The Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund, will present a report,

(Document “A”) which explains that, in the July Budget 2015, the Chancellor announced the Government’s intention to work with Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) administering authorities to ensure that they pool investments to significantly reduce costs while maintaining overall investment performance. On 25 November the Investment Reform Criteria and Guidance were issued, which sets out the criteria to be applied to the pooling of LGPS assets. Authorities were invited to submit their initial proposals for pooling by 19 February 2016. West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) together with Greater Manchester and Merseyside duly submitted its proposals by the deadline. The submission and the Minister’s response are on the WYPF website. A more comprehensive proposal has been submitted to the Government on 15 July 2016. This submission will be assessed against the criteria in this document.

The Merseyside Local Pensions Board (LPB) considered pooling arrangements at its meeting in April, and requested that its resolution be considered by the Local Pension Boards of the other two members of the Northern Pool. The resolution is attached as Appendix F to Document “A”.

Recommended -

1.    That the submission to the Government, contained in Document “A”, and the continued development of pooling arrangements, subject to the Government response, be noted. 

2.    That the Merseyside LPB resolution, contained in Document “A”  be considered.

(Rodney Barton – 01274 432317)

Resolved –

1.    That the submission to the Government, contained in Document “A”, and the continued development of pooling arrangements, subject to the Government response, be noted. 

2.    That the Merseyside LPB resolution, contained in Document “A”  be supported.

ACTION: Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund

The Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund, presented a report, (Document “A”) which explained that, in the July Budget 2015, the Chancellor had announced the Government’s intention to work with Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) administering authorities to ensure that they pooled investments to significantly reduce costs while maintaining overall investment performance. On 25 November the Investment Reform Criteria and Guidance were issued, which set out the criteria to be applied to the pooling of LGPS assets. Authorities were invited to submit their initial proposals for pooling by 19 February 2016. West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) together with Greater Manchester and Merseyside duly submitted its proposals by the deadline. The submission and the Minister’s response were contained on the WYPF website. A more comprehensive proposal had been submitted to the Government on 15 July 2016. That submission would be assessed against the criteria in Document  “A”.

The Merseyside Local Pensions Board (LPB) considered pooling arrangements at its meeting in April, and had requested that its resolution be considered by the Local Pension Boards of the other two members of the Northern Pool. The resolution was attached as Appendix F to Document “A”.

The level of the Merseyside Local Pensions Board’s involvement in the pooling process was questioned and it was explained that, like all other pension boards, that board was a scrutiny, not decision making body.  Members were advised that each Pension Fund must establish a local Pension Board comprising of 50% employee and 50% member representatives.  The only difference between Bradford and Merseyside was that their Pension Board was chaired by an independent person.  It was agreed that details of the officers at each fund, who were responsible for arranging pension board meetings, could be provided so if boards wished to meet they could do so. 

Resolved -

1.    That the submission to the Government, contained in Document “A”, and the continued development of pooling arrangements, subject to the Government response, be noted. 

2.    That the Merseyside LPB resolution, contained in Document “A”  be supported.

ACTION: Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund