of the death grant. They were married on 12 May 2018 and the nomination form was received on 30 May 2018. There are no children from this marriage. We have subsequently received a letter and the interim death certificate from the solicitors acting on behalf of Mr A’s youngest child from his second marriage who is still a minor. The ex-wife’s solicitor has also emailed asking for death grant discretion to be extended to her and the three children on the basis of length of marriage (19 years) and financial responsibility for the children. There is a Will, dated 11 June 2018 naming his third wife as sole beneficiary unless she predeceases him then 40% is left to his step daughter and 20% each to his 3 children from his first marriage. The children’s names are not correct in the Will as the sons’ middle names have been muddled up. The Will is being contested by the ex-wife’s solicitor due to the lack of financial provision for the children. There is a death grant payable of £85,236.24 8 We issued family information forms to the member’s wife, ex-wife and his sister to obtain as much background information as possible.