The Bromley Council Local Pension Board met on 29 July 2025 to discuss the pension fund's performance, risk management, and training. The board was also scheduled to review reports from the Pensions Committee.

Performance Monitoring

The board was scheduled to review the Performance Monitoring Report 2025-26 Year to Date, which was prepared by the Assistant Director of Pensions Shared Service. The report was intended to provide the Local Pension Board with information to assess whether the Bromley Pension Fund is meeting its obligations regarding the governance and administration of public service pension schemes.

The report included several recommendations for the board to note, including:

• The Pensions Regulator General Code of practice as a guide to good governance.
• The procedures and policies in place to monitor Liberata's performance.
• Liberata's current performance levels.

The report included a performance monitoring report from Liberata, who administer the Bromley Pension Fund. The report stated that Liberata had completed the annual pension increase exercise, recruited two new employees, and received 107 end-of-year returns. The report also noted that Liberata is rolling out I-connect to all employers.

The performance monitoring report included data on key performance indicators (KPIs) for general queries, retirements, transfers, and deaths. The report also included data on customer satisfaction and complaints.

Pension Fund Risk Register

The board was scheduled to review the draft Risk Register for the Bromley Pension Fund. A presentation on risk management was also scheduled, covering:

• risk identification
• risk evaluation
• risk management life cycle
• internal controls

The presentation stated that under section 249A of the Pensions Act 2004, governing bodies must establish an effective system of governance, including internal controls. It also stated that before designing internal controls, the governing body should identify risks, record them, and regularly review and evaluate them.

The presentation identified key risks for the Bromley Pension Fund for 2025/26, including:

• Investment Performance
• Actuarial Risk
• Insufficient Cash to meet requirements
• Sub-funds of London CIV fail to perform
• Pension Contribution
• Cost Control
• Fraud risk
• Knowledge and experience
• External Audit Non-Performance
• Pension Scams
• Climate Change
• Regulatory changes
• Mandatory Pooling
• Legal
• Conflict of Interest
• Cost Control
• administration officer knowledge and skills
• Employers' data inaccurate
• Cyber Risk
• Operational disaster (fire/flood etc)

Report from the Pensions Committee

The board was scheduled to consider a report from the Pensions Committee meeting held on 28 May 2025.

The Pensions Committee had previously received a presentation from Legal & General Investment Management representatives, James Sparshott, Head of Strategic Client Team: Asset Management, Ryan Boothroyd, Senior Investment Specialist and Stefan Bilby, Head of Index Distribution on global equity passive management.

The Pensions Committee had also discussed the Pension Fund Performance Q4 2024/25 report. Councillor Keith Onslow, Chairman of the Pensions Committee, noted that the value of the Bromley Pension Fund was approaching £1.5B. The committee discussed the triennial actuarial valuation and a strategic asset allocation review. The committee also discussed whether to transition its MFS portfolio across to the London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV) for investment into the Wellington-managed fund. The Senior Advisor: Apex Group Ltd recommended that no transfer be made at this time, and this was supported.

The Senior Advisor: Apex Group Ltd also recommended that the committee consider hedging 50% of the Fund's strategic asset allocation weighting to global equities back into sterling, but the committee did not support this proposal.

The Pensions Committee also considered the Local Pension Board Annual Report 2024/25.

Training

The agenda included an item for training on government consultations. No further details were provided.