Pension Board

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

1

Welcomes, Apologies & Conflicts of Interest:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, especially Stuart Hale who replaced Miles Ockwell as the Superintendent Association Representative on the Board.

Apologies were received in advance of the meeting from CC Jo Shiner and Carwyn Hughes.

The meeting was declared quorate and balanced.

No conflicts were declared.

2

Minutes / Actions from previous meeting:

The minutes were accepted as a true reflection of the meeting with no changes made.

SL then joined the meeting, making it quorate but not balanced should any decisions need to be made.

Joint Pension Board Actions:

Action 2022-29: Work Plan – GMP Reconciliation error rate project for Sussex Police – XPS will provide a Sussex report by the end of the month with next steps and a milestone timeline included.  This report will come to the next Board meeting.

NB/AP

Action 2023-19:  Evans & Ashcroft baseline information – it was confirmed the bulk of the work will happen post remedy activity - OPEN.

NB/GH

Action 2023-26: Retirement Process Timeline – is now finalised and has been shared with the Board, it will be issued to officers when they retire and made available on the Pensions “How do I” page as part of the Retirement Toolkit – Closed.

Action 2024-04: - Leaflet provided for the bereaved – The Pensions Team and NARPO representatives will meet with XPS in early April to discuss the draft document - OPEN.

GB/SL/

Sh L

Action 2024-05:  XPS Quarterly Reports – Table now included in the report - Closed.

Action 2024-06: Scheme Sanction Charges – since the last update 248 Sussex officers and 82 Surrey officers have been identified who are due a refund, the data has been sent to XPS and the aim is to process these refunds in the March 2025 pay run.  Communication will be sent to the officers affected.  The team will continue to go through the data they hold to identify any additional cases and will work with XPS to process these refunds as quickly as possible. - OPEN

Action 2024-07:  Training - a Pension Awareness tax video produced by XPS had been shared with the Board, any future training will be shared - Closed

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

2 Cont.

Action 2024-08:  Opt Out Stats – reports shared at this meeting - Closed

Action 2024-09:  PPS issuing date - The majority were issued by the 31/12/2024 - Closed

3

Pension Administrator Summary:

The Statement issuance client dashboard for March showed that the KPI for Q3 for Surrey was 81% and for Sussex 82%.  The Member self-service take up for active members was 60.76 % for Surrey and 61.92% for Sussex with the national average being at 61%.

There had been a significant reduction in complaints in this quarter.

There had been a breach early in Quarter 3 whereby some correspondence that was sent out to retired officers had had the zeros removed from the addresses by a system error.  This was spotted and rectified immediately so that it can’t happen again.

A dashboard update report had been provided:

Active members - over 90% of their statements have already been produced, the Surrey/Sussex Pensions Team have been working hard to get the data needed for the remaining few.  Statement runs are on a Friday and will reduce the numbers outstanding with each run.  Any active members who will not receive a statement by the 31^st of March will be contacted via email to explain why.

Immediate Choice - for those members, who have a pension sharing order debit on their member record, GAD guidance is required and will not be available until the end of March.  As they fall under section 29(10)(b) the Scheme Manager can extend the discretion in respect of the legislative deadline date.  A communication plan is place, and each member affected will be written to individually to make them aware.  The terms of section 29(10)(b) states that the information should be provided within 12 weeks so that is the deadline being worked towards, but it may lead to some Internal Dispute Resolution Process requests being received.  It was confirmed that no retired members were included in this cohort. 

Deferred choice RSS - there are several deferred members who were in scope for remedy whose data was not as good as it should have been.  XPS are currently doing some data cleanse work and aiming to produce all statements by the 31^st of March. 

The Board noted that some of the gaps in data (for immediate choice and deferred members) were due to data issues linked to the previous pension administrator whereby some legacy information was not successfully transferred over, reassurance was given by XPS that, if the data was provided by the Pensions Team, no statement would be held up, it would be issued in the next statement run.  

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

3 Cont.

The Board noted the comprehensive report and acknowledged the complexity of the pension’s world and the additional work the Pensions Team and XPS have been doing to do to provide the information required to build some of the records.

4

Pension Team Update Report:

Comms Plan – the team are working hard behind the scenes to put each officer into the right category so that the letters they receive will have as much appropriate information as possible.  The focus of the team for the next 3 weeks is on delivering as much as possible. 

Another breach report was submitted to the TPR on the 5^th of February providing them with an update on the initial breaches and the most recent breach relating to the R-PSS failure to issue some Annual Benefit Statements.  As previously mentioned in XPS’s update, the letter sent out related to the Member Hub log in details which contained the members unique log in details, however, member also need to enter other personal data, which was not contained in the letter so although technically a breach, it was considered to be a non-reportable nil-risk breach. 

Contingent Decisions – 23 applications have been reviewed, due to the previous pause in 1987 rollbacks the team are yet to finalise applications that fall within this category.  Additionally, there are a few applications that need further information before they can be progressed.

Compensation claims – the team have received one claim so far which has not yet been assessed.  There were no claims received in this quarter for either Force.  The interest rate was confirmed as 3%.

Home Office Consultation – Surrey and Sussex have submitted their response to the consultation and have gone for option 1, to increase contributions but with the preference that it is based on FTE pay increases as this makes it easier to administer. 

Ill Health Retirements – Have not received any further consent so the number of cases being reviewed stays the same.  3 cases are awaiting GP paperwork, once the paperwork has been received, they can progress to the final stage with XPS.

i-Connect – Surrey, who already have the necessary infrastructure in place, will go live first, possibly early in the new financial year, however after a comparison exercise was completed, several data inaccuracies were identified which need to be resolved first.  Sussex are not yet able to go live, and this will be revisited in the future. 

Payroll will be completing an annual return for this financial year.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

4 Cont.

Dashboard Preparation – a few questions are outstanding on some data checking principles and there will be decisions for the Scheme Managers to be made aware of by the end of March.

Once the bulk of the remedy work has been processed the Team will meet with XPS in April to discuss next steps.

Tax workshops- there had been very positive feedback.  

Paper payslips – a question was asked as to why paper payslips were still sent out.  It was confirmed that there is a default in the system for all pensioners to receive a monthly payslip if their net pension increases or deductions

 were over a certain amount, so there will be certain times throughout the year when they will receive a paper version. 

Opt Outs – it was acknowledged that Surrey was in a really good position being way below the national average, Sussex is hovering at around the national average.  The last auto enrolment was in May 2023 so the next auto enrolment will be in May 2026.  The Board felt it would be good to understand the association between those who opt out and then leave the organisation altogether, more in-depth analysis work will be done in the future.

IM confirmed he is part of a Technical Advisory Group which fed into the Police Pay Review Body, which had highlighted pensions to be an important part of pay and conditions and had put forward some options for consideration.  People need to understand that the pension is a long-term saving scheme, and it was confirmed that more pension awareness sessions are planned.

5

Scheme Membership:

The Scheme Manager CC Tim De-Meyer acknowledged the work the Federation does, particularly the early engagement they have with new recruits, in setting the norm of staying in the pension and not opting out, it was felt it helps to foster a stronger sense of belonging.  It was acknowledged that pensions are a hard sell to new recruits who are on the lower end of the salary and living here in the Southeast.  The Federation will work with the Pensions Team to see if more time can be found to talk about pensions.

The Pensions Dashboard may raise awareness of pensions overall and the benefits of having one.  It was noted however that there were concerns expressed by some scheme members of reduced benefits in the future and greater costs 

The NARPO reps both offered to speak to the new recruits to emphasise the difference the pension had made to them in their retirement.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

6

Employee Side Feedback:

The Board were informed that NARPO are looking to send out a recruitment letter to all Surrey and Sussex retirees who are not currently members of NARPO, highlighting the benefits of being a member.  A similar exercise had taken place in Sussex in 2019, when concerns had been made by the then Sussex Pension Board around third-party supplier marketing and privacy issues in relation to GDPR.  The Pensions Team had also raised concerns around associated costs.  NARPO HQ has invited forces to run another exercise, they would pay the costs, and provided the letter is sent out in paper format, is legitimate and for a legitimate interest, it doesn’t require specific consent under GDPR.  XPS who are the data processers would issue the letters.  It was suggested that this communication could form part of a wider communication from CC’s to retired members rather than being a targeted letter from NARPO but some of the topics that the other CCs had wanted to include didn’t necessary apply solely to retired scheme members.  There had used to be an annual newsletter that went out to retired members with their payslips around April/May time and this had covered the additional topics the CC’s had wanted included and the targeted NARPO membership details.  No newsletter was now produced under the current contract.

It was noted that some retired members had made a conscious choice not to join NARPO and there were concerns that if they were targeted in this way it may cause complaints. 

The Federation do have a group insurance scheme that they run, the trustees control that data and may be able to assist in reaching out to retired members, it was agreed that this would be taken outside of the Board meeting.

7

Risk Register:

4.5 Pension Remedy/McCloud – Risk status to be updated to show that non-statement production for some members may increase the risk of TPR/Section 29(10)(b) breaches and increased IDRP requests.

8

Pension Board Training:

Most members have done the TPR online training for Board Members, but some had not yet done the pension scams training which formed part of the Trustee toolkit.  They were encouraged to complete this portion of the training by the Chair.

9

AOB:

None.

10

Date of next meeting:

The date of the next meeting was confirmed as the 26th of June 2025.  The Chair thanked everyone for attending the meeting.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

1

Welcomes, Apologies & Conflicts of Interest:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, apologies had been received in advance of the meeting from CC Tim De Meyer, Peter Appleton & Carwyn Hughes. 

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado was welcomed to the Board, who was substituting for Peter Appleton. 

The meeting was declared quorate and balanced.

No conflicts were declared.  The Board were reminded that the Conflicts of Interest Declaration Forms were due for 2023/2024.  RL would be sending these out for completion in the next few days.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

2

Minutes / Actions from previous meeting:

The minutes were accepted as a true reflection of the meeting with no changes made.

Joint Pension Board Actions:

Action 2022-29: Work Plan – GMP Reconciliation error rate project for Sussex Police - the first stage is now complete; a report is being prepared with the findings and will be shared in the next few weeks - OPEN.

PM/CG

Action 2023-02:  XPS Quarterly Report – Amend the cases by month section of the quarterly report to say Deferred Benefits notifications, to make this clearer – XPS are looking to overhaul the reports to make the more bespoke, this amendment will be included - OPEN.

PM

Action 2023-10:  Portal Error – The Board were assured that the error was fixed within the test environment, it will be going live in about 10 days, when the lump sum commutation values should be visible and will make the benefit statements consistent which how they have been produced in the past. – OPEN.

PM

Action 2023-17:  To review the internal process and procedure re Death in Service – Ongoing - OPEN.

AP

Action 2023-19:  Evans & Ashcroft baseline information – still waiting for the scanning process to be completed.  Concerns were raised over the length of time this has taken and the possibility of compensation payment request being received were discussed.  PM was not sure if there was a national stance on this and will find out what other Forces are doing and update the Board at the next meeting - OPEN.

PM

Action 2023-21 (Away day): Review of Internal Dispute Resolution Process to decide who will make the second stage decision going forwards – see item 4 on this agenda – Closed.

Action 2023-22 (Away day): Pension Opt Outs – Now a standing agenda item - Closed.

Action 2023-26: Retirement Process Timeline - not yet completed, will share with the Board as soon as available.

Action 2023-27 – Pension Administrator Summary - Provide a position statement – A detailed position statement from November 2023 had been shared with the Board and an updated statement will be available in the next month, this will also be shared with the Board.  XPS have also published another document on their website, in response to an FOI request, which sets out the journey so far in their handling of the Remedy - Open

PM

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

2 Cont.

Action 2023-28:  Review of Board TOR & Governing Policies and Procedures considering TPR EDI Guidance - To review the Board documents to see how EDI might fit – see item 8 of this agenda - Closed

Action 2023-29: Employee Side Feedback - Add Annual Tax Workshop to the workplan -completed – Closed.

3

Pension Administrator Summary:

Work is ongoing within XPS to improve the team and management of the team; to get the structure model correct.  Development of automated systems continues in the background to reduce dependency on Haywood, one of which will provide a solution for pension calculations, this will be ready in a test environment in the next few weeks.   

The positive relationship with XPS was acknowledged by the Board and, that it would take time for XPS to embed the changes they have made.  The impact on the workload of the Surrey/Sussex Police Pensions Team was also acknowledged and their response to this was praised by the Board.

Quarterly Reports:

The quarterly Performance Delivery Reports were reviewed by the Board.  A concern was raised over the accuracy of the figures as the registration for self service for those over 65 is currently showing in the report at 0%, which could not be right.

The Board noted the complaints in the report, it was agreed that not all contact was necessarily a complaint and was usually quickly dealt with, but that overall dissatisfaction may not be being recorded.  XPS do try to manage the expectations of scheme members by setting a timeframe for providing information in their response emails, following up with further emails if the final response is to be delayed for some reason.

Contact with the Surrey/Sussex Pensions Team was discussed and how it was recorded.  The Team confirmed it does track escalations/complaints and the internal dispute resolution process.

.

Action 2024-01:  Quarterly Reports – check the accuracy of the figures.

XPS and the Association Representatives to look at capturing feedback from the scheme members.

To look at a more formal way of logging contact with the Surrey/Sussex Pensions Team in place to capture demand and provide feedback to the Board.

PM

PM/MO/ & RC

AP

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

3 Cont.

Data & Dashboard Update:

It was noted that this is a complex national project, making sure the data is Dashboard ready would need to be resourced both from XPS and both Forces.  The Board noted the Pensions Dashboard Report provided by XPS to their clients to help them get Dashboard ready and focused on the Trustee Checklist.  The Surrey/Sussex Pensions Team confirmed they were aware of the checklist and didn’t have too many concerns at this point in time but would be setting up working groups to deal with the tasks ahead when better resourced.

It was confirmed that the Dashboard Connection Readiness Report, which would summarise the view data, would be available mid-2024.  It will show whether there is sufficient information, and whether the tools and checks that are in place, will verify that data.  Tolerances and parameters are being built into a testing took which will suggest whether the information held is consistent and what they would expect to see.

4

Pension Remedy:

The Board were informed that 29 retirements will have been processed since 1^st of January 2024 (6 for Surrey and 23 for Sussex). There are currently 16 remedy retirements in train for the rest of 2024.

Added pensions – 11 officers have been identified as having paid added pensions, (1 active and 10 retired or deferred) work is ongoing to return the money to them, for the retired or deferred scheme members this will be picked when their cohort goes through the remedy period.

Contingent decisions – work is ongoing to finalise the process, the decision had been taken to include the Internal Dispute Resolution Process in the Contingent Decision Guidance, this is to ensure that the process is not resource intensive and is consistent, resilient and robust.  The NPCC is finalising guidance that each Force will use as a basis for the process, and targeted communication will go out to individuals who have been identified as being potentially entitled to apply for a contingent decision.  The Board will have sight of the guidance and communication and a briefing session will be arranged for Board Members so that there is a shared understanding of the process, which will enable the Association Representatives to be able to help their members should they be contacted with any queries.  The Board will be kept informed of progress.

NPCC Police Pensions Bulletin 4 – The Board noted their responsibilities highlighted in this report.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

4 Cont.

Ill Health Updates – The 29 people who were on the 1987 scheme and were ill health retired during the remedy period have been contacted for consent for the SMP to carry out a review of the original decision made.  So far 8 have given permission for review, 3 have requested more time to consider and the rest have not yet responded.

Scheme Sanction Charges – both Forces are working to identify those officers where sanction charges have been incorrectly deducted, reviewing all retirements between January 2011 to April 23^rd 2023.  Communications on this subject has been issued via NARPO and the Federation as well as internally to active scheme members.  The Board will be updated when final numbers and costs are known.

It was confirmed that those members who choose to put their remedy period back into their legacy scheme and repay their contributions will have 14 years in which to repay the difference or they can take it from their lump sum upon retirement. There may be tax implications for some officers and the HMRC and the Home Office are providing some guidance information on what officers need to do and the impact it may have.

The Superintendent’s Association Representative informed the Board that they had invited the National Police Superintendent’s Association to come and give a talk to their members, on this issue as it was felt there was a lot of misunderstanding in relation to the repayments.

5

Scheme Membership:

The Sussex Superintendent’s Association representative assured the Board that they have it as standing agenda item at their branch meeting, which are well attended by their members, and are held quarterly.  The Secretary from the National Superintendent’s Association Executive will be coming to speak in person to the members on the 14^th of May and the Sussex Federation Representative on the Pension Board would be invited to attend.

It was confirmed there is a Recruitment event in Sussex on the 25^th of March where a session on the benefits of the pension will be given.

The Sussex Federation representative confirmed that it was a standing item on the agenda for the new recruitment induction, and that he was trying to get it included in the Freshers fair that the Treasurer is currently organising, the Pensions Team would be invited to attend to advertise the scheme.

The Surrey Federation Representative confirmed they were doing all they could to promote the scheme but that the cost of living was having an impact on officer decisions.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

6

Employee Side Feedback:

The Pensions Team are carrying out some analysis on opt outs, they have had a report for Sussex and are just running the report for Surrey which they will be sharing with the Board.  The opt out survey that was completed last year has encouraged a national survey to be arranged by NPCC Pensions.  The team will be sharing the opt out data and survey format and data with the other forces on a reciprocal basis and it will be interesting to see the national trends that emerge.

XPS have also been tracking the national picture with the lowest opt out rates being about 2% and the highest being just over 10%.

It was noted that the pension is a key element of the pay the rewards package with the employer paying in 36% towards the future pension liabilities.  It was also noted that another key benefit of being a member of police officer pension scheme is that it offers death in service benefits and life and ill health insurance which can be supplied to mortgage providers to cover loan liabilities saving taking out separate policies where applicable.

The Pensions Team are putting together a presentation on the benefits of the scheme, and this will be shared with the Association representatives to share with their members.

7

Risk Register:

4.4 Sustainability of the Pension Board and Pensions Team – the Board were asked if the wanted to review the risk scoring in light of the People Services change program phase two, and the ECO single Scheme Manager review.  The Board agreed that as phase two of the program had not yet started, they needed a recommendation as to what this might look like.  This will be picked up again at the next meeting.

4.5 Immediate Detriment – as the legislation has now been published it was agreed that this item on the risk register could be removed.

Pension Saving Statements – Scheme Pays - as there had been several questions about this from scheme members about this subject should this be added to the risk register? It was noted that this could be an operational rather than an organisational risk. 

Action 2024-02: To consider the issue outside of the meeting and add to the Risk Register if appropriate.

AR, AP, JL, CG

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

8

Review of Board Policies and Procedures re EDI:

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) issued guidance last year to promote the benefits of EDI to Pension Boards. The Board Policies and Procedures had been reviewed by the Chair and slight changes made to the following:

·         Terms of Reference

·         Knowledge & Understanding

·         Code of Conduct

The amended TOR will now be sent to the Scheme Managers for their approval and all Board Policies and Procedures will come to the next meeting for their annual review.

9

Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure:

As discussed in item 4, this will now form part of the Contingent Decision process, the Policy and Procedure will be shared with the Board once it has been completed.

Action 2024-03: Share copy of Contingent Decision Policy & Procedure with the Board as soon as it becomes available

JL,CG

10

Review of Reported Breaches for Surrey & Sussex Police:

No breaches had been reported in this period.

11

Surrey/Sussex Work Plan/Timeline:

Opt outs – as discussed in item 6, this work is ongoing.

Evans & Ashcroft – the scanning project should be completed in March/April.

The annual tax workshop had been added to the Work Plan.

Guaranteed Minimum Penson Reconciliation (GMP) – still waiting for the error rate analysis for Surrey Police.

Data Scoring – preparing for the Dashboard includes measuring the data held about scheme members and including it in the annual returns, this work is ongoing.

Discretions Policy – draft policy had been issued which is to be amended following feedback but also looking at the wider picture as there is a consensus amongst the Forces that a consistent national approach is needed, this work is ongoing.

GMP Equalization – the work is ongoing.

Dashboard from the Home Office – the work is ongoing.

A question was asked regarding the newsletter that scheme members used to receive. It was confirmed that the newsletter used to be provided by Equinity.  XPS do not currently provide but can assist if required.  The P60 slips and the statements of pension increases are sent out in their 3 in 1 letter and this will include an explanation about the GMP.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

12

Pension Board Training Log:

The chair noted the new members that have completed their training and encouraged those who have yet to complete to do so before the next meeting.

13

AOB:

The chair informed the Board that this was his last meeting as the chair for this year, Kelvin Menon would be chairing in 2024/2025.  The Board thanked Iain for his professional chairing of the Board over the last year.  Iain expressed his thanks to the team who have fully supported the Board.

14

Date of next meeting:

The date of the next meeting is the 5^th of June 2024.

The Chair thanked everyone for their time.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

1

Welcomes, Apologies & Conflicts of Interest:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting, apologies had been received in advance of the meeting from Peter Appleton, Daisanne Summersfield, Adrian Rutherford, Miles Ockwell, Simon Lambert, Tim De Meyer, and Jo Shiner.  John Moyles was attending the meeting to represent Peter Appleton and Jo Banks was due to attend to represent Miles Ockwell but was unable to join due to operational commitments.

As only 7 Members of the Board were in attendance, the meeting was declared not quorate or balanced and would continue as an informal meeting and notes would be taken.

No conflicts were declared.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

2

Action 2023-15: Email the two Scheme Managers to let them know that the formal meeting had not gone ahead as planned and to ascertain if they wished the Board to hold another formal meeting in this financial year in order that they may meet their obligation of holding 4 formal public meetings a year.

IM

Minutes / Action from Previous Meeting:

The minutes were accepted as a true reflection of the meeting with no changes made.

Joint Pension Board Actions:

Action 2022-29: Work Plan - Surrey’s data is complete, Sussex’s is not yet available and is being worked on, the report will be shared outside of the Board meeting - OPEN.

CG

Action 2023-02:  XPS Quarterly Report – Amend the cases by month section of the quarterly report to say Deferred Benefits notifications, to make this clearer - no changes to the standard reports to date - OPEN.

PM

Action 2023-07:  Liaise with PM & GB to obtain a form of wording that accurately reflect the discussion, amend the minutes, and correct the attendee list prior to publication – attendee list corrected, form of words agreed with the Chair, minutes amended and published – Closed.

Action 2023-08:  Risk Area 1.5 Pension Administration Transfer - Update the Risk Register to remove this specific risk and adsorb into business as usual. – Completed - Closed

Action 2023 09 - Transfer Project Plan Closure document – a summary to be provided for the archives – Summary provided – Closed.

Action 2023-10:  Pension Administrator Summary - Concerns had been raised that if the salary showing in the portal was not correct, how could Officers have faith in the information provided?

PM explained that the salary figure within the portal came from the Scheme Year End Return, for this last financial year it would have been the salary from April 2022 to March 2023 and would include any salary increases in September 2022, so a proportion is calculated at the old rate and a proportion calculated at the new rate from September onwards. This would also include any incremental rise, which follow the date that the Officer joined or was promoted, and the date for this rise would be different for each Officer.  Therefore, figure showing in the portal is the average pensionable pay rather than the spot pay or current pay that the Officer sees on their pay slip. When the Officer accesses the portal, they can enter their current salary to see the estimated benefit calculation. 

A new system is to be introduced soon; this would allow for a monthly update to each Officers pay to be fed into the portal.  Once this system is in place, the portal will show the current cumulative pensionable pay for each person. 

PM

.

Check the FAQs on the portal and information within the User Guide to see if there is a clear explanation as to how the salary figure is calculated.  Send a link to the Board.

PM

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION / OWNER

2 Cont.

Action 2023-11:  Pension Administrator Summary - the wording to be corrected before the minutes are published – form of words agreed with the Chair and minutes published - Closed

Action 2023-12:  Report on Scheme Membership Opt Out Rates - Opt out Survey Feedback to be shared with the SAB Chair and Scheme Manager Steering Group – will be shared following the Away Day - Closed

Action 2023-13:  Report on Scheme Membership Opt Out Rates - Arrange a Pension Board Away day – Arranged for the 3^rd of October 2023 - Closed

Action 2023-14:  The training log is to be updated with the NPCC and LGA training – Log updated - Closed

3

Pension Administrator Summary:

The reports for Surrey and Sussex were reviewed. 

PM explained that there is now a new Administration Manager at XPS called Jane Webb who is responsible for producing the reports.

Process changes have taken place to allow the taxation required by the HMRC for lump sum payments that are greater than £268,275, these are taxed at the marginal rate PAYE tax amount.

XPS continue to have conversations with the NPCC around the remedy and the implementation of this and are speaking to their software providers to ascertain what they can or can’t offer in terms of automation for calculations as of the 1^st of October.

XPS have improved their breach awareness, refreshed their staff training on data management, data breach avoidance and good practice within the office.  They have also improved the ID verification process when speaking to customers.  They have also recently achieved accreditation against the Pension Administration Standards Association (PASA) Pensions Administration Standards.  There is an IT integrated function within XPS who are extremely proactive in the protection of data which includes independent penetration testing of all their websites.

All XPS staff are fully vetted by Warwickshire Police to NPPV Level 3 and there is an AAF audit which talks about and verifies their data protection processes.

XPS are moving away from using NI numbers as an identifier, each customer now has a system generated unique pension reference number and four pieces of information are required from the customer for identity verification.  It was agreed that customers needed to be aware that they were going to be asked for this additional information when contacting XPS.

The statistics in relation to people signing up to the portal had remained static, and help was requested from the Employer side Pension Board Members to actively encourage their members to sign up.  The representative were more than happy to facilitate this

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION/ OWNER

3 Cont.

Action 2023-16:  Check the website information re what customer verification information required and update if necessary.

PM

Bring a report on what XPS do in relation to data protection to the next Board meeting. 

PM

Work with the Board Members who represent the scheme membership to enable better communication and encourage sign up to the use of the portal.

PM/TB/

DM/RC

A question was raised regarding feedback received and what XPS do with this as members had given feedback via the portal but got no response.  PM confirmed that their Contact Centre do monitor the types of feedback they get, if there is a spike in feedback or queries on a particular subject they do put something on the main website in the news or latest information section www.myownpension.co.uk.  The call handlers were trained to help members set themselves up on the portal using the verification the member had received and can see the portal from the member side to assist with each step if necessary.  XPS are keen to promote the digital first approach as there were benefits to both sides.

Common data - Members with a fail rate of 91.19% for Surrey and 96.22% for Sussex, it is unclear if this is a legacy data issue, discussions were ongoing with the software provider Haywoods who will be providing a service looking at mortality screening, address cleansing and proof of life certificates based on biometrics.  It was confirmed that information on Scheme Members is submitted to the National Fraud Database every two years, anyone who appears on their list, as potentially may have passed, but are still in receipt of a pension, are investigated individually.

Performance – The scores for Surrey and Sussex were very similar, the process time for general queries and estimate times had fallen in the last quarter.  It was confirmed that the priority within the XPS team was to process the benefit payments to scheme members on time and correctly.  As general queries and estimates did not have a payment attached to them, and due to spikes in the workload, these types of queries sometimes took a back seat.

The Police Pensions Team confirmed it is looking at what recourse they have under the contract when KPI targets are not met consistently.

Complaints – the process for reporting a death in service was discussed, PM confirmed there is a 5-day turnaround for this and there are processes and forms in place to make this as quick and efficient process as possible, but that XPS were reliant on receiving the relevant information in a timely manner.

Action 2023-17:  To review the internal process and procedure re Death in Service to see if any improvements can be made.

JL/CG/CH

Benefit Statements – these had been issued on time and were available online and communications had been sent out.  There had been an issue with some of the statements which weren’t showing correctly, they were not wrong just didn’t have the full information on them, this had been logged with Haywoods and new statements would be issued to those effected.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION/ OWNER

3 Cont.

A question was asked whether the statements issued met the legal obligation in terms of advice, the written content that is meant to accompany an annual benefit statement, not just the financial figures that are conveyed.

Action 2023-18:  Check the disclosure regulations and the Pensions Regulator information to see what should be included with the annual benefit statement against what is published on the website and feed back to the Board

PM

Evans & Ashcroft – CG confirmed that for Sussex it is complete, the information had been correct and there had been no overpayments.  For Surrey they were still waiting for a bit more information for a few members.  It was confirmed that there is now a baseline of information held but there is a danger it would fall into disrepair if it were not properly maintained.  Are the Pensions Team still reliant on the scheme members informing them of any changes to benefits received?

Action 2023-19:  Baseline information - To investigate the process and report back to the Board

CG

The scanning process is making good progress No decision had yet been made regarding any files whereby the scans don’t reveal any further information, but it had been reassuring that Sussex’s had revealed no overpayments.

4

Employee Side Feedback:

This was a new topic on the agenda to enable the Scheme Member representative to give oral feedback to the Board at each meeting. 

It was felt that scheme members were submitting feedback into the portal but not getting a response.  PM confirmed that this feedback generated an email into the Contact Centre and the number of emails has grown significantly recently, mainly due to communication going out around pensions.  More people within the team were now working on the emails and the backlog should reduce in a very short space of time.

The Surrey Federation is working to increase engagement with officers, promoting the importance of the scheme - a market stall is to be set up in the Surrey Police HQ Canteen and the Pensions Team have agreed to come along and answer any queries on the day.

Surrey NARPO scheme members had been generally very positive regarding the service XPS were providing but there had been two cases recently regarding widows’ pensions that had appeared not to have been resolved in a timely manner.  PM confirmed that no formal complaint had been recorded by XPS in either case and both were now resolved, any dissatisfaction about a particular topic whether through social media or via the Contact Centre were responded to as quickly and compassionately as possible, but to link him in on any cases the Board representative became aware of.  As XPS were now out of the ‘honeymoon period’ expectations of the scheme members would be higher.

The agreed system for monthly NARPO subscription payments and the signing up of new members was working very well, the whole process had been streamlined and a vast improvement on the old method.

5

Risk and Issue Register:

The Board reviewed the Risk Register. As we are still waiting for the Remedy legislation to be published, no changes were made at this time.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION/ OWNER

6

Surrey/Sussex Police Pensions 2023 Internal Audit Report:

An Internal Audit review of the pensions contract management processes had been undertaken by Southern Internal Audit Partnership.  The report gave the highest rating of assurance (Substantial) with no management actions or areas for improvement identified.  The Police Pensions Team were thanked for the hard work that they completed prior to the contact being issued.

7

Away day:

The date for the Pension Board Away day was confirmed as the 3^rd of October and the agenda for the day was reviewed.  The Chair confirmed the focus of the day would be The Pensions Regulator (TPR) EDI overview and guidance and TPR information on the Dashboard. Representatives from TPR office had been invited to attend the day.  A representative from the NPCC would also be attending to give an update on the current Remedy situation.

8

Pension Remedy:

The Board noted the update paper, a question was asked re the flyer for retired officers which is being created by the NPCC.  A draft version of the flyer had been shared recently with the NARPO representative and this had raised some concerns, the flyer appeared to contain misleading information and assume a certain level of knowledge that some scheme members may not possess, it was felt that this would lead to many mores queries if the flyer was not more explicit.  It was confirmed that this feedback had been passed to the NPCC.

9

Review of Reported Breaches:

No breaches had been reported in the last quarter.  It was confirmed that any FOI requests were dealt with by either the Surrey or Sussex FOI Teams, depending on which organisation had received the original request.  The Police and Crime Commissioner’s office for either Surrey or Sussex would respond to any requests received by them in relation to pension forfeitures.

10

Work Plan:

The Board noted the plan, it was confirmed that the subject of the GMP equalization had been discussed at the National NARPO meeting, the consensus from other NARPO Representative from across the country had been that remedy had taken the priority over GMP.

11

Budged Expenditure Report:

The Board noted the report which recommended a small increase in the Board’s budget for conferences, training and expenses in the next financial year, the Board accepted the recommendation.

Action 2023-20: Discuss the Budget for 2024/2025 outside of this meeting.

JM/DS

12

Annual Report to SAB:

It was confirmed that the Annual report on the work of the Board had been approved by the Scheme Manager and sent to the Scheme Advisory Board Chair at the end of July as required.

ITEM

NOTES

ACTION/ OWNER

13

Pension Board Training:

The log was reviewed. There were no updates to add. The awareness training on EDI and Dashboards will be added to the log following the Away day.

14

AOB:

None

15

Date of next meeting:

The next meeting was confirmed as the 30^th of November 2023 and that the meetings would continue to be held on Teams for the time being.

Agenda

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey Police & Sussex Police

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Thursday 26^th June 2025

Time:

14:00 – 16:00

Name

Initial

Role

Meeting Chair:

Iain McCulloch

IM

CFO, Office of the Sussex PCC

Board Members:

Kelvin Menon

KM

CFO, Office of the Surrey PCC

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director Commercial & Financial Services

Angela Packebusch

AP

People Services Operations Manager, Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Forensics, Surrey & Sussex Police

Matt Barcraft-Barnes

MBB

Superintendent’s Association, Surrey Police

Stuart Hale

SH

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Daren Pemble

DP

Federation, Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

DC

Federation, Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

SL

NARPO, Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO, Sussex

Substitute:

Scheme Managers:

Tim De Meyer

TDM

Chief Constable, Surrey Police

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable, Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Jo Langley

JL

Joint Pension Team, Surrey & Sussex Police

Judith Sarpong

JS

Shelia Love

SL

Isobel Tait

IT

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado

RHD

Head of Financial Accounting, Surrey & Sussex Police

Natalie Bevan

NB

Senior Client Relationship Manager, XPS

Graeme Hall

GH

Head of Public Sector Relations, XPS

Kevin Shiel

KS

Head of Public Sector Business Development, XPS

Minutes:

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager, OPCC

Guests

Ian Clarke

TA

IC

Head of People Operations

Member of the public and scheme member

Apologies:

Raff Cioffi, Shelia Love & TA

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·                Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate.

·                Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·                Conflicts of Interest

Chair

2

Pension Administrator Summary (25 minutes)

XPS quarterly update report to the Board to include

· Data & Dashboards Update

· Scheme Opt out stats

· Data Protection

Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Verbal

NB/GH

All

3

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (10 minutes)

To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

4

Pension Team Update and Remedy Update (25 minutes)

Update & Remedy:

·  Update Surrey & Sussex Police

·  Scheme Sanction Charges

·  Contingent Decisions/quarterly requests

·  NPCC Police Pension Bulletins & Tax information

·  Ill Health Reviews

·  RSS Return/Issuance Plan

·  Compensation Claims

·  Reported Breaches

·  I-Connect

·  Pensions Dashboard

·  National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

Workplan:

·  Review of upcoming quarter

·  GAD valuation 2024 Data Specification

·  Annual Tax Workshops

Paper

JS

5

Employee representative feedback (10 minutes)

·         Employee side representatives to feedback on activities to encourage membership of pension scheme and reduce opt outs.

·         Member feedback on administration of the scheme

Verbal

Employee Reps

6

Risk Register (10 minutes)

·           Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

7

Annual Review of Board Policies and Procedures (10 minutes):

a)     Terms of Reference 

b)     Conflict of Interest Policy & Procedure 

c)     Knowledge & Understanding Policy 

d)     DP, GDPR & information Security Policy & Procedure 

e)     Code of Conduct 

f)      Reporting Breaches Policy & Procedure 

g)    Budget, Fees & Expenses Policy & Procedure 

Papers

Chair

8

Pension Board Training (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

9

AOB (5 minutes)

Parliamentary Questions

Letter from Torsten Bell MP, Minister for Pensions

NARPO Recruitment Letter

Paper

Attached

Verbal

Chair

GB

10

Date of next meeting – 1^st October 2025

Verbal

Chair

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey & Sussex Police

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Wednesday 12^th March 2025

Time:

11:00 – 13:00

Name

Initial

Role

Meeting Chair:

Kelvin Menon

KM

CFO, Office of the Surrey PCC

Board Members:

Iain McCulloch

IM

CFO, Office of the Sussex PCC

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director Commercial & Financial Services

Angela Packebusch

AP

People Services Operations Manager, Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Forensics, Surrey & Sussex Police

Matt Barcraft-Barnes

MBB

Superintendent’s Association, Surrey Police

Stuart Hale

SH

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Daren Pemble

DP

Federation, Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

DC

Federation, Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

SL

NARPO, Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO, Sussex

Substitute:

Scheme Managers:

Tim De Meyer

TDM

Chief Constable, Surrey Police

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable, Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Judith Sarpong

JS

Joint Pension Team, Surrey & Sussex Police

Shelia Love

SL

Isobel Tait

IT

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado

RHD

Head of Financial Accounting, Surrey & Sussex Police

Natalie Bevan

NB

Senior Client Relationship Manager, XPS

Graeme Hall

GH

Head of Public Sector Relations, XPS

Kevin Shiel

KS

Head of Public Sector Business Development, XPS

Minutes:

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager, OPCC

Guests

Ian Clarke

Julia Mulligan

IC

JM

Head of People Operations

Scheme Advisory Board

Apologies:

CC Jo Shiner & Carwyn Hughes

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·                Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate.

·                Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·                Conflicts of Interest

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (5 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

3

Pension Administrator Summary (25 minutes)

·           XPS quarterly update report to the Board

·           Data & Dashboards Update

·           Scheme Opt out stats

·           Data Protection

·           Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Verbal

NB/GH

All

4

Pension Team Update and Remedy Update (30 minutes)

Update & Remedy:

·      National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

·      Update Surrey & Sussex Police

·      Scheme Sanction Charges

·      Contingent Decisions/quarterly requests

·      NPCC Police Pension Bulletins & Tax information

·      Ill Health Reviews

·      RSS Return/Issuance Plan

·      Compensation Claims

·      Reported Breaches

Workplan:

·      Review of upcoming quarter

·      GAD valuation 2024 Data Specification

·      Annual Tax Workshops

Paper

JS

5

Scheme Membership (5 minutes)

Employee side representatives to feedback on activities to encourage membership of pension scheme and reduce opt outs.

Verbal

Employee Reps

6

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board.

Verbal

Employee Reps

7

Risk Register (5 minutes)

·           Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

8

Pension Board Training (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

9

AOB (5 minutes)

Verbal

Chair

10

Date of next meeting – 26^th June 2025

Verbal

Chair

Agenda

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey Police & Sussex Police

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Wednesday 4th December 2024

Time:

11:00 – 13:00

Name

Initial

Role

Meeting Chair:

Kelvin Menon

KM

CFO, Office of the Surrey PCC

Board Members:

Iain McCulloch

IM

CFO, Office of the Sussex PCC

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director Commercial & Financial Services

Angela Packebusch

AP

People Services Operations Manager, Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Forensics, Surrey & Sussex Police

Matt Barcraft-Barnes

MBB

Superintendent’s Association, Surrey Police

Miles Ockwell

MO

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Daren Pemble

DP

Federation, Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

DC

Federation, Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

SL

NARPO, Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO, Sussex

Substitute:

Stuart Green

Ian Clarke

SG

IC

Federation, Surrey Police (substitute for DP)

Head of People Operations (substitute for AR)

Scheme Managers:

Tim De Meyer

TDM

Chief Constable, Surrey Police

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable, Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Judith Sarpong

JS

Joint Pension Team, Surrey & Sussex Police

Shelia Love

SL

Isobel Tait

IT

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado

RHD

Head of Financial Accounting, Surrey & Sussex Police

Natalie Bevan

NB

Senior Client Relationship Manager, XPS

Graeme Hall

GH

Head of Public Sector Relations, XPS

Kevin Shiel

KS

Head of Public Sector Business Development, XPS

Minutes:

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager, OPCC

Guests

Apologies:

Adrian Rutherford, Miles Ockwell, CC Tim De Meyer, CC Jo Shiner, Darren Pemble, Jo Langley & Graeme Hall.

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·                Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate.

·                Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·                Conflicts of Interest

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (5 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

3

Pension Administrator Summary (25 minutes)

·           XPS quarterly update report to the Board

·           Data & Dashboards Update

·           Scheme Opt out stats

·           Data Protection

·           Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Verbal

NB/GH

All

4

Pension Remedy (30 minutes)

Update:

·      National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

·      Update Surrey & Sussex Police

·      Scheme Sanction Charges

·      Contingent Decisions

·      NPCC Police Pension Bulletins & Tax information

·      Ill Health Reviews

·      RSS Return

Workplan:

·      Review of upcoming quarter

·      GAD valuation 2024 Data Specification

·      Annual Tax Workshops

Paper

JS

5

Scheme Membership (5 minutes)

Employee side representatives to feedback on activities to encourage membership of pension scheme and reduce opt outs.

Verbal

Employee Reps

6

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board.

Verbal

Employee Reps

7

Risk Register (5 minutes)

·           Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

8

Review of Reported Breaches for Surrey & Sussex (5 minutes)

Verbal

JS

9

Pension Board Training Log (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

10

AOB (5 minutes)

Verbal

Chair

11

Date of next meeting – 12/03/2025

Verbal

Chair

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey & Sussex Police

Name:

Surrey and Sussex Police - Joint Pensions Board (Officer)

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Wednesday 16^th of September 2024

Time:

14:00 – 16:00

Meeting Chair:

Kelvin Menon

CFO

Office of the Surrey PCC

Name

Initials

Role

Board Members:

Iain McCulloch

KM

CFO, Office of the Sussex PCC

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director Commercial & Financial Services

Angela Packebusch

AP

People Services Operations Manager, Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Forensics, Surrey & Sussex Police

Matt Barcraft-Barnes

MBB

Superintendent’s Association, Surrey Police

Miles Ockwell

MO

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Daren Pemble

DP

Federation, Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

DE

Federation, Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

TS

NARPO, Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO, Sussex

Scheme Manager

Tim De Meyer

GS

Chief Constable, Surrey Police

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable, Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Jo Langley

JL

Pensions Technical Lead, Surrey & Sussex Police

Chloe Cook-Richardson

CCR

Pensions Technical Lead, Surrey & Sussex Police

Osei Sarpong

OS

Pensions Technical Lead, Surrey & Sussex Police

Shelia Love

SL

Pensions Lead for Surrey & Sussex Police, Engagement, Projects & Relationship Management

Isobel Tait

IT

Pensions Project Support Officer, Surrey & Sussex Police

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado

RHD

Head of Financial Accounting, Surrey & Sussex Police

Natalie Bevan

NB

Senior Client Relationship Manager, XPS

Graeme Hall

GH

Head of Public Sector Relations, XPS

Minutes:

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager, OPCC Surrey

Guests

Apologies:

CC Jo Shiner, Adrian Rutherford, Tim De Meyer.

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·                Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate.

·                Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·                Conflicts of Interest

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (5 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

3

Pension Team – Introduction to new team members and plan (5 minutes)

Verbal

AP

4

Pension Administrator Summary (30 minutes)

·           XPS quarterly update report to the Board

·           Data & Dashboards Update

·           Data Protection

·           Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Verbal

NB/GH

All

5

Pension Remedy Update & Workplan (30 minutes)

Update:

·      National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

·      Update Surrey & Sussex Police

·      Scheme Sanction Charges

·      NPCC Police Pension & Tax Information

·      Ill Health Reviews

Workplan:

·      Review of upcoming quarter

·      GAD Valuation 2024 Data Specification

·      Annual Tax Workshops

Paper

AP/JL

6

Scheme Membership (5 minutes)

Employee side representatives to feedback on activities to encourage membership of pension scheme and reduce opt outs.

Verbal

Employee Reps

7

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board.

Verbal

Employee Reps

8

Risk Register (5 minutes)

·           Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

9

Joint Pension Board Annual Report (5 minutes)

Paper

IM

10

Review of Reported Breaches for Surrey & Sussex (5 minutes)

Verbal

JL

11

Pension Board Training Log (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

12

AOB (5 minutes)

Verbal

Chair

13

Date of next meeting – 4/12/2024

Verbal

Chair

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey & Sussex Police

Name:

Surrey and Sussex Police - Joint Pensions Board (Officer)

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Wednesday 5 June 2024

Time:

13:00 – 15:00

Meeting Chair:

Name

Initials

Role

Board Members:

Iain McCulloch

KM

CFO, Office of the Sussex PCC

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director Commercial & Financial Services

Angela Packebusch

AP

People Services Operations Manager, Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Digital, Data & Technology Department Surrey & Sussex Police

Matt Barcraft-Barnes

MBB

Superintendent’s Association, Surrey Police

Miles Ockwell

MO

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Darren Pemble

DP

Federation, Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

DE

Federation, Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

TS

NARPO, Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO, Sussex

Scheme Manager

Tim De Meyer

GS

Chief Constable, Surrey Police

Scheme Manager

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable, Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Jo Langley

JL

Pensions Technical Lead

Shelia Love

SL

Pensions Lead for Surrey & Sussex Police, Engagement, Projects & Relationship Management

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado

RHD

Head of Financial Accounting, Surrey and Sussex Police

Shelia Love

SL

Pensions Lead for Surrey & Sussex Police, Engagement, Projects & Relationship Management

Isobel Tait

IT

Pensions Project Support Officer

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado

RHD

Accountant, Surrey and Sussex Police

Paul Mudd

PM

XPS

Minutes:

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager, OPCC Surrey

Guests

CC Jo Shiner, Peter Appleton, Carwyn Hughes, CC Tim De Meyer, Jo Langley & Iain McCulloch

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·            Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate.

·            Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·            Conflicts of Interest

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (5 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

3

Pension Administrator Summary (25 minutes)

·         XPS quarterly update report to the Board

·         Data & Dashboards Update

·         Data Protection

·         Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Paper

Verbal

Verbal

PM

All

4

Pension Remedy (10 minutes)

·     National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

·     Update Surrey & Sussex Police

·     Scheme Sanction Charges

·     Ill Health Reviews

·     NPCC Police Pension Bulletin 7

Paper

Paper

AP

Chair

5

Scheme Membership (5 minutes)

Employee side representatives to feedback on activities to encourage membership of pension scheme and reduce opt outs.

Verbal

Employee Reps

6

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board.

Verbal

Employee Reps

7

Risk Register (5 minutes)

·         Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

8

The Pension Regulator – New Code of Practice (5 minutes)

Verbal

Chair

9

Annual Review of Board Policies and Procedures (15 minutes)

1.          Terms of Reference

2.          Conflict of Interest Policy & Procedure

3.          Knowledge & Understanding Policy

4.          DP, GDPR & information Security Policy & Procedure

5.          Code of Conduct

6.          Reporting Breaches Policy & Procedure

7.          Budget, Fees & Expenses Policy & Procedure

Papers

Chair

10

Contingent Decisions & Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (10 minutes)

Paper

AP

11

Review of Reported Breaches for Surrey & Sussex (5 minutes)

Verbal

AP

12

Surrey/Sussex Work Plan/Timeline (5 minutes)

·         Review of upcoming quarter

·         GAD Valuation 2024 Data Specification

·         Annual Tax Workshops

Paper

AP

13

Pension Board Training Log (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

14

AOB (5 minutes)

Verbal

Chair

15

Date of next meeting – 16/09/2024

Verbal

Chair

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey & Sussex Police

Name:

Surrey and Sussex Police - Joint Pensions Board (Officer)

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Friday 7 March 2024

Time:

10:00 – 12:00

Meeting Chair:

Iain McCulloch

CFO

Office of the Sussex PCC

Name

Initials

Role

Board Members:

Kelvin Menon

KM

CFO, Office of the Surrey PCC

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director Commercial & Financial Services

Angela Packebusch

AP

People Services Operations Manager, Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Digital, Data & Technology Department Surrey & Sussex Police

Matt Barcraft-Barnes

MBB

Superintendent’s Association, Surrey Police

Miles Ockwell

MO

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Danielle Mead

DE

Federation, Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

DE

Federation, Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

TS

NARPO, Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO, Sussex

Scheme Manager

Tim De Meyer

GS

Chief Constable, Surrey Police

Scheme Manager

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable, Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Jo Langley

JL

Pensions Technical Lead

Cassidy Gillett

CG

Pensions Technical Lead

Michelle Quirke

MQ

Pensions Officer

Shelia Love

SL

Pensions Lead for Surrey & Sussex Police, Engagement, Projects & Relationship Management

Isobel Tait

IT

Pensions Project Support Officer

Ricardo Herrera-Delgado

RHD

Accountant, Surrey and Sussex Police

Paul Mudd

PM

XPS

Minutes:

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager, OPCC Surrey

Guests

Apologies:

CC Jo Shiner, Shelia Love, Peter Appleton, Carwyn Hughes, CC Tim De Meyer,  

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·                Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate.

·                Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·                Conflicts of Interest

·                Completion of Conflict of Interest Forms

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (5 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

3

Pension Administrator Summary (25 minutes)

·           XPS quarterly update report to the Board

·           Data & Dashboards Update

·           Data Protection

·           Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Paper

Paper

Verbal

PM

All

4

Pension Remedy (10 minutes)

·      National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

·      Update Surrey & Sussex Police

·      Scheme Sanction Charges

·      NPCC Police Pension Bulletin 4

·      Ill Health Reviews

Paper

Paper

Paper

Paper

Paper

JL

JL

JL/SL

Chair

LM

5

Scheme Membership (5 minutes)

Employee side representatives to feedback on activities to encourage membership of pension scheme and reduce opt outs.

Verbal

Employee Reps

6

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board.

Verbal

Employee Reps

7

Risk Register (5 minutes)

·           Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

8

Review of Board Policies and Procedures re EDI (5 minutes)

Board to formally adopt the updates to the following documents.

·        TOR

·        Conflict of Interest

·        Knowledge & understanding

Paper

Paper

Paper

Chair

9

Internal Dispute Resolution Procedure (5 Minutes)

Board to approve new procedure

Paper

CG

10

Review of Reported Breaches for Surrey & Sussex (5 minutes)

Verbal

CG

11

Surrey/Sussex Work Plan/Timeline (10 minutes)

·           Review of upcoming quarter

·           GAD Valuation 2024 Data Specification

·           Annual Tax Workshops

Paper

CG

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

12

Pension Board Training Log (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

13

AOB (5 minutes)

Handover to Chair for 2024/2025

Verbal

Chair/all

13

Date of next meeting – 12/06/2024

Verbal

Chair

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey & Sussex Police

Name:

Surrey and Sussex Police - Joint Pensions Board (Officer)

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Friday 15^th December (Replacement Meeting)

Time:

13:00 – 15:00

Meeting Chair

Iain McCulloch

IM

Chief Finance Officer

Office of the PCC for Sussex

Board Members:

Kelvin Menon

KM

Chief Finance Officer

Office of the PCC for Surrey

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director, Commercial & Financial Services

Surrey and Sussex Police

Daisanne Summersfield

DS

Head of Shared Business Services

Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services

Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Digital, Data & Technology Dept

Surrey & Sussex Police

Tom Budd

TB

Superintendent’s Association

Surrey Police

Miles Ockwell

MO

Superintendent’s Association

Sussex Police

Danielle Mead

DM

Federation

Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

RC

Federation

Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

SL

NARPO

Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO

Sussex

Scheme Manager

Tim De Meyer

TDM

Chief Constable

Surrey Police

Scheme Manager

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable

Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Jo Langley

JL

Pensions Technical Lead

Surrey & Sussex Police

Cassidy Gillett

CG

Pensions Technical Lead

Surrey & Sussex Police

Michelle Quirke

MQ

Pension Officer

Surrey & Sussex Police

Shelia Love

SL

Pensions Lead, Police, Engagement, Projects & Relationship Management

Surrey & Sussex Police

Isobel Tait

IT

Pension Support Officer

Surrey & Sussex Police

Louise Monk

LM

Case Officer, Occupational Heath

Surrey & Sussex Police

Paul Mudd

PM

Governance & Communication Manager

XPS

Minutes

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager

Office of the PCC for Surrey

Guests:

Angela Packebusch

AP

Head of Shared Business Services Surrey & Sussex Police

Surrey & Sussex Police

Jo Banks

JB

Change Delivery

Surrey & Sussex Police

Apologies:

CC Jo Shiner, Shelia Love, Daisanne Summersfield, Miles Ockwell, Angela Packebusch, Louise Monk.

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·                Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate.

·                Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·                Conflicts of Interest

Verbal

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (5 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

3

Pension Administrator Summary (40 minutes)

·           Cyber Security & Business Continuity

·           Update since last meeting

·           Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Presentation

Verbal

Verbal

PM

PM

All

4

Review of Board TOR & Governing Policies & Procedures considering TPR EDI guidance (50 minutes)

·         Terms Of Reference

·         Conflict of Interest Policy & Procedure

·         Knowledge & Understanding

·         Code of Conduct

Papers

Chair

5

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

The Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board which can include feedback from their members and activities they have undertaken to promote the pension scheme with their membership

Verbal

Employee Reps

6

AOB (5 minutes)

Verbal

All

7

Date of next meeting – 07/03/2024

Verbal

Chair

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey & Sussex Police

Name:

Surrey and Sussex Police - Joint Pensions Board (Officer)

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Thursday 30^th November 2023

Time:

10am to 12 noon

Meeting Chair

Iain McCulloch

IM

Chief Finance Officer

Office of the PCC for Sussex

Board Members:

Kelvin Menon

KM

Chief Finance Officer

Office of the PCC for Surrey

Peter Appleton

PA

Executive Director, Commercial & Financial Services

Surrey and Sussex Police

Daisanne Summersfield

DS

Head of Shared Business Services

Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services

Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Digital, Data & Technology Dept

Surrey & Sussex Police

Tom Budd

TB

Superintendent’s Association

Surrey Police

Miles Ockwell

MO

Superintendent’s Association

Sussex Police

Danielle Mead

DM

Federation

Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

RC

Federation

Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

SL

NARPO

Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO

Sussex

Scheme Manager

Tim De Meyer

TDM

Chief Constable

Surrey Police

Scheme Manager

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable

Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Jo Langley

JL

Pensions Technical Lead

Surrey & Sussex Police

Cassidy Gillett

CG

Pensions Technical Lead

Surrey & Sussex Police

Michelle Quirke

MQ

Pension Officer

Surrey & Sussex Police

Shelia Love

SL

Pensions Lead, Police, Engagement, Projects & Relationship Management

Surrey & Sussex Police

Isobel Tait

IT

Pension Support Officer

Surrey & Sussex Police

Louise Monk

LM

Case Officer, Occupational Heath

Surrey & Sussex Police

Paul Mudd

PM

XPS

Minutes

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager

Office of the PCC for Surrey

Guests:

Angela Packebusch

AP

Head of Shared Business Services Surrey & Sussex Police

Surrey & Sussex Police

Apologies:

Cassidy Gillett, CC Jo Shiner, CC Tim De Meyer, Louise Monk, Daisanne Summersfield, Jo Langley & Danielle Mead.

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)   

·                Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate

·                Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·                Conflicts of Interest

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (5 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

·  Reflections and actions from Away Day

Paper

Paper

Oral

Chair

3

The Pension Regulator EDI Overview & Guidance (45 minutes)

Presentation

LG

4

Pension Administrator Summary (15 minutes)

·           XPS quarterly update report to the Board

·           Data & Dashboard Update

·           Data Protection

·           Annual Benefit Statement Update

·           Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Oral

Oral

PM

PM

All

5

Pension Remedy (10 minutes)

·      National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

·      Update Surrey & Sussex Police

·      Ill Health Reviews

Paper

SL

6

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board which can include feedback from their members and activities they have undertaken to promote the pension scheme with their membership

Verbal

Employee Reps

7

Risk Register (5 minutes)

·           Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

8

Review of Reported Breaches for Surrey & Sussex (5 minutes)

Verbal

MQ

9

Surrey/Sussex Work Plan / Timeline (5 minutes)

·           Review of upcoming quarter

·           XPS Report - Evans & Ashcroft Injury Review (Sussex)

Paper

MQ

10

Pension Board Training Log (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

11

AOB (5 minutes)

Verbal

All

12

Date of next meeting – 15/12/2023

Verbal

Chair

Department/ Division:

Pensions Dept. Surrey & Sussex Police

Name:

Surrey and Sussex Police - Joint Pensions Board (Officer)

Location of meeting:

Via Microsoft Teams

Date:

Wednesday 6 September 2023

Time:

10am to 12 noon

Meeting Chair:

Iain McCulloch

CFO

Office of the Sussex PCC

Attendees:

Name

Initials

Role

Board Members:

Kelvin Menon

KM

CFO, Office of the Surrey PCC

Peter Appleton

Executive Director Commercial & Financial Services

Daisanne Summersfield

DS

Head of Shared Business Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Adrian Rutherford

AR

Director of People Services, Surrey & Sussex Police

Carwyn Hughes

CH

Head of Digital, Data & Technology Department Surrey & Sussex Police

Tom Budd

TB

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Miles Ockwell

MO

Superintendent’s Association, Sussex Police

Danielle Mead

DE

Federation, Surrey Police

Raff Cioffi

DE

Federation, Sussex Police

Simon Lambert

TS

NARPO, Surrey

Graham Bradley

GB

NARPO, Sussex

Scheme Manager

Tim De Meyer

GS

Chief Constable, Surrey Police

Scheme Manager

Jo Shiner

JS

Chief Constable, Sussex Police

Board Advisors:

Jo Langley

JL

Pensions Technical Lead, Surrey

Cassidy Gillett

CG

Pensions Lead, Surrey

Michelle Quirke

MQ

Pensions Officer

Shelia Love

SL

Pensions Lead for Surrey & Sussex Police, Engagement, Projects & Relationship Management

Isobel Tait

IT

Pensions Project Support Officer

Paul Mudd

PM

XPS

Minutes:

Rachel Lupanko

RL

Office Manager, OPCC Surrey

Guests

Apologies:

Adrian Rutherford, Shelia Love, Daisanne Summersfield, Peter Appleton, Miles Ockwell, Jo Shiner & Tim De Meyer

Part 1 – Open Session

Item

Owner

1

Introduction and Apologies (5 minutes)    

·              Declaration by the Chair that the meeting is quorate

·              Apologies for absence and welcome to Guests

·              Conflicts of Interest

Chair

2

Minutes / Actions from Previous Meetings (15 minutes)

·  To agree the minutes and actions of previous meetings

·  Progress on actions log

Paper

Paper

Chair

3

Pension Administrator Summary (20 minutes)

·          XPS quarterly update report to the Board

·          Annual Benefit Statement Update

·          Additional comments and queries raised by exception

Paper

Verbal

Verbal

PM

4

Employee side feedback (10 minutes)

Chair would like to seek feedback from Federation Reps, Superintendent Reps & NARPO on items of interest to the Board which can include feedback from their members and activities they have undertaken to promote the pension scheme with their membership

Verbal

Employee Reps

5

Risk Register (10 minutes)

·          Review of Risk Register

Paper

Chair

6

Surrey/Sussex Police Pensions 2023 Internal Audit Report (5 minutes)

Verbal

CG

7

Awayday (5 minutes)

·       Draft Agenda

Paper

Chair

8

Pension Remedy (15 minutes)

·      National Update NPCC Scheme Managers Steering Group & Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) Updates

·     Update Surrey & Sussex Police

Paper

JL

9

Review of Reported Breaches for Surrey & Sussex (5 minutes)

Verbal

CG

10

Surrey/Sussex Work Plan / Timeline (10 minutes)

·          Review of upcoming quarter

·          XPS Report - Evans & Ashcroft Injury Review (Sussex)

Paper

CG

11

Budget Expenditure Report 2022/2023 (5 minutes)

Paper

RL

12

Annual Report to SAB (5 minutes)

Paper

KM

13

Pension Board Training Log (5 minutes)

Paper

Chair

14

AOB (5 minutes)

Verbal

All

15

Date of next meeting – 30/11/2023

Verbal

Chair