The Wandsworth Council Local Pension Board met on 20 May 2025 to discuss updates from the Joint Pensions Committee, training on the valuation process, governance and pooling, pensions administration, the Chair's report for 2024/25, and risk management. The board was scheduled to review the agenda items and pass any comments or concerns to the Joint Pensions Committee’s next meeting. They were also expected to review the current risk register for the Pension Fund and agree on any changes.

Risk Management

The board was scheduled to review the risk register for the Pension Fund. The report pack included the risk register, as well as service risk documents for the Pensions Shared Service, the investment strategy process, and the accounting, finances and governance of the Fund.

According to the report pack, the significant changes to the Risk Register since the last meeting on 6 February 2025 were:

• Investment Performance (Risk 2) updated to include reference to the potential for external decisions, such as US policy, to impact asset values or returns.

The report pack noted that the move to investing all assets via a regional pool will change the Fund’s level of control over investment decisions and therefore Risk 2 Investment Performance, Risk 4 Professional Advice, Risk 9 Third Party Providers and Risk 10 Negligence, Fraud or Error will need to be revised once the new regulations are published.

Pension Administration Update

The board was scheduled to receive an update on the Pensions Shared Service (PSS) Work Plan, key work areas, and specific projects. The report pack included updates on the Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (IDRP), performance of the PSS, the PSS and the Pensions Regulator (tPR) General Code of Practice, and the breaches register.

According to the report pack, since the last meeting there had been resolution to 2 applications and 1 new application at Stage 2 of the IDRP:

• A deferred member had made a stage 1 complaint regarding the length of time before his employer made its decision to award ill health retirement. The adjudicator’s decision was in the applicant’s favour and an offer of compensation was made. The applicant did not accept the compensation offer and has submitted a stage 2 complaint requesting a higher compensation offer.
• Previously, an active member had made a stage 1 complaint regarding the Councils’ decision not to award ill health retirement. This application was not upheld by the stage 1 adjudicator.

The report pack stated that the PSS continues to undertake work outside of the normal case work, including:

• Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) reconciliation
• McCloud implementation¹
• Pension dashboards²
• Altair Pensioner Payroll – Implementation

The report pack also noted that the Joint Pensions Committee approved the Breaches Reporting Policy for the Wandsworth Pension Fund on 25 March 2025.

Governance and Pooling Update

The board was scheduled to receive an update on progress on the government’s Fit for the Future agenda³, including the government’s approval of the London CIV⁴ pool.

The report pack noted that the London CIV submitted their Strategic Development Plan to MHCLG⁵ in February and received approval for the plan in early April.

The report pack stated that London CIV is already FCA⁶ regulated, but acknowledges the need to expand to be able to manage a much higher value of investments as well as providing additional services to all London funds. The CIV has recently asked for increased regulatory funding, in the form of “B shares”, to be paid by all London funds.

The report pack noted that while over 75% of Wandsworth Fund’s assets are currently (at 31 March 2025) managed by LCIV, not all boroughs are in a similar position. Wandsworth’s un-pooled assets are predominantly illiquid funds, which have more barriers to transferring to the pool than the liquid assets already pooled.

Update from the Joint Pensions Committee

The board was scheduled to review the minutes agreed by the Joint Pensions Committee of the meeting held on 7 January 2025, and business of the meeting held on 25 March 2025.

The following is a list of matters considered at the Joint Pensions Committee meeting held on 25 March 2025:

• Pension Fund Cash Budget 2024-28
• Training Policy and Update
• Quarterly Investment Performance Report – 2024/25 Q3
• Breeches Policy
• TPUT Presentation EXEMPT

Chair's Report 2024/25

The board was scheduled to note the contents of the Chair’s Report on the Board’s work for the year 2024/25.

The report pack included the Chair's report, which stated that the board met 24 times and there have been several changes in the membership as the term of office is aligned to the Council elections.

The report pack summarised the activity undertaken by the board over the last year, including training presentations, reviews of the Pension Fund Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, and discussions on ethical investing.