The Pension Fund Committee met on Wednesday 6 November 2024 to approve the annual report and statement of accounts for the City and County of Swansea Pension Fund for the 2023/24 financial year. The committee also approved the City & County of Swansea Cyber Policy Incident Response Plan.

Approval of the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts 2023/24

The committee approved the City & County of Swansea Pension Fund Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the 2023/24 financial year. This report, which has been subject to audit by Audit Wales, provides a comprehensive overview of the fund's financial performance and position.

During the discussion of the ISA 260 Report from Audit Wales, Gillian Gillett and Leanne Malough presented their findings. They confirmed that the audit of the 2023/24 financial statements was conducted in accordance with auditing standards and that they intended to issue an unqualified opinion. The report noted that there were no uncorrected misstatements in the accounts, and any minor misstatements identified in the draft accounts had been corrected without impacting the net expenditure or net assets of the pension fund. Jeffrey Dong, Deputy Chief Finance Officer, echoed thanks to the audit team and highlighted that the report was clean, which is positive news for the pension fund.

Jeffrey Dong then presented the finalised Annual Report and Statement of Accounts 2023/24. He provided a high-level overview of key sections, including the three-year profile of the fund's statistics, early access and ill-health retirement costs, the administration report detailing member dealings and customer satisfaction, and the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) implementation in investments. The report was approved by the committee.

City & County of Swansea Cyber Policy Incident Response Plan

The committee approved the City & County of Swansea Cyber Policy Incident Response Plan. This plan was developed with input from Aon and is intended to be fully implemented and tested. The report noted that the plan was a response to the UK Pensions Regulator's in-year requirements for pension funds to have a bespoke cyber policy.

Breaches Report

The committee received the Breaches Report for information. Jeffrey Dong explained that this is a routine quarterly report outlining any breaches that were required to be reported to those charged with governance by the Pensions Regulator. He noted that while there were a few small breaches detailed in the report, they were primarily administrative oversights by very small employers with limited administrative support. Councillor Philip Rogers requested that a letter be sent to those who caused the breaches, clearly stating the importance of returning figures promptly. Jeffrey Dong agreed to this.

Other Matters

The committee also noted the following:

• Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests: Several councillors and officers declared personal interests in the agenda as a whole, as they were members of the Pension Fund.
• Minutes: The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.
• ISA 260 Report - City and County of Swansea Pension Fund: This report from Audit Wales was noted.
• Investment Strategy Implementation Update: This report was noted.
• Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) Update: This report was noted.
• Investment Monitoring Report - Quarter 3 2024/25: This report was noted.

The committee also approved the exclusion of the public for subsequent agenda items, citing the likely disclosure of exempt information under Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.