The Local Pension Board were scheduled to consider a range of reports on the performance of the City & County of Swansea Pension Fund, with a particular focus on the Fund's investment strategy and the recent audit of accounts completed by Audit Wales. The Board was also scheduled to discuss a range of operational matters relating to breaches of the law and to consider whether the public should be excluded from some items of discussion.

Wales Pension Partnership

The Board were scheduled to receive an update on the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP)¹, the investment pool for the eight Local Government Pension Schemes in Wales. The report pack contained a detailed description of how the partnership works, how it is governed and the benefits it aims to achieve for its constituent funds. It also provided a detailed overview of the progress made by the WPP to date, along with the investment performance of each of the pooled funds and the costs of pooling for the City & County of Swansea Pension Fund. The report pack listed the objectives for the WPP during 2024/25, including further investment in private markets² and real estate. The Board was also scheduled to receive an update on the partnership's work on responsible investment³.

City & County of Swansea Pension Fund Annual Report and Accounts

The Board was scheduled to receive the City & County of Swansea Pension Fund Annual Report & Statement of Accounts for the 2023/24 financial year. The report pack contained a full copy of the audited Annual Report and Accounts, which set out the financial performance of the Fund and the breakdown of investment assets. The report highlighted the impact that the increase in interest rates was having on the Fund's cash deposits, and confirmed that the Fund is holding higher levels of cash than in previous years to meet its commitments to the WPP’s new yielding assets programme. The report also highlighted the ongoing work being undertaken by the McCloud team, whose role it is to ensure that the Fund is able to accurately apply the [McCloud remedy]⁴ to its members' benefits.

Audit of Accounts Report

Audit Wales presented their [ISA 260 Report]⁵ on the audit of the City & County of Swansea Pension Fund accounts. The report included the proposed unqualified audit opinion and a letter of representation for signing by the Fund managers. The report concluded that there were no misstatements or other significant issues to report.

Breaches Report

The Board was scheduled to receive a report on any breaches of the law that have occurred during the reporting period. The report pack listed all breaches, including those reported to The Pensions Regulator, along with the actions taken to address the breaches. The report highlighted that 25% of retirement lump sums have not been paid within the benchmark timeframe because members are not returning completed pension election forms in a timely manner.

Exclusion of the Public

The Board was scheduled to consider whether the public should be excluded from discussions on:

• The City & County of Swansea Cyber Policy & Incident Response Plan
• An update on the implementation of the City & County of Swansea Pension Fund’s Investment Strategy
• An update on the work of the Wales Pension Partnership
• The Investment Monitoring Report for Quarter 3 2024/25

The report pack contained a detailed summary of the factors that the Board should take into account when making a decision on this matter. It highlighted that information can only be classified as exempt information if and so long as in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.