BCH Police Pension Board minutes 7 March 2022

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 Not for publication under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and in agreement with the Meetings and Minutes Procedure agreed by the Strategic Management Board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 - Head of Finance, Bedfordshire
• Jackie Ingle (JI) - Head of BCH Pension and Payroll
• Superintendent Jon Hutchinson (JH) - substitute Superintendents Association BCH representative, Cambridgeshire
• Sergeant Alan Wollaston (AW) - Police Federation BCH representative, Hertfordshire
• Karen Morgan (KM) - Hertfordshire (but not a member)
• Paul Mudd (PM) - XPS outsourced BCH pension administrators
• Anthony Laud (AL) - NARPO BCH representative, Cambridgeshire
• Rebecca Weston (RW) - ESO, Hertfordshire Executive Support (minutes)

Apologies

• James Cook (JC) - Deputy chair - Director of Resources, Hertfordshire
• T/ACC Dan Vajzovic (DV) - CPOSA and Superintendents Association BCH representative, Cambridgeshire
• Afzal Chowdhury (AC) - Head of Legal Services, Hertfordshire
• Colin Connolly (CC) - Head of Corporate Communications, Hertfordshire

1.Welcome and apologies

SG welcomed attendees to the meeting and apologies were noted.

2. Approval of minutes and actions – 13 December 2021

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. Remedy update

The BCH Pension Challenge Board last met on the 2nd March, the highlights from this meeting were noted as follows:

• Guidance in relation to Immediate Detriment (ID) is still awaited. The ID process has been formally suspended and BCH will not be offering immediate detriment to members.

• All members will continue in Police Pension Scheme 2015 for future service. Transition to the 2015 scheme will take place on 1^st April 2022. XPS have provided the relevant member details to the BCH Payroll and Pensions team who have cross checked the data and will be communicating out to all those affected over the coming fortnight.

• For the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 all members will be placed back into the legacy schemes. Work is underway to validate data from XPS and calculate adjustments for the remedy period. The specific arrangements in relation to overpayments and underpayments are still to be confirmed.

• Additional funding has been approved to employ an additional staff member within the BCH Payroll and Pensions team on a fixed contract to assist with this work and recruitment is in progress.

• It was noted that all three forces have now raised their PID with XPS for the first phase of the project work.

• The BCH communications plan is managed through the BCH Pension Challenge Board. The next communication to officers is scheduled to be sent imminently and will detail the launch of the GAD modeller. As part of this communication officers will also be provided with a link to access a recent informative PMAS webinar.

• It was noted that XPS will be hosting the GAD modeller on their My Own Pension website, and it will also be hosted on the Knowledge Hub. PM advised that testing to date has been positive, and it is felt that this will be useful tool for members. The modeller is anticipated to give live on Wednesday 9^th March.

• PM further noted that Leanne Ferreira is the McCloud lead for XPS and she will continue to work closely with NPCC and BCH Payroll and Pensions team.

• Following query by JH with regards to remedy adjustments, it was noted that there a number of issues that have been raised with HMT and HMRC including the matter of whether or not refund or repayment can be claimed more than 4 years after the end of the relevant tax year. The current understanding is that this rule will be extended to 6 years for the purposes of McCloud.

SG signposted the NPCC presentations circulated within the agenda which have been provided for members further information and update.

5. Auto-enrolment/opt-out data

There was discussion in relation to the opt out data provided, which runs from 31^st August 2021 to 28^th February 2022. The following was noted:

• The data demonstrates an increase from August 2021 to February 2022 in the number of serving officers not in the pension scheme.

• Overall, and particularly in Beds in Herts, the data suggests that the majority of the increase is due to new joiners opting out. Indications are that this is due to the affordability, particularly in the first two or so years of employment after which many officers will then plan to opt back in.

• PM highlighted that the figures are representative of those being seen in other forces and that the national average of opt out is between 4% and 10%.

6. GMP reconciliation report

PM advised that the team are still working towards final reconciliation by the end of the 21/22 financial year. The project will then move to the rectification phase which will involve writing out to scheme members to advise on under/over payment values and how that affects benefits. The project team will then seek a policy decision from forces on how payments will be treated.

7. XPS update report

PM talked through the XPS update report. The following was noted:

• Membership analysis – tapering of members out of legacy schemes and into 2015 scheme continues, which is reflected within the active member statistics.

• Conditional Data – XPS expect to have the full conditional data items mapped, tested, and itemised for the board by the next meeting. 

• SLA overview - GH updated on failures within the quarter, noting that the majority of these failures are low impact, caused by a spike in activity and that there is nothing underlying with regards to service to report. On-going recruitment and training is expected to see an increase in percentages across the three forces over the coming quarters.

There was discussion in relation to a risk raised through the BCH Pension Challenge Board, regarding the possibility of inaccurate estimates relating to cases requiring two sets of manual benefit calculations. PM advised that these instances are currently low, however are likely to increase moving forward. Further training is set to be undertaken with staff, with it noted that all estimates will be caveated and subject to stringent checks before being sent out. JI will ensure that these mitigations are reflected within the risk register.

8. Risk register

JI advised that there has been no change to the red risk regarding McCloud transitional arrangements. It was agreed that although Immediate Detriment is not being progressed across BCH at this time, the risk would remain red.

It was noted that the injury pensions project (Evans & Ashcroft v South Wales Police) is thought to be nearing completion and that this risk could potentially now be lowered or removed.

Action - PM to send a written update to the Board on the latest position with regards to the injury pensions project (Evans & Ashcroft v South Wales Police).

JI advised that work has commenced with procurement on the pension administration contract extension with XPS. This process is underway ahead of time and therefore it was not felt a change is required to the risk score or rating.

9. Any other business

Ill health benefits

AW updated the board on an issue raised nationally with regards to the process around eligibility for ill health benefits. It was noted that regulations clearly state that determination on eligibility is required before officers join the pension scheme. This poses a particular challenge due to the auto-enrolment scheme. Following discussion, it was agreed this issue would be added to the risk register.

Action – JI to add a risk to the register in relation to the determination on eligibility for ill health benefits, in particular regarding the timeliness of fitness checks prior to people joining the pension scheme.

Meeting administration

Following a change to external internet hosting arrangements, the publication of BCH Police Pension Board minutes was lost. Work is underway to ensure that all minutes are re-published.

Action – CC to re-publish all BCH Police Pension Board minutes on the external BCH websites.

It was agreed that the servicing of this group would be moved onto a dedicated MS Teams channel for BCH members, to support the sharing and storing of documents on a common platform. External members will continue to be provided with meeting papers and documents via e-mail.

It was further agreed that the length of future meetings would be reduced to 1.5 hours.

Date of next meeting: Monday 6 June 2022, 10.30am via MS Teams