The Hertfordshire Fire Pension Board met on Thursday 16 October 2025 to discuss performance, risk and ongoing projects. The board noted reports on LPPA performance, age discrimination remedies, the second options exercise for retained firefighters, and the pension fund risk register. They also agreed to review the frequency of meetings to allow for more regular updates.

McCloud Remedy

The board discussed the ongoing age discrimination remedy, known as the McCloud remedy¹, and its impact on members. Rachel Wilson, Senior HR Officer, Pay & Reward, provided an update on the retrospective remedy, noting that active retirements were being processed with remedy and that 24 out of 27 cases have been paid.

The board also discussed contingent decisions, annual benefit statements and immediate choice remedial service statements. As of 31 March 2025, 47 immediate choice remedial service statements had not been issued, and as of the meeting date, 35 remained outstanding due to data errors, divorce cases, manual cases, and software delays.

A key concern was the delay in payments to pensioners who had elected to revise their benefits to the 1992 scheme². Payments were initially expected in July 2025, but were then moved to September-November 2025. Alex Woodman, Chief Fire Officer, wrote to the chief executive of LPPA to raise concerns about the delays, and a response from LPPA is included in the appendix of the Public Reports Pack. As of the meeting, two payments had been made in September, with the majority of payments expected to be made by the end of the year.

LPPA Performance Report

The board reviewed the LPPA³ performance report for Q1 2025/26, presented by Chris Bats, LPP Client Relationship Manager, which showed that overall casework performance was 98%, exceeding the 95% service level target. However, active retirement performance was at 83.3%, falling below service levels due to two complex McCloud cases. The average contact centre wait time was 2 minutes 57 seconds, within the four-minute target. Customer satisfaction was at 57.1%, a drop attributed to the nature of the calls, often related to McCloud issues. There were no responses to active and deferred retirement surveys.

Chris Bats, LPP Client Relationship Manager, also provided an update on the pensions dashboard⁴ project, noting that the connection date of 31 October 2025 would not be met due to delays in penetration testing and IT health checks. Taryn Ahlberg, Pensions Governance Manager for the Hertfordshire Local Government Pension Scheme and the Hertfordshire Fire Pension Scheme, confirmed that the Pensions Regulator had been informed and that it was not considered a breach.

Councillor Richard Shaw, employee representative, raised concerns about the worsening customer satisfaction data and the escalating delays in the McCloud remedy. He also expressed concern about the timeliness of reporting to the board.

Pension Fund Risk Register Report

Alison, Lead Governance Officer for the Hertfordshire Pension Fund and the Fire Pension Scheme, presented the pension fund risk register report, noting that the risk categories had been revised to align with the Pensions Regulator's general code of practice guidance.

The risk dashboard identified two risks exceeding the tolerated threshold: conflicts of interest due to committee and board changes following local elections, and poor administration, including failure or delays in implementing regulatory changes, linked to the McCloud remedy deadline. It was agreed that the risk and tolerance ratings of risks related to data sharing and cyber security should be increased.

Second Options Exercise for Retained Firefighters

Rachel Wilson, Senior HR Officer, Pay & Reward, provided an update on the second options exercise for retained firefighters, which allows retained firefighters who were previously ineligible to join the pension scheme to buy back their pensionable service.

The board heard that 22 members were still unable to be located, despite using tracing companies. 140 quotes have been issued, and 107 election forms have been received. LPPA has paid 40 pensioners, with 22 remaining to be paid. New legislation is anticipated that will allow members to buy back non-continuous service and convert standard to special service.

Dates of Future Meetings

The board noted the date for future meetings as 24 April 2026 at 10:00 am. It was agreed that the cycle of meetings should be reviewed to follow the pension committee cycle more closely, and to aim for quarterly meetings to allow for more regular updates.