Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Roger Price, Mark Hilton, Richard North and Dan Tasker.

To elect a Chairman of the Pension Board in accordance with the Terms of Reference of the Pension Board, until the first meeting of the Board following the 2024 HIWFRA AGM.

The Clerk called for nominations for a Chairman, noting the requirements of the Firefighters’ Pension Board Terms of Reference.  Stew Adamson was nominated, seconded and in the absence of any further nominations duly appointed Chairman of the HIWFRA Firefighters’ Pension Board until the first meeting of the Board following the annual meeting of the Fire Authority in 2024.

To elect a Vice-Chairman of the Pension Board in accordance with the Terms of Reference of the Pension Board, until the first meeting of the Board following the 2024 HIWFRA AGM.

The Chairman called for nominations for a Vice-Chairman, noting the requirements of the Firefighters’ Pension Board Terms of Reference.  Richard Scarth was nominated, seconded and in the absence of any further nominations duly appointed Vice-Chairman of the HIWFRA Firefighters’ Pension Board until the first meeting of the Board following the annual meeting of the Fire Authority in 2024.

To enable Members to disclose to the meeting any disclosable pecuniary interest they may have in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest is not already entered in the Authority’s register of interests, and any other pecuniary or non-pecuniary interests in any such matter that Members may wish to disclose.

Members were mindful of their duty to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest they had in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest was not already in the Authority’s register of interests, and their ability to disclose any other personal interests in any such matter that they might have wished to disclose.

To confirm the minutes of the previous meeting.

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and agreed.

Pursuant to Standing Order 19, to receive any deputations to this meeting.

There were no deputations.

To receive any announcements the Chairman may wish to make.

The Chairman had no formal announcements to make.

To receive a verbal update on the Scheme Advisory Board.

There were no updates for the meeting.

To receive the Annual Administration Report.

The Board received the Annual Administration report (item 9 in the minute book), which was summarised by the officer and would be reported back to the Standards and Governance Committee.

Members of the board were happy with the report and the good working relationship with Shared Services around the risk register. It was agreed that future reports going forward would compare membership to previous years for awareness.

RESOLVED

The Hampshire Pension Services Annual Administration Report was noted by the Board

To receive a report providing an update on legislation and the Local Government Association.

The Board received a report from the Chief Financial Officer (item 10 in the minute book), which provided a Local Government Association update.

The officer summarised the report, highlighting changes in the commutation factors since the remedy period on page 48 of the pack. Paragraph 5 of the report was also highlighted, which stated that although the Life Time Allowance (LTA) had been removed, the maximum amount of tax free lump sum that a member could have was still restricted, but any taxable excess was now taxed at the members marginal rate rather than 55%.

The Board was happy with the report.

RESOLVED

The content of the report was noted by the  HIWFRA Firefighters' Pension Board.

To receive an update on the development of key issues and to review the Risk Register.

The Board received a report from the Chief Financial Officer (item 11 in the minute book), which provided an update on the development of key items.

After a summary the report, the following questions were answered:

·         The Annual Allowance and Lifetime Allowance sessions hadn’t been as well attended as hoped, and this was likely down to the national changes not affecting as people as anticipated.

·         It was important that information was given to employees without it being advice, and all employees were encouraged to seek independent financial advice.

·         A tool was in development that could calculate the service that can be purchased, showing the amount of contributions, less tax relief, plus interest that would be due. This was continuing to be tested over the next few months.

RESOLVED

a) The content of the report was noted by the HIWFRA Firefighters' Pension Board

b) The risk register as set out in paragraphs 9-11 and Appendix A was approved by the  HIWFRA Firefighters' Pension Board

The Board received an update on the Pensions Communication Plan.

It was confirmed that information on Matthews / O’Brien case had been circulated to members, along with potential impacts and attempts had been made to get in touch with ex-members.

Communications would continue to be improved and an update would return to the next meeting.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during the following items of business, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during these items there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraphs 3 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the reports.

It was resolved that the public be excluded from the meeting during the

following item of business, as it was likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during the item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraphs 3 and 7 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, and further that in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the report.

The exempt appendix to Item 9 on the agenda.

The exempt appendix was summarised and Members of the Board were pleased to hear of the successes with testing.