Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Markham. Cllr O'Brien acted as substitute.

Councillors Corthorne, Simmonds, O'Brien, Mills and Eginton and advisory member John Holroyd declared pecuniary interests in all Agenda Items, in that they were all members of the Local Government Pension Scheme, and remained in the room.

Were agreed as an accurate record subject to the following amendments: Cllr Harmsworth did attend 26 March 2014 meeting and £719 mentioned within 'Review of Performance Measurement of the Pension Fund' be changed to read £719 m.

That Agenda Items 8, 9 and 10 be considered in private for the reasons stated on the agenda and the rest of the items be considered in public.

Consideration was given to the report which provided a summary of fund manager performance for the London Borough of Hillingdon Pension Fund for the quarter ending 31 March 2014.  It was noted that the total value of the fund’s investments as at 31 March 2014 was £724m. 

Reference was made to the performance of the Fund for the quarter ending 31 March 2014, showing an outperformance of 0.17%, with a return of 0.97% compared to the benchmark of 0.80%. One year figures showed returns of 6.78%, which were 0.32% relatively better than the benchmark.  

Reference was made to Kempen and Macquire and their poor performance against the benchmark. Officers explained they were monitoring the situation closely but proposed the reasons for this would need to be explored by the Investment sub-Committee.

In relation to the composition of Hillingdon's Pension Fund, it was noted that the investment strategy had a deliberate defensive bias through the strong allocation to multi-asset programmes and equity programmes that focused on providing sustainable dividend yeilds. With regards to the private equity proportion of the Pension Fund, Officers explained that they were considering a disinvestment strategy.

Noting the quarterly reporting cycle and gap between 31 March and the mid June Committee date, Members requested that future reports incorporate comments about subsequent activities.

RESOLVED -  

That the report be noted.

Consideration was given to the report which provided an update on the outsourced Pensions Administration contract, the latest pension administration performance data and early retirements in the last quarter of 2013/14.

It was noted that a contract review meeting was held on 10 April 2014 with the Capita managers responsible for the contract to emphasise Hillingdon's concerns. Capita were informed that the quality of the Hillingdon data had deteriorated and confidence had fallen in its ability to maintain Hillingdon's data. As a result, a Capita Employee Benefits (CEB) recovery plan was initiated to remedy the situation. Unfortunately, early signs suggest the recovery plan has not been as effective as anticipated. The Corporate Director of Finance will monitor this closely and further updates will be provided to the both the Investment Sub Committee and Pensions Committee.

In relation to Administration Performance Information, it was noted that over the quarter, the overall average performance was 87.38% per month which was an improvement of 25.94% per month over the previous quarter.

The report highlighted there were concerns about the performance with regards to sending condolence letters, and officers confirmed that they were monitoring this area on a daily basis to ensure that CEB improved its performance immediately. Officers explained that they would be visiting Capita in the near future to discuss the Authorities' concerns at CEB's overall performance and would provide an update to the next meeting.

The statistics in relation to early retirement and the developments pertaining to the development of an Employee Pensions website were noted.

RESOLVED -

That the Pensions Committee:

1.     Note the ongoing Officer action in relation to the Capita Pensions Administration contract.

2.     Review the latest administration performance statistics.

3.     Note the latest information in respect of early retirements and communications.

Members were provided with a report which provided details of the recent changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme and further consultations  on proposed scheme changes.

In relation to Councillor membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme,  Officers were asked to prepare a report which provided details on the

options for Councillor members of the Pension Fund with the new

changes to the scheme.

RESOLVED -

1.  That the information contained in the report be noted

This item was discussed as a Part II item without the press or public present as the information under discussion contained confidential or exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.  This was because it discussed ‘information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the schedule to the Act).

RESOLVED -

1.  That the contents of the report be noted.

This item was discussed as a Part II item without the press or public present as the information under discussion contained confidential or exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.  This was because it discussed ‘information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the schedule to the Act).

RESOLVED -

1.  That the contents of the report be noted.

This item was discussed as a Part II item without the press or public present as the information under discussion contained confidential or exempt information as defined by law in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act 1985.  This was because it discussed ‘information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)’ (paragraph 3 of the schedule to the Act).

RESOLVED -

1.  That the contents of the report be noted.