This meeting was scheduled to receive updates on the Barnet Local Government Pension Scheme's administration and risks. The meeting was also scheduled to discuss matters arising from previous meetings and to receive an update on the external audit of the scheme.

Data Improvement Plan

The Board was scheduled to be informed about the progress made in improving the quality of data held by the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) about the members of the Barnet Pension Fund. The Board was scheduled to be told that the amount of data that WYPF believed needed to be reviewed and corrected had reduced from about 28,500 items in January 2024 to about 6,650 items by June 2024.

The meeting was scheduled to be told that WYPF would be undertaking a bulk address tracing exercise in Autumn 2024 to attempt to improve the amount of up to date address and postcode information held by the Fund.

Pension Fund Risk Registers

The Board was scheduled to review the Pension Fund's two risk registers, one for Pensions Administration, and one for Non-Administration activities. The Board was scheduled to note that a new risk had been added to the Non-Administration register in the 'ESG/Net Zero' category, and that this new risk would be completed by the third quarter of 2024. The Board was scheduled to also note that the risk velocity¹ of each risk had not changed since the last Board meeting.

Administration Performance Report And Update On Other Administration And Legislative Matters

The meeting was scheduled to review the performance of WYPF, which administers the Barnet Pension Fund. In particular, the meeting was scheduled to review WYPF's performance against its key performance indicators (KPIs). The Board was scheduled to be told that in May 2024 WYPF processed 965 cases, with 90.06% of cases being completed within their targets. The Board was scheduled to note that the volume of work completed, and the performance against KPIs had been consistent throughout 2024. The Board was also scheduled to receive an update on the number of complaints and Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP) cases received by WYPF.

The Board was scheduled to be told that the number of members who had registered for the WYPF 'My Pension' online member portal had continued to increase. The meeting was scheduled to hear about the steps being taken by the Council to increase the number of members registered on the portal. The meeting was also scheduled to be updated on the progress WYPF was making in automating some of its processes.

The meeting was scheduled to be given an update on the progress of the Pensions Dashboard programme. In particular the Board was scheduled to be told that the proposed staging date for public sector pension schemes to be onboarded onto the programme is 30 September 2025, and that WYPF had made significant progress with AVC providers so they could pass data about AVCs to the dashboard.

The Board was scheduled to receive a verbal update on the recent review of AVC providers to the Fund, undertaken by Hymans Robertson, and that a paper would be provided on this topic at the next meeting.

Decisions made by the Pension Fund Committee

The meeting was scheduled to consider the decision making processes of the Pension Fund Committee. In particular, the meeting was scheduled to discuss the procedures applied by the Pension Fund Committee at recent meetings.

Knowledge and understanding

The Board was scheduled to be reminded that it has a regulatory duty to keep its knowledge and understanding up to date and to document its training. The Board was scheduled to note the mandatory and recommended training options that are available to Board members, and to be asked to inform the Council of any pensions training that it had undertaken in the previous two months.

Pension Fund Risk Registers

The Board was scheduled to consider the Pension Fund Risk Registers, which are maintained by the Council to protect the stakeholders of the Local Government Pension Scheme. The Board was scheduled to be told that:

The purpose of risk management is to identify potential problems before they occur, so that risk handling activities can be planned and invoked as required to mitigate adverse impacts.

Local Pension Board - Annual Report 2023/24

The Board was scheduled to consider its annual report, which was due to be reported to the Pension Fund Committee.

Committee Work programme

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the Board's work programme for 2024 to 2025.