The Local Pension Board of Redbridge Council met on Monday, 16 March 2026, to review the current update on pension fund matters as at 31 December 2025. The meeting's agenda included a discussion of the Pension Fund's investment performance and an update on the administration function.

Current Update on Pension Fund Matters

The report scheduled for discussion provided an overview of current pension scheme matters and the performance of the Pension Fund's investments as at 31 December 2025. The report highlighted that the pension administration function, delivered by a team of 12.25 full-time equivalents, had successfully met all four performance indicators during the quarter. These indicators cover critical areas such as the timeliness of processing new member records, retirements, and the issue of statutory notices.

The report also detailed the performance of the Pension Fund's investments. Global equity markets saw an increase over the quarter, with the UK market benefiting from large-cap equities and the healthcare sector. In the US, the healthcare, communications, technology, and financial sectors also performed well. Bond market yields were mixed, with US Treasury yields rising and UK yields falling.

The meeting was scheduled to consider the Fund's current Investment Strategy, which was revised in February 2024. This strategy includes commitments to invest in the LCIV UK Housing Fund and the Nature Based Fund. The report provided details on the current asset allocation of the Fund by investment mandate, comparing bid-market values from September and December 2025 against the strategic asset allocation.

The report indicated that the Pension Fund had under-performed its benchmark over the quarter and for one and five-year periods, but had out-performed over three and ten-year periods. Commentary on individual investment manager performance was to be set out in an appendix.

Administration Performance and Topical Issues

The administration function's performance was detailed, showing that all four key performance indicators were met during the quarter. These indicators include the timely processing of new member records, deferred members, retirements, and the issue of statutory notices.

Topical issues discussed were expected to include ongoing work related to the McCloud Judgement, which involves running reports to identify members in scope and those requiring remedy. Additionally, the results of the 2025 fund valuation had been notified, and all employers of the fund had been informed of their ongoing employer rates.

The report also touched upon the migration from Member Self Service (MSS) to Engage, which replaced MSS at the end of January, requiring members to re-register. Furthermore, the payroll team was rolling out online access to payslips for pensioners, a move intended to reduce paper-based mailings and potentially lead to cost savings.

Fairness, Staffing, and Legal Implications

The report included a section on fairness implications, referencing Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, which requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between people who share protected characteristics and those who do not. The report stated there were no implications arising from the report in this regard.

There were no anticipated staffing implications or implications for child safety, crime, or community safety arising from the report's content. Legally, the report referenced Regulation 106(1) of the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (LGPS) 2013, which outlines the responsibilities of Pension Boards in ensuring the effective and efficient governance and administration of the Pension Scheme. No specific legal implications were identified from the report's content.

The meeting was also scheduled to consider an exempt appendix to the report, which contained further details on pension fund matters.