The Havering Council Local Pension Board met on 15 July 2025 to discuss feedback from recent Pensions Committee meetings, a pensions administration update, and pensions administration strategy monitoring.

Pensions Administration Strategy Monitoring

The board was scheduled to discuss a report providing a summary of the Quarter 1 monitoring of scheme employer and administering authority performance against the Pensions Administration Strategy (PAS).

The report pack included the Pensions Administration Strategy Monitoring Q1 document, which stated that Regulation 59 of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 2013 allows an administering authority to prepare a PAS for the purpose of improving administrative processes to enable provision of a cost-effective, high quality pension administration service.

The Havering Pension Fund reviewed and updated the PAS in 2024 to provide clear guidelines on the responsibilities of being a part of the LGPS for scheme employers and the administering authority. The updated Appendix A Pensions Administration Strategy 2025 was included in the report pack.

The report also included Appendix B Scheme Employer PAS Standards, Appendix C Scheme Employer Monitoring, Appendix D Admin Authority PAS Standards and Appendix E Admin Authority Monitoring.

According to the report:

You will note that generally employers are performing well in most areas and are no cause for concern, shown in green. However there are a number of areas highlighted in amber where we are monitoring performance closely and it has been identified that an escalation to stage 1 of poor performance under the PAS may be required.

Any escalations were scheduled to take place during July/August 2025.

Pensions Administration Update

The board was scheduled to receive a report reviewing the performance of the Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA) against agreed service levels for January to March 2025. The Pensions Administration Update Q4 2024-25 report also provided an update on recent developments within the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) regulatory environment.

According to the report, overall performance against the SLA for Q4 was reported at 99.0%, exceeding the required 95% target in all areas. The report pack included Appendix A Havering Pension Fund Performance Report Q4 202-25.

The report stated that LPPA's Efficiency and Service Improvement Plan continues to deliver new fully automated case processing.

The report also provided updates on:

• Fund Valuation
• McCloud Remedy¹ Update
• Regulations Consultation

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government launched an 'Access and Fairness' consultation, which included proposals on a range of LGPS issues, including survivor benefits, the gender pay gap and opt outs.

Feedback from Recent Meetings of the Pensions Committee

The board was scheduled to note the reports from the Pension Committee meetings held on 24 June 2025. The Pension Committee Papers Review DF report summarised the highlights of all papers, including:

• Pension Fund Performance Monitoring for the quarter ending 31 March 2025
• Pension Fund Accounts 2024/25
• Annual Report on the Work of the Pensions Committee during 20224/25 and 2025/26 Business Plan
• Pensions Administration Budget 2025/26