BCH Police Pension Board minutes 22 January 2024

Part 2 closed confidential. Not for publication under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and in agreement with the Meetings and Minutes Procedure agreed by the Strategic Management Board on 3 March 2009

Attendees

• Stuart Goodwin (SG) – CHAIR Chair – Head of Finance, Bedfordshire
• Jackie Ingle (JI) Head of BCH Pension and Payroll
• Paul Sandwell (PS) Supt, Substitute Superintendents Association BCH Representative, Cambridgeshire
• Karen Morgan (KM) Herts but not a member
• Graeme Hall (GH) XPS - Outsourced BCH Pension Administrators
• Anthony Laud (TL) NARPO BCH Representative, Cambridgeshire
• Vanessa Lynch (CC) BCH Corporate Communications, Hertfordshire
• Rebecca Weston (RW) ESO, Hertfordshire Executive Support (Minutes)

Apologies

• James Cook (JC) – DEPUTY CHAIR Director of Resources, Hertfordshire
• Genna Telfer (GT) ACC, CPOSA Representative, Cambridgeshire
• Alan Wollaston (AW) Sergeant, Police Federation BCH Representative, Hertfordshire
• Afzal Chowdhury (AC) Head of Legal Services, Hertfordshire

1.Welcome and apologies

Stuart Goodwin welcomed attendees to the meeting and apologies were noted.

2. Approval of minutes and actions – 19 June 2023

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved. Actions were reviewed and the action tracker updated accordingly.

3. Conflict of interest – declaration and registry

No conflicts of interest were raised. 

4. Annual Terms of Reference Review

The terms of reference were reviewed, and the following amendments agreed:

• Page 2 – 4.2.1: ‘old’ changed to ‘hold’
• Page 2 – 4.2.2.1 ‘must be’ changed to ‘ideally will be’
• Page 2 – 4.2.2.2 ‘must be changed’ to ‘ideally will be’

The terms of reference were approved by the board on the basis the agreed amendments are made.

Action – Bex Weston to update the terms of reference with the agreed amendments and circulate the updated document to board members.

5. Membership

James Cook was provisionally proposed for the Deputy Chair role. This motion was formally approved by the board.

6. Auto-enrolment and opt out data

The board reviewed the data presented. There was discussion around the variance in opt-outs for new starters, which is notably higher in Cambridgeshire than in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and any reasons there may be for this such as concerns regarding pay or levels of understanding of the pension scheme.

Karen Morgan advised that there is work being done nationally to understand why officers are choosing to opt out of the pension scheme. The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) have recently sent a survey request around this which Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire (BCH) Human Resources are in the process of circulating to all officers who have opted out of the pension scheme.

Action – Karen Morgan to review whether the current inputs in relation to the Pension Scheme for new starters is the same across all three forces.

Graeme Hall advised that XPS offer induction courses to forces and these have seen positive results in terms of opt out figures.

Action – Stuart Goodwin / Graeme Hall to discuss the options available to BCH in relation to XPS induction courses for new starters.

It was noted that there is benefit in continuing to review this data on a six-monthly basis to identify trends / increases in opt-outs.

7. Remedy update

The BCH Pension Challenge Board continues to progress any issues and actions in relation to remedy, across the three forces. The board last met in on 18 December. The following updates were noted:

• Remedy is now in place having been implemented from the first of October 2023.
• Significant activity is now being progressed across BCH. Payroll are providing data to XPS for all immediate choice members as early as possible. It was noted this is a complex time-consuming process for XPS and that whilst there have been some delays in providing members with their estimates, this position is currently improving. Data is also being worked through to be provided to XPS in relation to all active and deferred choice members.
• The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) Pensions Team updated their website with contingent decisions prior to Christmas and application forms were made available to members. There is on-going discussion through the BCH Pension Challenge Board in relation to opt out contingent decisions and whether BCH wish to proactively contact individuals that previously opted out of the pension scheme to due remedy, and how this would be done. Graeme Hall confirmed that XPS will be updating their website around this.
• Graeme Hall updated the board on the current position with regards to the new software system which is anticipated to be implemented in the next two months. It was noted that work is on-going to consider other processes outside of the system which can be automated to support the remedy work, however until these are developed, and the new software is implemented the significant number of manual steps required is slowing processes down.
• It was noted that the provisional grant settlement includes an allowance for forces to cover additional remedy costs. Confirmation on the amount being allocated to forces is still awaited.

8. GMP Reconciliation Report

The full GMP Reconciliation Reports have now been received and shared with the three forces and the project will now be moving into the rectification phase. Completion of this work has identified all members who are in scope for rectification and the next step will be to undertake the rectification calculations. The projects team will be contacting forces in due course to discuss next steps. It is anticipated that NPCC Pensions Team will issue central guidance to assist Scheme Managers on the approach to be taken with payments.

9. XPS Update Reports

Stuart Goodwin signposted the XPS reports which have been circulated to the board.

Graeme Hall advised that following a significant data breach by another third-party administrator, XPS have taken steps to ensure members data is not subject to any further breaches by strengthening the information required to pass security checks.

It was noted that a reduction in SLAs, particularly regarding the provision of payments, options and estimates will be seen in December due to the impact of remedy implementation. XPS have been working with NPCC around payments and options. These SLAs have now improved and are expected to continue to increase. The next area of focus will be around estimates and ensuring these are provided to members in a timely manner.

There was nothing further by exception reported or raised.

10. Ill Health Protections

Karen Morgan updated the group on the work being undertaken across BCH in relation to ill health retirement eligibility, following the outcome of an employee tribunal where the Home Office conceded that Regulation 36 was discriminatory, and their subsequent guidance to forces to cease the requirement for a Regulation 36 medical to join the pension scheme. Karen Morgan provided an update on the current position; the following was noted:

• Further advice from the Home Office is still awaited with regards to cases where members have a genuine ill health retirement restriction.
• 18 cases have been returned into the full scheme based on the auto-enrolment/five-year arrangement and their original medical assessment. Eight cases require further checks.