The meeting on 20 December 2024 will include reports on the outcome of the Staffordshire Pension Fund's most recent audit, the performance of its investments, and its compliance with regulations. The committee will also be asked to approve an updated Breaches of the Law Policy and note the government's response to the Pensions Investment Review.

Pensions Investment Review & LGPS: Fit for the Future

The committee will be asked to note the outcome of the government’s recent Pensions Investment Review and the subsequent launch of the LGPS: Fit for the Future consultation. In particular, the Committee will consider the government’s proposals to mandate that Local Government Pension Scheme funds fully delegate the implementation of their investment strategy to their pool, set targets for local investment, and ensure that their pools are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The committee will also be asked to note the Pension Fund’s draft response to the consultation. The government has said that it wants to see “tackling fragmentation and inefficiency” in the Local Government Pension Scheme, which it says can unlock the investment potential of the £360 billion Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales. The government believes that:

“The LGPS is fully funded with good investment returns and has achieved many successes in recent years... But few in the scheme would disagree that pooling has not delivered to its full potential and that change is needed to ensure that the scheme continues to perform in the long term in the best interests of members, employers, local communities and the wider UK economy.”

Staffordshire Pension Fund Investment Cost Benchmarking 2023/24

A report from CEM Benchmarking Ltd compares the investment costs of the Staffordshire Pension Fund to a global peer group of 40 pension funds, as well as to the rest of the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales.

Staffordshire Pension Fund Audit report 2023/24

The committee will be asked to note a report from KPMG, the council’s external auditors, on the outcome of the audit of the Staffordshire Pension Fund’s accounts for the 2023/24 financial year. The committee will also be asked to note that the audit of the Pension Fund’s accounts for the 2021/22 and 2022/22 financial years has now been concluded.

Staffordshire Pension Fund - Breaches of the Law Policy

The committee will be asked to approve an updated version of the Staffordshire Pension Fund’s Breaches of the Law Policy. This policy is intended to ensure that the Pension Fund complies with The Pension Regulator's General Code of Practice, which came into effect in 2024, and:

“consolidates and replaces 10 of The Pensions Regulator’s 16 previous codes of practice into a single Code. It is applicable to most public and private occupational pension schemes, including the LGPS.”

The updated policy sets out the procedures that the Fund will follow if it believes that there has been a breach of pension law. The policy also describes the Pension Fund’s responsibility to report breaches to the Pensions Regulator, which is a legal requirement if:

“it is believed that a legal duty which is relevant to the administration of the scheme has not been, or is not being complied with, and the failure to comply is likely to be of material significance to the Regulator in the exercise of any of its functions.”

Minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2024

The committee will be asked to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 27 September 2024.

Minutes of the Pensions Panel held on 3 December 2024

The committee will be asked to receive the minutes of the meeting of the Pensions Panel held on 3 December 2024.