The Local Pension Board was scheduled to discuss governance and compliance, administering authority discretions, and the administration of the Northamptonshire Pension Fund. The board was also expected to review the fund's risk register and updates on employers joining or leaving the fund.

Here's a summary of the topics that were scheduled to be discussed:

Administration Report

The Local Pension Board was scheduled to review the administration of the Northamptonshire Pension Fund for the period from 1 March to 31 May 2025. The report pack included data on key performance indicators (KPIs), employer contributions, breaches of the law, internal dispute procedure cases, data breaches and overpayments.

For March 2025, it was noted that 3 out of 9 KPIs were not met. From April 2025, a new suite of Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) KPIs had been implemented, and 9 of 28 were not met.

According to the report pack, 100% of employer contributions were received on time, and 98% of schedules were also received on time. Three business plan activities had an amber status, while the remaining activities were green. The main contributor to the position of the investment activities was the Fit for the Future consultation and its impact on ACCESS pooling plans. The status of the unprocessed undecided leaver record was maintained as amber due to conflicting project priorities within the service.

Three new risks had been added to the Fund's risk register, with the overall risk score increasing from 229 to 248 and the total number of risks increasing from 32 to 35. A key risk was the current level of workplace sickness absence within the service.

There were no new employers admitted to the Fund over the reporting period. One employer exited the Fund and there were 2 updates on previous cessations. The board was asked to note the cessation of the admission agreement for Fresh Start Catering Limited related to its contract with Deanshanger Primary School. They were also asked to note the update of the previously reported cessations relating to Weldon Parish Council and Rockingham Forest Trust.

Governance and Compliance Report

The Local Pension Board was scheduled to discuss a range of issues impacting the governance, management and administration of the Northamptonshire Pension Fund.

These included:

• LGPS England and Wales: Including plans to change the revision of employer contribution rate rules, the 'Access and fairness' consultation, the government's response to the 'Fit for the future' consultation, and the Pension Schemes Bill.
• McCloud: Including feedback from member webinars.
• Pension Dashboards: Including connecting to dashboards, volunteer participants completing the connection journey, and a progress update report from May 2025.
• Scheme Advisory Board (SAB): Including further advice on fiduciary duty and a welcome letter from the SAB Chair, Councillor Roger Phillips, to the new Pensions Minister Torsten Bell.
• The Pensions Regulator (TPR): Including warnings to members about pension scams and TPR's data strategy.
• Wider landscape: Including an inquiry on AI in banking, pensions and other financial services, and the Neonatal Care Leave and Pay (Consequential Amendments to Subordinate Legislation) Regulations 2025.
• Skills and knowledge opportunities: Including the Northamptonshire Pension Fund Training Plan.

The report pack also provided details of immaterial amendments made to policies or strategies as a result of officer reviews.

Administering Authority Discretions Policy

The Local Pension Board was scheduled to review the updated Administering Authority Discretions Policy. West Northamptonshire Council, as the administering authority for the Northamptonshire Pension Fund, is required to formulate policy decisions for areas where the Local Government Pension Scheme legislation allows it to exercise discretion.

The Pension Committee previously approved a comprehensive Administering Authority Discretions Policy in June 2022, and since then, two officer reviews have been undertaken. A full committee review was due. The committee subsequently approved the revised policy on 3 June 2025.

The following policy changes had been applied as a result of the review:

• Updating all references to the new website throughout the policy.
• Updating the Admission Bodies, Scheme Employer and Bulk Transfer Policy to Admissions and Bulk Transfer Policy.
• Including a reference to the Payment of employer and employee pension contribution policy.
• Adding voluntary early retirement to the regulation description as a clarification point.
• Adding that extensions are permitted under exceptional circumstance to the notice required on a case-by-case basis, delegated to the Operations and Technical Manager.

Other Matters

The agenda also included:

• Apologies for absence
• Declarations of interest
• Confirmation of the minutes of the meeting held on 3 April 2025
• Chair's announcements
• Northamptonshire Pension Fund Board Agenda Plan
• Exclusion of press and public
• Private minutes of the last meeting
• Valuation update
• ACCESS Update
• Urgent business