The Pension Fund Committee will be receiving an update on the Redbridge Pension Fund, including its investments and administration as of 30 September 2024. Information on the performance of individual fund managers and investments was also included for discussion. The Committee were also asked to:

consideration [be] given to the resourcing of the Pension Administration The report noted the ongoing need to ensure the Pension Fund has sufficient personnel with the appropriate skills and knowledge to deal with the growing workload and complexity, particularly those arising from the upcoming significant legislative changes.

Resourcing of Pension Administration

The report pack noted the ongoing challenges of administering the Redbridge Pension Fund, and asked the committee to consider a proposal to increase the resources available to the team. In particular, the report highlighted the difficulty of recruiting and retaining qualified staff, and of ensuring that staff have the skills and knowledge to comply with

upcoming significant legislative changes. A business proposal is to be prepared to address these issues and will be included in the 2025/26 Pension Fund Business Plan, due to be received by the Board in February 2025.

Investment Performance

The meeting papers included a report on the investment performance of the Redbridge Pension Fund, as of 30 September 2024. The report showed that the fund had returned 1.41% over the quarter, against a benchmark¹ of 1.37%. Over the year to 30 September, the fund had returned 15.07% against a benchmark of 12.68%. Individual fund managers' performance was reviewed. Schroders' performance on the Emerging Markets mandate was highlighted, having underperformed its benchmark by 2.12% over the quarter. The report included discussion of several market indices including the FTSE All Share Index, the FTSE All-World Index, the S&P 500, and the Nikkei 225.

Pension Administration Performance

Performance indicators relating to the administration of the Redbridge Pension Fund were included in the report pack. The report showed that the Fund is generally meeting its targets for processing new members, deferred members, and retirements. The report also included a comment on the ongoing collaboration between the Pension Team and the Council's Fraud Team to verify the status of pensions being paid abroad.