Agenda and minutes

No apologies were received.

To note the Terms of Reference and membership of the Board (copy enclosed).

The Terms of Reference were noted.

There were no disclosures of interest made at this meeting.

RESOLVED,          that the press and public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of Agenda Item No 10 – Update on Matthews/O’Brien, and Agenda Item No 11 – Verbal Update on Emerging Issues by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 as the reports contain information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the Authority holding that information).

To receive the minutes of the previous meeting held on 3 May 2022 (copy enclosed).

RESOLVED,           that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 3 May 2022 be agreed as a true and accurate record.

To note the Schedule of Future Meetings (copy enclosed).

Members noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Cumbria Fire Local Pension Board would take place as follows:-

·      20 October 2022 at 2pm – Fire HQ at Penrith

·      1 February 2023 at 2pm – Carlisle West Fire Station

To consider a report from the Chief Fire Officer (copy enclosed).

Members considered a report from the Chief Fire Officer which advised them of any material risk management, policy or governance issues and national regulatory changes to 30 June 2022 and any performance monitoring issues of the Scheme to 31 March 2022.

The Senior Advisor – Pensions took members through the report, highlighting the following:

·      Risk - The current risk register had 14 risks comprising 4 red risks, 2 amber risks and 8 green risks.  No risks had been added or removed from the register.  Following discussion at the previous Board meeting 2 risks were reviewed (Pension Administration Process and Loss of Key Personnel).  It was decided not to amend the risk score of the Pensions Administration Process.  It was decided to amend the Loss of Key Personnel score from 4 to 16 which meant the risk was now red.

·      LPPA Performance - In the quarter to 31 March 2022, performance against the KPIs had been 100%, against the SLA target of 95%. 

·      LegalBreaches– members noted there were no legal breaches reported to the Pensions Regulator for the quarter to 31 March 2022.

·      Scheme Discretions – members noted that no scheme discretions had been exercised during the quarter.

·      Pensions Ombudsman – there had been one case appealed to the Pensions Ombudsman during the period.  The case had already been reviewed at IDRP Stages 1 and 2.

·      IDRP – The Board were informed that one Stage One Appeal had been received and heard by the Chief Fire Officer who made the decision not to uphold the appeal.  The complainant had been informed.

·      Data Quality – The data held by the Scheme continued to be of a good quality.  Using the scoring mechanism as set out by the Pensions Regulator, the Scheme reported that 98.5% of its common data was present and accurate.

·      Remedy to Sargeant Age Discrimination Case –There was no update to report. The number of Immediate Detriment cases currently stood at 27 in category 1 (active members)  and 62 in category 2 (retired members). Nationally the Fire Brigade Union were taking forward a small number of test claims for the purpose of injury to feelings , one of which was from Cumbria Fire & Rescue Service. 

·      Matthews Second Options exercise – There was a separate report on Matthews on item 10.

·      Abatement – Cumbria had been approached by LGA to share the Reengagement and Abatement Policy as best practice nationally.

·      Annual Benefit Statement – LPPA had confirmed they would be replicating what they had produced last year. The Annual Benefit Statement will not reflect the remedy choice between legacy and reformed benefits.  LGA thought it prudent to provide members with a note to outline the timeframe associated with the remedy.  LPPA would send out the content of the note to all members with their Annual Benefit Statement.

The Chair noted that the narrative on some risks were lacking in detail and requested more detail to be provided.

A member remarked about the Annual Benefit Statement figures and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

To receive a presentation from Rachel Blundell, Operations Director, Local Pensions Partnership Administration

The Operations Director - Local Pension Partnership Administration gave an update.  The following areas were covered including:-

·      Phase 1 Overview

·      Portal Changes

·      Fire Team

·      Helpdesk Performance

·      SLA Performance

The Chair remarked that although the report was good a narrative to explain would be useful.

The Operations Director - Local Pension Partnership Administration would liaise with Senior Advisor - Pensions in regard to providing narrative.

A member queried when Phase 2 would start for Cumbria and what was the rationale behind the implementation of Phase 1 in the busiest quarter of the year.

The Operations Director - Local Pension Partnership Administration noted that Phase 2 would commence in September and run through to December, which was when Cumbria would go live.  She remarked that the implementation timescales were as a result of the current supplier serving notice, which required the implementation to be in 12 months and not 18-24 months.  Members  would need to register to the new pension portal to access their information.

To note that the next meeting will take place at 2pm on 20 October 2022.

The next meeting will be held on 20 October 2022 at 2pm.

To consider a report from the Chief Fire Officer (copy enclosed).

The purpose of this report was to provide the Cumbria Fire Local Pensions Board with an update on the Matthews Second Options Exercise following the publication of a Memorandum of Understanding on the 9 March 2022.

Further guidance and policy decisions were expected. The Council would be working closely with the LGA, other FRA’s, Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA), partners and stakeholders to manage this project and implement the changes.

RESOLVED,     that the Cumbria Fire Local Pensions Board noted the contents of this report.

To receive a general verbal update from the Chief Fire Officer.

The Chief Fire Officer updated the Board on current emerging issues, including:-

·      Local Government Reorganisation