This meeting was scheduled to discuss the Oxfordshire Pension Fund's progress against its Annual Business Plan, including training and workforce issues, progress on the McCloud Project and Pension Dashboards, and the Council's response to the Government's recent Pension Investment Review. The meeting also included a training session, a report from the Local Pension Board, and a report on Corporate Governance and Responsible Investment.

Review of the Annual Business Plan 2024/25, including the 'LGPS(E&W): Fit for the Future' Consultation

The report pack included for discussion on this item was a review of the Pension Fund's progress against its Annual Business Plan. The report noted that:

Progress has been made against the measures of success and whilst due to external factors delivery remains challenging, we are on target to deliver across all of the agreed measures of success in this area.

It also included a summary of the Government's new consultation on the Local Government Pension Scheme (England and Wales): Fit for the future. The report pack said that this consultation aims to:

• Reform Local Government Pension Scheme asset pools¹
• Boost Local Government Pension Scheme investment in local and UK investments
• Strengthen the governance² of both Administering Authorities³ and Local Government Pension Scheme pools.

The report pack suggested that the most significant proposal in the consultation is a change in the relationship between the Administering Authorities and the pools, with the Administering Authority delegating investment implementation and strategy to the pool, and having the option to delegate Strategic Asset Allocation. It also included information about two other consultations, one about changes to the Firefighters' Pension Scheme (England) Regulations 2014, and another about Inheritance Tax on pensions. The report pack also included an update to the Pension Fund's 2024/25 budget, which was originally set at £20,741,000, and is now forecast to be £21,008,000.

Risk Register

A report pack on the Pension Fund's Risk Register was included for discussion. It included details of several risks that had changed since the previous meeting:

• The risk rating of ‘Insufficient Skills and Knowledge on Committee’ had been reduced from amber to green following the Committee’s performance in the recent National Knowledge Assessment 2024.
• A new risk about the impact of a potential turnover of Pension Fund Committee members following the May 2025 elections was added to the risk register. It was given a risk rating of amber.

The report pack also noted concerns raised by the Local Pension Board about the completion of mandatory training by the Pension Fund Committee members.

Governance and Communications Report

A report on Governance and Communications issues was provided for discussion. It included an update on the Pension Fund's progress on complying with the 51 modules of The Pensions Regulator's General Code of Practice. The General Code of Practice replaces the Code of Practice 14 for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). It covers topics such as governance, administration, funding, investment and communications. The report pack also included a review of the results of the Hymans LGPS National Knowledge Assessment 2024.

The report pack noted that the Pension Fund Committee had an overall score of 70%, with all members completing the assessment. Their strongest areas of knowledge were Investment Performance and Risk Management, and Pensions Governance. It suggested that areas to focus future training on might be Actuarial Methods, Standards and Practices. It also said that the Local Pension Board achieved a 60.8% overall score with all members completing the assessment. It noted that the Board's strongest areas of knowledge were Committee Role and Pensions Legislation, and Pensions Governance. The report pack suggested that areas for future training for the Board might also be Actuarial Methods, Standards and Practices. It also included two proposals for changing the Pension Fund's mandatory training requirements for Committee members:

• All committee members and substitutes should complete the pension fund induction training prior to their attendance of a Pension Fund Committee meeting.
• All Committee members should complete their mandatory training by 31 December in the year they become a Committee member.

Administration Report

The report pack included a report on administration issues. It included updates on the performance of the team responsible for administering the Pension Fund, the McCloud project, the Pension Dashboards Project, and the Age Discrimination Remedy and On-Call Second Options Exercise projects for Fire Service pensions. The report pack said that the administration team were experiencing challenges recruiting staff, and were carrying 7 vacancies. It also noted that 4.9% of the monthly returns from employers were not vetted on time, due to performance-related issues. The report pack also said that 37 employer exits were outstanding and backdated to 2022.

The report pack provided details of the team's performance on Benefit Administration:

There were 6,362 new cases created, and the team completed 6,367 cases of which 79.8% were within service level agreement target. An increase of 8.5% from the previous quarter.

It also noted that they had completed 78.5% of the outstanding cases, leaving 1,742 to carry over into the next quarter.

The report pack also provided an update on the McCloud Project, which relates to changes to public service pension schemes resulting from a 2018 Court of Appeal ruling that transitional protections for older members of the Judges' and Firefighters' pension schemes were discriminatory. This means that younger members are now entitled to the same level of protection as older members when changes are made to pension schemes.

The report pack said that the team had made good progress with the Oxfordshire County Council's records, completing 91% of status 1 records and 62% of status 4 records. Progress on the records for other employers was slower, with only 12% of records completed. It also provided a detailed project plan for Pension Dashboards, which are online tools that will allow individuals to see all of their pension savings in one place.

The report pack noted that the Pension Dashboard Project was on track to be completed by the October 2025 deadline. The contract for the Integrated System Provider was being finalised and the system installation was planned for January 2025.

Policy Reviews

The report pack included a report on policy reviews. It covered the Administering Authority’s Discretionary Policies, the Admission and Termination Policy and the Voluntary Scheme Pays Policy. The report pack noted that there were no regulatory changes requiring an update to these policies.

Pension Investment Review - A Call for Evidence

The report pack included a copy of the Pension Fund's response to a recent Government ‘Call for Evidence’ as part of a Pensions Investment Review. The Call for Evidence focused on three main areas:

• Scale and consolidation
• Costs vs Value
• Investing in the UK.

The report pack said that the first phase of the Pensions Investment Review:

aims to boost investment, increase pension pots and tackle waste in the pension system.

It also noted that the Call for Evidence focused on Defined Contribution pension schemes and the Local Government Pension Scheme, but excluded unfunded Public Service Pension Schemes and funded Private Sector Defined Benefit schemes. It stated that 89% of the Pension Fund's assets were invested through the Brunel Pension Partnership, which is one of eight pooled investment vehicles created by Local Government Pension Scheme funds. The report pack said that the Pension Fund had concerns that further consolidation of the pools would not increase investment in UK asset classes. It also noted that one of the biggest challenges to UK investment is that:

finding suitable UK investment opportunities offering a risk-adjusted return competitive when compared to the global markets.

The report pack stated that the Pension Fund's current exposure to UK assets had decreased over the past 12 months and concluded that the Pension Fund was:

able and willing to invest more in the UK where the risk-adjusted returns are sufficiently attractive.

Corporate Governance and Socially Responsible Investment

The report pack included for discussion on this item was the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF)⁴ Quarterly Engagement Report. The report covered engagements with a number of companies and industries, including:

• Climate - Supply Side, with a focus on Shell and BP
• Climate - Demand Side, with a focus on Airlines
• Climate - Hard to Abate sectors, with a focus on Drax and Steel
• Climate - Transition Plans, with a focus on the provision of 'Say on Climate' votes to shareholders
• Environment - Tobacco Companies and Plastics
• Water stewardship, including the Valuing Water Finance initiative, UK Water Utility Companies and Nature Action 100
• Social Factors, with a focus on Zero Hour Contracts
• Governance, with a focus on executive remuneration
• Capital Markets - LSEG
• LAPFF Party Conference events

Report of the Local Pension Board

The report pack included a report from the Local Pension Board. The report noted that the Board had reviewed several reports from the previous Pension Fund Committee meeting, and highlighted the following points:

• That the matter of staffing within the Pension Service had been raised and noted as a national issue.
• That an Independent Financial Advisor would include a report on active versus passive investment at the next Pension Fund Committee meeting.
• That the Board had raised concerns that two members of the Pension Fund Committee had not yet completed any training.

Report of the Independent Financial Advisor

The report pack included two reports from John Arthur, the Pension Fund's Independent Financial Advisor. These were:

• A Quarterly Investment Report, which covered market performance and the Pension Fund's performance. It noted that the Fund had increased in value by 1.1% to £3.566bn during the third quarter of 2024, and said that the Fund’s underperformance relative to its benchmark had continued.
• A report on Social/Affordable Housing as an investment opportunity. It outlined the case for Social/Affordable Housing as an investment, provided details of a number of managers operating in this sector, and discussed the possibility of involving Brunel in manager selection and monitoring.