Pension Board - Monday 24 November 2025, 10:00am - Tower Hamlets Council webcasts

Pension Board
Monday, 24th November 2025 at 10:00am 

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  1. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  2. Cllr Sabina Akhtar
  3. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  4. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  5. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  6. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  7. Mr Joel West
  8. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  9. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  10. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  11. Mr Joel West
  12. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  13. Cllr James King
  14. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  15. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  16. Cllr Sabina Akhtar
  17. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  18. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  19. Cllr Sabina Akhtar
  20. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  21. Mr Matthew Mannion
  22. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  23. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  24. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  25. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  26. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  27. Cllr Sabina Akhtar
  28. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  29. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  30. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  31. Cllr Sabina Akhtar
  32. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  33. Cllr Shafi Ahmed
  34. Webcast Finished

Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:00:00
Right, good morning, everyone, and welcome to this pension board meeting.
My name is John Jones, the independent chair of the board, and I will be chairing the meeting
today.
This meeting is being webcast live on the council's website as well.
Just to begin, our last board members present to introduce yourselves, and can you also
Please state any declarations of interest you may have in any agenda items and the nature of the interest if that applies
So just going around so David
I thought my voice was
Cllr Sabina Akhtar - 0:00:47
Good morning again, everybody. My name is David Thompson. I'm a retired and deferred pension fund member and
And thank you.
I have no conflicts, Chair.
Thank you.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:01:01
And in the room we have Claudia Johnson.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Claudia Johnson.
I'm deputising for Duane Brown this morning.
I'm the manager for the financial assessment team.
And I have no declaration of interest.
Thank you, Claudia, and welcome.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:01:20
And on the screen we've got Anneke.
Good morning all, my name is Nnekat Oroghe, I'm a senior solicitor in the Lido team of
the Town complex and I represent the employees. I have nothing to declare.
Alright thank you and John Grey?
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:01:39
John Grey, apologies again for not being there in person. I represent a fitted body, employees,
and I make my usual declaration about being the World Trade Union rep on the London Sid,
and the executive member of the LAS.
Thank you.
Thank you, John.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:02:10
So that's that.
So moving on then, apologies for absence.
Have we got any apologies, Varna?
Mr Joel West - 0:02:20
Yes, Chair, we've had apologies for absence from Annette McKenna.
Thank you.
We'll record that.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:02:26
Item 2, declarations of interest, we've just covered.
Item 3 are the unrestricted minutes of our last meeting on the 15th of September which
are on the first agenda pack that was sent out.
So what I'll do is just take these page by page.
So if anyone's got any questions or comments, please signal.
So it's page 9.
Page 10.
Obviously we've got Colin with us here today.
Page 11.
Page 12.
We've got the risk register on in a moment, haven't we?
Page 13.
.
.
Item 6.
4, the first bullet point there should
say 1st of December, not 31st of December.
So that's the first bullet point, is it?
So first, first, not 31st.
Yeah, okay, thank you
Page 14
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:03:42
And then we've got training on a bit later on page 15
Page 16 and
page
17
Can we agree the minutes then please?
Yeah, yeah, everyone happy on the room. Yeah. Thank you
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:04:10
So that takes us on to item 4 submission from fund members.
I'm not aware of any.
No, chair.
Mr Joel West - 0:04:17
No submissions received.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:04:20
And item 5 is submissions responses from the pensions committee.
I can just tell the board that after the last meeting I attended the last pensions committee
and introduced the paper that I brief report I wrote and there were some questions and comments but
I think they were quite pleased to receive our views so that takes us on to item six but before
that I can just welcome councillor Ahmed joining us could you to introduce yourself briefly I know
Cllr James King - 0:04:56
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:05:01
you've just walked. Thank you. So item 6 .1 is Pension Fund risk register which is
on the second is on the first supplementary agenda so if we could turn
to that and I think over to Paul if you'd like to highlight any issues for
us please. Thank you chair. This is the same risk register that went to the last meeting and
and offices currently updating the register, working on it,
and it requires quite a bit of work done to it,
and that's been done in consultation
with a colleague in the room,
but more work needs to be done on it,
and it will be brought to a future meeting
of this board once that work is complete but it's still work in progress so there's nothing
else to add but happy to take any questions thank you okay any questions comments david
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:06:12
Cllr Sabina Akhtar - 0:06:16
yes chair i hear there is work in progress but just to reiterate i think at least three times
that we've said for reassurance at this board we need a translation of what will be done
the mitigations to turn anything which is red or amber into yellow or green.
We need to have the oversight of the actions that will take place to change the colours.
We also, secondly, need to have a better printout.
This is a confusing schedule in terms of ease to the eye
to see the issues, the lines, and the notation.
It's crammed and indistinct.
However, the third point I wish to make, Chair,
is that I'm very pleased to see cognizance
of the cyber threat after having the colleague
from a different department at this committee
saying that even under the Council's umbrella,
there is still a need to upgrade the rag colour formally observed. Thank you chair.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:07:30
Before I pass to Paul, are there any comments on the risk register
from anyone else in the room or on the screen? I'm not seeing any hands go up.
I just had one comment or two really actually. One is just to note
that the register was going to be reviewed wasn't it following the
I think it was a presentation by the colleague whose name I can't recall.
Our last meeting I thought was very good.
Victoria, which was very good.
But just to point out, I think, I mean, highlight on page 7 the issue of transition of assets to the SIV under FITFIT for the future reforms.
I note the last sentence about a risk that the London SIV and investment managers underperform and welcome that included.
and I suspect we might pick that up a bit later on in the agenda.
But anyway, Paul, do you want to respond to David's comments, please?
Thank you, Chair.
All David's comments are all noted,
and those are already being reflected as we walk through the document.
I think the one thing to highlight is that the place we find ourselves when I say we,
I collectively the LGPS is such that those risks are sort of changing and mounting by
the day, not least because of the consultations that have been thrown into the mix almost
by the day now.
and so the nature and the type of risks are obviously very real and changing so
this will be something that I would like the board to to bear in mind thank you
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:09:24
Cllr Sabina Akhtar - 0:09:25
yeah David supplementary second bite chair thank you very much Paul however a
we have been made in the past. There are over 50 areas identified assigned to.
There's one officer in constant repetition the name of Paul Adoo. We got
a commitment from senior finance officers that that himself presented a
risk. We must have attention to the resource resilience that we see before
us with many of these tasks which very often have a review date to be confirmed.
We need assurance, Chair.
We've said this three times before.
Thank you, Paul, for your update.
But there are two more features that need attention.
Thank you.
Maybe just to come in.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:10:18
Do we have a timetable for addressing?
Arsan, yeah.
Thanks.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:10:25
Thanks for the comments on it David. I think from my point of view some what I've seen is in terms of rationalising such exercise
And I think it will address the presentation point is I think we're where the risk register is from what I've seen is
The risks have been rationalised. So we're down to I think it's approximately 15 risks
so I think a lot of work has gone into today and a lot of work has gone into rationalisation and
Victoria has massively supported that process. So that's something that I've actively seen
And I think that will help with the presentation that David raises in terms of, you know, it's
just the way it sits on the document as it stands because of the length of it.
I think the work that the team are currently doing is around the mitigations and ensuring
that the right responsibility sits with the right individuals.
And I think up until this point, the risk register has always been geared towards sitting
under the head of Treasury and Pensions.
It's just taking a little bit of time to unpick.
So it's certainly one thing that I'm looking at
and pushing the team to do is I think
the rationalisation exercise has been complete.
It's the mitigation to ensure that we're comfortable
with those and to ensure that the right officers
are allocated and I think getting those officers
up to speed, taking ownership of those risks,
understanding the mitigation so they can do it
on a day -to -day basis, I think that's the bit
that Paul and his team are working through.
All right, yeah, thanks for the update.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:11:44
So we'll see how that progresses, okay.
Any more questions or comments no in that case. Can we can we agree the recommendations please we have to do that
Yeah, great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Thank you
So that takes us on to item
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:12:03
6 .2 which is on page 55 of the first supplementary and
This is your LGPS access and protections
consultation which has just come out. Paul do you just want to highlight the key issues for us?
Thank you chair yeah this is the update that went to the committee on the 6th of November and the
consultation is live and closes on the 22nd of December so this is if you like the
consultation following the initial one which is the access and fairness
consultation. So this is the one that is currently live and it only last week
another consultation came out that is the LGPS feed for the future but
technical consultation which in itself is quite weighty
because it looks at all the other issues around
how the fit for purpose responses
and implementation, how they should go.
So that also introduces a certain element of risk,
not just because of the role that the London CIV
and other pools are expected to play.
And the closing date for that is the 2nd of January.
So the board will obviously recognise
that these consultation,
the deadline for responses are very, very tight.
So offices are obviously working extremely hard
to come up with the responses
you know for them which hopefully will be sharing with the with the upcoming
committee on the 6th or on the 11th of December thank you thank you I've got a
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:14:27
couple of issues I wanted to highlight page yeah page page 56 refers to
increased administration complexity.
And I know we talked about, you know,
staffing and pressures previously.
Page 57 talks about the impact on council commissioning
and procurement.
And I noticed on page 58, got the same issue
of the cumulative administrative burden could be significant.
So I just wondered what the response is on that.
I mean and and whether
This is going to impact on staffing and how that will be addressed going forward and now that'll be covered in the in the response
Because I think it probably needs to be highlighted. So I don't know who wants to tackle that but
Caught my eye. Yeah. Thank you chair. Yes, this will have a massive implication for
Resources and also
implications for
the sort of governance and
other areas because the consultations all taken together
absolutely
You know the impact right across you know the LGPS
Function of the LGPS absolutely fundamentally
impacts on everything
You know for example
looking at the
access side of it the access rules around retirement age
admission processes and protection for workers.
All of that will fundamentally change things
and the minimum age, the minimum pension age
which is being proposed because obviously that will lead
to rewriting of the Finance Act and so on.
And also, you probably see that because of the fact
that the academies, for example, the academy trust
will have the ability to consolidate the membership
with one fund, so that could lead to an influx
of new employees into a fund or an exodus of,
employees. So we don't know how that's gonna go so that is obviously a big risk
if for example you're gonna lose you know all your academic schools or you
maybe face a massive influx of new ones. So there will be you know every reason
to be concerned about the impact on resources and that issue is obviously
that we've in another report, the admin report,
where we've got a structure chart appended to that.
So I'm happy to wait until.
Yeah, okay, pick that up.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:17:22
Just before we conclude on this or as any questions.
So if the submission has been by the 22nd of December,
presumably that'll be after the committee meeting
and obviously after this meeting,
so but then that'll just be signed off and sent in
and okay, thank you.
Any further questions or comments?
No, no, no.
All right, in that case, can we agree the recommendations
as they are please and note the board's comments?
Thank you.
Now 6 .3 was withdrawn, that's not with us today.
And that takes us on to, I'm jumping around a bit here.
That's item seven, which is the committee agenda
for the forthcoming meeting, well, that's not available yet
because it's not been prepared,
so that doesn't really apply.
And eight is training events.
Was there a report on training events?
And that's generally for the members to say
if they've been on any of them.
Oh, okay, right.
Oh yeah, well, this is a point because,
I'm glad you prompted me, because there's,
in the report that goes to certainly the committee,
all training events are highlighted, but it seems to me the only person who ever
sends anything it is me. I've not seen anything else. So I would urge all of you
if you do attend training to send it in to Paul and then that can be
recorded and he's then available for people to see. I know John's
appeared on the screen but you must go to a few John. And it is I mean just the
The serious point here is that certainly regulators
and others will be looking much more closely at training
for committee and board members,
and it's very important that this is recorded.
And it's certainly the case with the other board
that I chair that that is recorded right across
the committee and board members, it's very important.
So I'll stop there.
So any questions, comments,
or anybody wants to say anything, please do.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:19:36
Cllr Sabina Akhtar - 0:19:38
David yes chair thanks you and I'm sure John will have something to say but
basically there is a report later on about the the training plan and we have
constantly been asking for access to funding for this board out with the plan
that is perhaps in your case as well, Chair, what you see nationally available by CIPFA
or the local government pension organisations.
So you can capture, particularly with the velocity of change that is happening with
Fit for the Future.
This needs us to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses.
I know we have a presentation, but we also need access via a separate budget if we can
make a business case chair for a very modest amount of separate access.
When this committee was set up in 2015, there was a lot of free access to London, CIPFA,
conferences of relevance.
So I just want to compliment the fact that you get access with access over and above
what is planned in a later report.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:21:02
John, you've got your hand up.
Do you want to come in?
Yes, yeah, no, I mean, I think there is, there's lots of free training, there's lots of training
that are being provided by our advisors.
But I do think that perhaps we do need some sort of independent training and also in person,
not just online, as great as online training is, and whether or not it's
possible for us to have a, we've done it in the past chair if I remember
rightly, have a dedicated training on one topic at the beginning of these
meetings. I appreciate the reserves of time and resource but yeah I fully
expect it to be compulsory for everyone including councillors to have a
competence level of training in the same way and people aren't allowed on
planning committees or licencing committees without having this training.
think.
Thank you.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:22:16
Okay. Any comments back?
Paul.
Thank you, Chair. As for the comment on budget, there is always a budget. The work of this
board comes under the oversight and governance part of the budget. So there is a budget.
if board members find a training of relevance that they wish to attend then
happy to hear about it and and and also as the report on training confirms a
schedule of training event has been fleshed out you know to to you know
happen over a 12 month period.
And some will be, if you like, just fundamental
sessions to help board members and committee members
to acquire the required knowledge to assist in their work.
And other training events will be master classes.
say there is a lot there for members to, you know, be able to, if you like, attend.
It's not compulsory that they will be, you know, required to attend every event
every month, but I think it is designed to, you know, give people the opportunity
to attend some of the training events and all that.
Can I just start, because we're running ahead of us.
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:24:07
We've got a report on the agenda on training.
So let's cover that then, so we're all on the same part.
Appreciate the comments.
But if you hold those back,
we can discuss that a bit later on.
But yeah, anyway, my message is,
please send in your training to Paul,
so we can record that.
And that's incumbent on all of us.
Okay.
Right, so that's training, updates, and then nine is the work plan, which I...
Is on supplementary two.
Right, this is on supplementary two, and I'll just pass.
I didn't have any questions or comments on this paper.
This is the pension board work plan programme,
which we obviously will have seen before
because it covers each meeting.
We've got one more meeting in this cycle after today.
The only comment I've got is really,
that I think it would be very helpful
to have Colin's report, which he does for the committee,
Forwarded on to the board it can be covered under private and confidential because I think that always includes quite a lot of useful information
Together with just an update on the on the financial performance of the of the funds
Again, that can be covered under the private part of the agenda and that will give a bit of balance. I think
to people and we can take that I
Personally find that very helpful
Okay
David?
Yes, Chair, I'm looking at it.
Cllr Sabina Akhtar - 0:26:00
I was going to say something again about provision of the papers, but I'm now looking at it for
the first time.
And I'm going to be looking for at the front end, because I've mentioned this word before,
the speed, the velocity at which national change is taking place, how our work plan
incorporates our thinking and planning at the front end of this work plan, Chair.
Thank you
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:26:26
Okay, so a fit for the future update is what you're talking about on you. Yeah. Yeah, which presumably you'll do for the committee anyway
Yeah, okay. Thanks
Cllr Shafi Ahmed - 0:26:37
Right any more questions or comments no hands in that case
Can we know the can you note the comments of the board please in terms of work plan?
That takes us on to item 10 which is any other
Urgent business which I don't have for the public part of the agenda and
Then we move on to 11 the exclusion of the press and public
So in view of the contents of the remaining items on the agenda the committee is recommended to adopt the following the motion
I'll just read this out but under the provisions of section hundred a of the local government act
1972 as amended by the local government act access to information act 1985 the present public be excluded
from the remainder of the meeting for the consideration of Section 2 business on the grounds that it contains information
defined as exempt in part 1 of schedule 12a to the local government act
1972 so having moved that motion. Can I have a seconder or two, please? Yeah. Yeah. Thank you in that case
That motion is agreed
Mr Matthew Mannion
Head of Democratic Services
Tower Hamlets
View profile Mr Matthew Mannion