The meeting on the 30th of January was of the City of Westminster Pension Board. The meeting was scheduled to include a report on the administration of the City of Westminster Pension Fund, updates on the Guaranteed Minimum Pension Project, the McCloud project and the Pension Dashboard Programme, and receive the Fund's accounts. The Board was also scheduled to hear about the performance of the Fund's investments and a report on the Chancellor's Mansion House speech.

Performance of the Council's Pension Fund

The Board was scheduled to hear that the market value of the Fund's investments had increased by £48m to £2.080bn over the quarter to 30 September 2024. This represents a return of 2.5%, which is 0.6% higher than the benchmark. ¹

The Board was also scheduled to hear that the estimated funding level for the Westminster Pension Fund had increased to 171% at 30 September 2024. This is up from 169% at 30 June 2024.

Pension Administration Update

The Board was scheduled to receive a report on the performance of Hampshire Pension Services (HPS), who administer the City of Westminster Pension Fund. The report was scheduled to show that HPS had achieved 100% compliance with the agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) during the period from October to December 2024.

The report was scheduled to note that 47.47% of members of the Fund were now signed up to the member portal, and that HPS were in the process of carrying out proof of life checks on the Fund's overseas pensioners.

The report was scheduled to highlight that, in 2024, the Fund had achieved a 90% score for the quality of its common data, and a 93% score for its conditional data. ² This is a significant improvement on the scores of 82% and 89% respectively that the Fund received in 2022.

LGPS Projects and Governance Update

The Board was scheduled to receive a report on the progress of a number of projects and governance activities being undertaken by the Pensions and Payroll Team at the City of Westminster.

Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) Project

The Board was scheduled to hear that the implementation phase of the Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) project was on track for completion by 28 February 2025.

The GMP is a guaranteed minimum pension payable to members of salary-related occupational pension schemes who were contracted out of the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 1997.

The Board was scheduled to hear that the final calculations for GMP rectification had now been completed and that 15 members would receive a decrease in their pension as a result, whilst 9 would receive an increase.

McCloud

The McCloud project is a project to implement the remedy to the age discrimination identified in the McCloud judgment.

The McCloud judgment was a landmark legal case which found that changes made to the pension schemes for judges and firefighters in 2015 were discriminatory on the grounds of age. The judgment has had significant implications for all public service pension schemes, including the LGPS.

The Board was scheduled to hear that the McCloud project was on track and that the next statutory deadline was the 31st of August 2025, by which date the Annual Benefit Statements must include the underpin. The Board was also scheduled to hear that there were concerns that onboarding to the project may be delayed.

Pension Dashboard Programme (PDP)

The Pension Dashboard Programme is a government initiative to create a digital platform that will allow people to view all of their pensions in one place.

The Board was scheduled to hear that the PDP was on track, but that there was a risk of delay due to the availability of software and data.

Pension Website

The Board was scheduled to hear that the project to create a new City of Westminster Pension Fund website was on track, with the structure of the website defined and the content being loaded. The Board was scheduled to hear that the User Pathways for the new website had not yet been completed as the content of the guidance articles was not yet finalised.

Mansion House Speech

The Mansion House Speech is an annual speech given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the financial services industry.

The Board was scheduled to receive a report on the Chancellor's Mansion House speech, which was delivered on the 14th of November 2024. The report was scheduled to note that the Chancellor had set out a number of proposals for the reform of the LGPS, including a requirement for all 86 LGPS administering authorities to consolidate their assets into fewer, larger pools of capital. The report was scheduled to note that the government believes that these reforms will enable pension funds to play a greater role in supporting the future economic growth of the UK.

Following the Mansion House speech, the government published a consultation on the future of the LGPS, which closed on the 16th of January 2025. The consultation covered three key areas: asset pooling, UK and local investment, and governance.