This meeting was about making decisions on a number of policy and administrative matters related to the Surrey Local Pension Board's activities. This included a review of the Surrey Pension Fund’s risk register, service delivery, and communication and training policies. It also included a summary of the recent meeting of the Surrey Pension Fund Committee, and an update on recent developments in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

Service Delivery Update

The Surrey Pension Team's performance in processing applications and other requests was scheduled to be reviewed. This included transfers, retirements, refunds, death benefits and other areas. The report pack for this meeting included data on the number of complaints that had been received about the service, the outcomes of a recent benchmarking exercise, and the progress that had been made on reducing legacy cases. It also included the final decision on the outcome of the tender for the new pension administration system, which was won by Heywood Pension Technologies.

MySurrey Update

The meeting included an update on the Surrey Pension Team’s progress in migrating to the MySurrey system. This included details about specific challenges with the system, and the efforts being made to overcome them. These risks were scored at 16, the highest risk for the Surrey Pension Team’s operations. The risks were related to “delayed processing, data integrity issues, financial loss and build up of backlogs”. There were a series of actions planned to mitigate this risk by March 2025.

Risk Register

A quarterly update was scheduled to be provided to the Board on the Surrey Pension Team’s risk register. The report pack for the meeting included an in-depth analysis of each of the risks, and the processes that are used to identify and manage them. There were no changes to the risks, which were last presented to the Board in November.

Communications Policy

The meeting included a proposed update to the Surrey Pension Fund Communications Policy Statement. The document that was scheduled to be considered set out the Surrey Pension Fund’s policy for communicating with scheme members, employers and other stakeholders, and included the final Communications Plan for 2025/26.

Training Policy

A proposed update to the Surrey Pension Fund Training Policy was scheduled to be considered. The training policy that was included in the report pack for the meeting set out the training requirements for members of the Pension Fund Committee, Local Pension Board, and Officers, and included details of the training opportunities available in 2025/26.

Conflicts of Interest Review

The report pack contained a proposed new Conflicts of Interest Policy for consideration by the board, and eventual approval by the Pension Fund Committee. The policy was prepared because of a recent change to the committee’s terms of reference, requiring it to “…consider and approve an annual conflict of interest policy”. The policy sets out the responsibilities of members of the Pension Fund Committee, Local Pension Board, Officers, and external advisors in identifying, declaring and managing potential conflicts of interest. It explains the reporting procedures that must be followed when a conflict arises and how the register of interests is kept under review.

A conflict of interest exists where there is a divergence between the individual interests of a person and their responsibility towards the Committee or Board, such that it might be reasonably questioned whether the actions or decisions of that person are influenced by their own interests.

Surrey Pension Fund Committee Summary

This report included a summary of the Surrey Pension Fund Committee meeting of 13 December 2024. The topics covered during the Pension Fund committee meeting included a summary of the last Local Pension Board meeting, investment strategy, the procurement of a new pension administration software system, and the outcome of the tender. There was also a discussion of Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, the asset pool that manages Surrey Pension Fund assets.

LGPS – Background Report

The report pack included a report on recent developments in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). It covered topics including the McCloud judgement¹, the Pensions Dashboard Programme, and a new Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Funding Strategy Statement. It also included summaries of recent pronouncements from The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and The Pensions Ombudsman.