The Local Pension Board is scheduled to meet to discuss current pension fund matters and the performance of the Pension Fund's investments. They will also discuss the migration to a new member self-service portal. Some of the information relating to investment manager performance is considered exempt and will be discussed in private.

Pension Fund Update

The board will be provided with an update on current pension scheme matters as of 30 September 2025. According to the report pack, the purpose of this update is to assist the Local Pension Board in meeting its responsibilities under the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) 2013 regulations¹. The report pack includes an overview of the performance of the Pension Fund's investments. According to the report pack:

Global Equity markets all rose over the quarter, buoyed by positive corporate earnings and positive trade tariffs between the US and China.

The report pack states that the Fund's current Investment Strategy includes a commitment to invest £48m into the LCIV UK Housing Fund². As of 30 September, £25.468m had been invested, with further drawdowns planned as opportunities arise. The Investment Strategy also includes a commitment to invest £30m into the Nature Based Fund, with £16.670m drawn down as of 30 September. The report pack includes tables showing the bid-market values of the fund by investment mandate on 30 June and 30 September 2025, along with the strategic asset allocation. It also shows the performance of the fund, noting that as of 30 September 2025, the bid value of the Fund was £60.552m higher than the previous quarter.

The report pack states that the Fund has outperformed its benchmark over the quarter and 3 years but under-performed over the longer period. Commentary on individual investment manager performance is set out in an exempt appendix to the report.

Pension Administration Update

The pension administration function is responsible for calculating and paying pensions and benefits, collecting contributions, providing information on pension issues and maintaining pension records.

The current work programme includes working with the Corporate Fraud Team, business as usual tasks, and working on encouraging Member Self Service for scheme members.

The report pack notes that Member Self Service (MSS) is being replaced by Engage as the member portal in January 2026, and Redbridge are migrating to Engage in December. The pensions manager is working with Heywoods on the communication leaflet needed.

As part of the push to get members registered on MSS / Engage, the decision has been taken to cease paper annual benefit statements sent in the post, in order to comply with the council's digital programme and to save costs.

The report pack also notes that work is ongoing regarding the McCloud Judgement³, running the necessary reports to identify both those members in scope as well as those who need the remedy applied.

Administration Performance

The council monitors the performance of the administration team against a number of performance indicators on a monthly basis. During the last quarter, the team successfully met all 4 targets: PEN01, PEN02, PEN03 and PEN04, with particularly notable improvements in PEN02 and PEN03.

Other Items

The meeting agenda also includes:

• Apologies for absence
• Declarations of interest
• Approval of the minutes of the previous meeting held on 2 October 2025
• Public question time
• Motion to exclude the public to discuss exempt information
• Date of next meeting - 16 March 2026