The Hertfordshire Fire Pension Board met on Thursday 16 October 2025. The meeting agenda included discussions on the performance of the Local Pensions Partnership Administration (LPPA), progress on the McCloud age discrimination remedy, the second options exercise for retained firefighters, and the pension fund's risk register.

LPPA Performance Report

Chris, a client relationship manager from LPPA, presented the Q1 2025/26 performance report. Overall casework performance was 98%, exceeding the 95% target. Active retirement performance was at 83.3%, impacted by two complex McCloud cases in May. The contact centre's average wait time was 2 minutes and 57 seconds, within the four-minute target. Customer satisfaction for the contact centre was 57.1%, a decrease attributed to the nature of queries, particularly those related to the McCloud remedy. Satisfaction scores were also affected by low survey response rates, with only seven responses received in Q1.

The PensionPoint portal had over 1100 registrations, representing over 50% of the membership. Logins saw a spike in Q1, particularly in April, due to active members accessing information related to the McCloud remedy.

Regarding projects, Taryn Ahlberg, Pensions Governance Manager, confirmed that 96.9% of annual benefit statements had been issued by the statutory deadline of 31 August, exceeding the 95% target. However, there was a delay in connecting to the Pensions Dashboard ecosystem, with the 31 October deadline unlikely to be met. This delay was due to the scope of a penetration test and IT health check, not technical failings. The issue is expected to cause a delay of several weeks, but not beyond Christmas. Peter Hill, Chair of the Board, noted that he had contacted the Pensions Regulator regarding the dashboard delay, and it was confirmed not to be a breach.

Age Discrimination and Remedy (McCloud)

Rachel Wilson, Senior HR Officer for Pay and Reward, provided an update on the McCloud age discrimination remedy. For active retirements since October 2023, all 27 cases have been paid up to date. Contingent decisions regarding opt-outs have seen four requests approved, with a temporary withdrawal of guidance due to legal issues not affecting current requests.

Annual benefit statements (ABS) were issued to 96.9% of members, exceeding the 95% target. Of the 47 Immediate Choice Remedial Service Statements (IC-RSS) initially not issued by the statutory deadline, 12 have since been issued, leaving 35 outstanding. These remaining cases are complex, involving intricate guidance or requiring software fixes. Revised timescales from LPPA suggest completion by March 2026 for some cases.

A concern was raised regarding the delay in payments to pensioners who had elected to revise their benefits to the 1992 scheme. Payments were anticipated between September and November 2025. Alex Woodman, Chief Fire Officer, formally raised concerns about these delays with the Chief Executive of LPPA. LPPA confirmed that two payments were made in the September payroll run, with more processed in October, and the majority expected to be paid by the end of the year.

Second Options Exercise for Retained Firefighters (Matthews)

Rachel Wilson reported on the second options exercise for retained firefighters, allowing them to buy back pensionable service. The project has been ongoing for approximately 18 months, with most cases processed. There are still some members who are difficult to locate. The majority of quotes have been issued, with a few outstanding manual calculations. Approximately two-thirds of payments have been made, with the remaining expected to be completed by the end of the year. New legislation is anticipated, which will allow for the buy-back of non-continuous service and conversion of standard to special service, extending the exercise for another 12 months.

Pension Fund Risk Register Report

Alison, Lead Governance Officer, presented the pension fund risk register report. The revised risk register, aligned with The Pensions Regulator's General Code of Practice, identified two risks exceeding the tolerated threshold: B3 (Conflicts of Interest) due to committee and board changes following local elections, and E1 (Poor Administration, including failure or delays in implementing regulatory changes), linked to the McCloud remedy deadline. It was also noted that the risk and tolerance ratings for E4 (Member data is compromised) and E5 (Member data is compromised through a breach of IT security controls) needed to be increased. These are being updated.

Dates of Future Meetings

The Board noted that the next meeting was scheduled for 24 April 2026 at 10:00 AM. There was a discussion about increasing the frequency of meetings to quarterly to ensure more regular updates. The minutes from the previous meeting held on 27 June 2025 were agreed.