The Hertfordshire Council Pensions Committee met on 7 July 2025 to discuss the pension fund audit plan, the risk register, Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA) performance, employer risk and governance, training and investment performance. The meeting was scheduled to include both public and closed sessions, with the latter focusing on investment performance and local government pension scheme (LGPS) pooling.

Here's a summary of the topics that were scheduled to be discussed:

Pension Fund Audit Plan 2024/25

The Pensions Committee was scheduled to review the external auditor's plans for auditing the Hertfordshire Pension Fund's financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2025. The report pack included a draft audit plan and strategy from KPMG LLP, presented by Tim Cutler, Partner at KPMG LLP. The audit plan outlines KPMG's risk assessment and planned approach, which is governed by the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 and the National Audit Office's Code of Audit Practice.

The report pack noted that KPMG's risk assessment draws upon their understanding of the applicable financial reporting framework, knowledge of the Hertfordshire Pension Fund, the industry and the wider economic environment in which the Pension Fund operates.

The audit plan identified significant and other audit risks including:

• Management override of controls
• Level 1, 2 and Level 3 investments are not complete, do not exist or are not accurately recorded
• Valuation of Level 1, 2 and Level 3 investments is misstated
• The actuarial position of the scheme is not appropriately presented in the financial statements

The report pack also included details of the audit team and rotation, fees, the audit cycle and timetable, confirmation of independence, KPMG's audit quality framework, understanding of IT and the Financial Reporting Council's areas of focus.

Pension Fund Risk Register Report

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on the Pension Fund's risk register for January to March 2025. The report included an overview of the fund's approach to managing disclosed risks, an updated risk policy, and a sample risk register and dashboard.

According to the report pack, there were no new risks added to the risk register during the period January to March 2025.

The report pack noted that Fund Officers have been working with the Barnett Waddingham's Governance Team to undertake a thorough review of the current risk policy, taking into consideration the Pensions Regulator's General Code of Practice and expected triennial governance reviews following the outcome of the recent Fit for the Future consultation.

The report pack also included a risk matrix used to analyse the likelihood and impact of a risk, with the assessed score producing an overall severity score.

LPPA Quarterly Performance

The committee was scheduled to discuss the performance of LPPA, Hertfordshire's appointed pensions administrator, for the fourth quarter of 2024/25. The report pack included performance reports for both the Hertfordshire Local Government Pension Scheme and the Hertfordshire Fire Pension Schemes.

The report pack included updates on projects such as the McCloud Remedy¹, LPPA's Efficiency and Service Improvement Programme, the Data Project, and the Pensions Dashboard. It also contained data on membership numbers, performance against targets, customer satisfaction, engagement activity, and The Pensions Regulator data scores. The report pack also provided an update on the Employer Focus Group, created to facilitate dialogue between LPPA, employers, and Hertfordshire Pension Fund.

Employer Risk and Governance Quarterly Update

The committee was scheduled to receive an update on employer risk and governance for the period 1 January to 31 March 2025. The report pack included the current status of risk monitoring of scheme employers and the administering authority's performance against indicators in the Administration Strategy.

The report pack noted that scheme employers are monitored monthly and rated as red (high risk), amber (medium risk), or green (low risk). As of 31 March 2025, there were seven scheme employers in the red risk category,