The Local Pension Board of the City and County of Swansea met on 8 January 2025 to review the ISA 260 report from Audit Wales, which confirmed an unqualified audit opinion on the Pension Fund's 2023/24 accounts with no material findings. The Board also received the Pension Fund's Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for 2023/24 for information, noting the fund's asset values had surpassed £3 billion.

ISA 260 Report - City and County of Swansea Pension Fund

Audit Wales presented their ISA 260 report, confirming they proposed to issue an unqualified audit opinion on the City and County of Swansea Pension Fund's accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024. The report highlighted that there were no material misstatements or significant issues identified during the audit. Jeff Dong, Deputy Chief Finance Officer, along with Karen Cobb, Investment and Accounting Manager, and the Finance Department staff, were commended for their work in producing the annual report and statement of accounts, which resulted in this clean audit opinion.

City and County of Swansea Pension Fund Annual Report and Statement of Accounts 2023/24

The Board received the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts for the City and County of Swansea Pension Fund for the financial year 2023/24. This report, which had been previously presented in draft form in September 2024, was the final audited version. Key highlights from the report included the Pension Fund's asset values breaching the £3 billion mark for the first time and a fund return of 13% for the year, which was well above the local government average of 9%. The report also detailed movements in key statistics, including a marginal increase in contributors and a significant rise in ill health retirement benefits and early access costs for employers. The administration report detailed the fund's operations, including membership statistics, ill health and early retirement costs, and IT systems. The report also covered the Wales Pension Partnership update, the annual governance statement, and the statement of accounts, which showed net assets for the first time breaching the £3 billion mark.

Breaches Report

The Breaches Report, presented for information, detailed any breaches that had occurred in the period in accordance with the Reporting Breaches Policy. It was noted that no breaches had occurred since the previous meeting in September 2024. The Board was also updated on ICT software issues and progress made in resolving them.

Exclusion of the Public

The Board was requested to exclude the public from the meeting during the consideration of specific items of business. This was due to the likely disclosure of exempt information as set out in Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972. The Board considered the Public Interest Test in deciding whether to exclude the public for these items and resolved to exclude the public for the subsequent agenda items.

City and County of Swansea Cyber Policy & Incident Response Plan

A report was presented detailing the City and County of Swansea's Cyber Policy and Incident Response Plan. This plan had been developed by officers from the Pension Fund and Swansea Council ICT, in conjunction with the appointed actuary, Aon. A background information paper from Aon was also provided.

Investment Strategy Implementation Update

This report provided the Board with an update on the progress of the investment strategy implementation, which had been delegated to the Deputy S151 Officer in consultation with the Pension Fund Committee Chair.

Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) Update

The Board received an update on the progress and work of the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP). This included noting the JGC Quarterly Update and the WPP Business Plan Q1 Review. The Deputy S151 Officer also provided a verbal update on the Government Pension Review – Call for evidence consultation, and it was proposed that a response would be drafted.

Investment Monitoring Report - Quarter 3 2024/25

The Board received the quarterly investment and market update for Quarter 3 2024/25, which had been previously provided to the Pension Fund Committee by Hymans Robertson. Questions were raised and answered regarding the content of the report.

Currency Risk and Hedging Overview

A report was presented providing an overview of the Currency Risk and Hedging strategy, as advised by the appointed investment consultant to the fund.