Agenda item

Report of the Chair of the Pensions Board

In November 2023, nominations were sought by the Staffordshire Chief Finance Officers Group (SCFOG) for a Scheme Employer representative and one such nomination was received.

·                Becky Smeathers - Executive Director of Finance and S151 Officer at Tamworth Borough Council.

Becky was invited to meet with the Scheme Manager and Chair of the Board, so that the role and responsibilities of a Board Member could be discussed, together with Becky’s relevant skills and experience. As a previous member of another local LGPS Pensions Board, Becky had a clear understanding of the Board remit and had also undertaken training in line with the CIPFA Knowledge and Skills Framework requirement. 

Following this meeting, Becky was offered the position on the Board for a four-year term until 2027 and has accepted (subject to the Board’s approval).

The Board also received a report from the Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Corporate Services regarding proposed amendments to the Pensions Board Constitution.

The Board was reminded that in April 2015 Staffordshire County Council set up a Local Pensions Board (“the Board”), and when the Board was originally set up the membership consisted of a maximum of six members made up of three Scheme Employer Representatives and three Scheme Member Representatives. It was noted that the Board Constitution stated that one of the Scheme Employer representatives must be an Elected Local Authority Member and one Scheme Employee representative must be a Trade Union representative. The Board was made aware of the efforts throughout 2022 and 2023, to find suitable nominees to appoint to these specific positions on the Board, without success.

Following discussions at the September 2023 Board meeting, it was proposed that the Scheme Manager consider reducing the number of members on the Board from six to four, and in doing so remove the specific stipulation from the Board Constitution that the Board membership must include an Elected Local Authority Member and a Trade Union representative. It was made clear that this amendment did not mean that Elected Local Authority Members or Trade Union representatives could not become members of the Board, it simply removed the stipulation that there must be two such representatives. It was highlighted that the proposal remained consistent with the Local Government Pensions Scheme Regulations 2013.

The Board heard that Trade Unions had been informed of the proposals and were asked to provide feedback. One response was received, from Unison, which stated an appreciation of the issue and given that they had no suitable candidate to put forward they confirmed that there was no objection to the proposal.

Whilst changes to the Board Membership were being considered, the opportunity was also taken to make some amendments to the “Member Appointment Process” included within the Board Constitution, to ensure it remained consistent with current appointment practices. It was noted that the constituted appointment process focussed on the selection process undertaken when the Board was originally established. Whilst it also included additional steps that concentrated on the recruitment of replacement Board members, the process no longer needed to consider the appointment of an original Board, and the proposed amendments meant that the process focussed on the appointment of replacement Board members only. It was also highlighted that the proposed appointment process was tried and tested as it followed the same appointment process that was used to recruit co-opted members to the Pensions Committee.

Resolved – That (a) the Pensions Board approves the appointment of Becky Smeathers to the Board, as a Scheme Member Representative, to represent the Employers of the Staffordshire Pension Fund

(b) that the Pensions Board notes the changes made to the Pension Board Constitution and Appointment Process as approved by the Pensions Committee at their meeting on 15 December 2023.