The meeting was scheduled to receive an update from the Local Pension Board and its work programme for the 2024/25 Municipal Year. It was also scheduled to receive updates on the external audit, administration, risks, knowledge and understanding, pooling, investment performance, and investment strategy, and to discuss admissions, cessations and bond renewals.

Local Pension Board

The meeting was scheduled to receive the Local Pension Board Annual Report 2023/24 which was previously considered by the board on 15 July 2024.

Professor Geoffrey Alderman, the Chair of the Local Pension Board, was scheduled to give a presentation on the work of the board for the 2023/24 Municipal Year.

The Committee was scheduled to receive the Local Pension Board's Work Programme for July 2024 to June 2025.

External Audit Update

The meeting was scheduled to discuss an update on external audits for 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23. These audits had yet to be completed and had been the subject of discussion at prior meetings of the Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee.

The meeting was also scheduled to receive the 2023/24 audit plan from Grant Thornton PLC, who had been appointed as external auditors.

Government proposals announced in February 2024 to address the audit backlog and to update the National Audit Office’s Code of Audit Practice through a series of updates, was put into doubt following the subsequent announcement of the General Election to take place on the 4th July 2024.

The Council was scheduled to be reminded of its statutory duty to publish its draft annual accounts, which include the Pension Fund accounts, by the 31st of May each year. It had published its draft 2023/24 accounts on 30 May 2024, which included the 2023/24 Pension Fund accounts.

Administration Performance Report And Update On Other Administration And Legislative Matters

The meeting was scheduled to receive an update on the current administration performance of West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which administers the Barnet Pension Fund under a shared services agreement.

The meeting was also scheduled to receive an update on progress with the implementation of the Pensions Dashboards Programme, which was due to be implemented for public service pension schemes by 30 September 2025.

A verbal update was also scheduled to be provided to the committee on an ongoing investigation into a discrepancy between the data held by the council and the fund actuary, Hymans Robertson. The discrepancy was identified in the 2022 valuation report, and had previously been discussed by the Committee.

In previous Committee meetings, the Pensions team have discussed their investigations into the £45million data experience issue identified by the Fund Actuary in the 2022 valuation report. Work continues this issue and a verbal update will be provided to the Committee at the meeting.

The meeting was also scheduled to discuss new guidance published by The Pensions Regulator on 27 March 2024, and the work that would be undertaken by the Council in order to comply with it.

The Council's Pensions Team had recently undertaken some public engagement work, which was scheduled to be discussed. This included Pension Surgeries, at which members of the public could discuss their pensions with representatives from the Council and the West Yorkshire Pension Fund, and presentations on the Local Government Pension Scheme at six schools.

Risk Management Review

The Committee was scheduled to review the Pension Fund's Administration Risk Register, and its Non-Administration Risk Register.

The meeting was scheduled to discuss updates to the administration risk register, including an increase to the risk score of Failure to produce compliant annual report and accounts within deadlines to 6, due to the different risks associated with non-audited/audited accounts.

The meeting was also scheduled to discuss updates to the non-administration risk register. The score of the risk, Strategic Allocation – The risk score has been increased to 9 was scheduled to be discussed. This risk relates to whether the Pension Fund's asset allocation is appropriate given Council’s and other employers risk budget.

The Committee was scheduled to discuss the revised format of the Non-Administration Risk Register.

Knowledge and understanding

The meeting was scheduled to receive a report on mandatory and recommended training for members of the Local Pension Board and Pension Fund Committee, and discuss training opportunities available to members. This was scheduled to include training provided by CIPFA, Hymans Robertson, and The Pensions Regulator.

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the use of Hymans Robertson's online training platform LGPS Online Learning Academy (LOLA). The Council's Pensions Team was scheduled to provide information on the progress that Committee members had made with the platform.

The Committee was scheduled to be updated on plans to arrange training for both the Committee and the Local Pension Board on The Pensions Regulator’s new Code of Practice.

Update on Pooling and Efficiencies Letter

The Committee was scheduled to receive an update on the Council's pooling progress. 43% of the Fund's assets were managed by the London CIV, and 21% by Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM). The Fund intended to pool all of its listed assets, in line with government policy, by March 2025.

The Committee was also scheduled to discuss a letter that Simon Hoare, then Minister for Local Government, sent to all Administering Authority Chief Executives and Section 151 Officers on 15 May 2024 asking about pooling progress and efficiencies. The letter raised the possibility of merging different LGPS funds.

The meeting was scheduled to discuss Barnet's response to Mr Hoare, which was included in the meeting pack. The Committee was scheduled to be told that a co-ordinated response would also be provided by all of the London Boroughs.

Barnet's response discussed how the Council believed that government should support long-term financial sustainability of the LGPS by supporting structured assets that can provide a contractual (not discretionary) long-term investment return. The response suggested that the current focus on pooling, local investment and marginal efficiencies might be potentially distracting from the possibility of securing the Fund’s long-term financial sustainability.

We believe government and LGPS Funds have a fundamental fiduciary duty to explore this opportunity. However, we fear that the current focus on pooling (which, to be clear, we support), local investments (which, if proportionate, we broadly support) and marginal efficiencies is potentially distracting from the possibility of securing the Fund’s long-term financial sustainability.

Barnet's response also discussed how the London CIV's governance structure had an effective governance structure for monitoring and selecting appropriate funds but lacks the ability to understand local priorities impacting local decision-making around risk management and democratic priorities like NetZero strategies.

The response went on to say that Barnet supported the London CIV, but cautioned against merging LGPS funds, as this would lead to a loss of local control, which was crucial to local decision making and risk management.

Pension Fund Investment Performance Report

The Committee was scheduled to be given an update on the performance of the Pension Fund's investments to 31 March 2024.

Between February 2024 and June 2024 the Fund's assets had increased in value by £59.1 million, to £1,650,124,000.

The meeting was scheduled to discuss the performance of the Fund's investment managers. This included Insight Investment, Schroders plc, CBRE Investment Management, Fiera Capital, LGIM, Adams Street Partners, IFM Investors, the London CIV, Barings, Allianz Global Investors and Pemberton Asset Management.

The Committee was scheduled to be told about the recent departures of senior figures and portfolio managers from some of the Funds, and to note that Hymans Robertson had placed these funds On Watch. The meeting was also scheduled to discuss the recent performance of the Partners Group Multi-Asset Credit 2015 Fund, and an upcoming vote on a direct investment with an unnamed private manager.

Investment Strategy

The meeting was scheduled to receive an update on recent investment transactions. This included an investment of £4,335,000 in the Adams Street Secondaries Fund, and an investment of £2,414,000 in the London CIV Renewables Infrastructure Fund.

The meeting was scheduled to be told that the Pension Fund had completed its transition from the Schroders plc Corporate Bonds Fund to the London CIV Buy and Maintain Credit Fund in January 2024.

The Committee was scheduled to discuss the rebalancing of the Pension Fund's asset allocation.

The Committee was scheduled to discuss proposals to increase the limits to the Pemberton Trade Finance Fund to £50 million and the Allianz Trade Finance Fund to £40 million, and to provisionally approve the reallocation of 6.5% of the total asset allocation from the LGIM Future Worlds Fund to the London CIV PEPPA Fund and the transfer of the LGIM RAFI Fund to the LGIM RAFI CTI Fund.

The LGIM Future Worlds Fund invests in companies across global stock markets, the London CIV PEPPA Fund invests in companies who are compliant with the aims of the [Paris Agreement](https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement), the LGIM RAFI Fund tracks the performance of the RAFI™ Fundamental Index® series, and the LGIM RAFI CTI Fund is a version of the RAFI Fund that has a carbon reduction target.

Admissions, Cessations and Bond Status Update

The Committee was scheduled to receive an update on the progress of outstanding admissions, cessations, and bond agreements and renewals, and to approve the admission of Olive Dining at the Martin School into the Barnet Pension Fund.

The meeting was also scheduled to discuss two schools converting to academies, three employers who had left the Fund with a surplus, and seven employers whose bonds had been recalculated by Hymans Robertson.