The Warwickshire Local Pension Board met on Tuesday 15 July 2025 to discuss pension administration, regulatory updates, and investment performance. The board was also scheduled to review its annual report and a governance action plan.

Warwickshire Local Pension Board Annual Report 2024/25

The Warwickshire Local Pension Board was scheduled to accept the annual report of the independent Chair for the year 2024/25. The report, which was produced by Keith Bray, Independent Chair, summarised the board's activities during the year, including updates on:

• Governance, regulatory and policy issues
• The Fund's Business Plan
• Pensions administration, activity and performance
• Investment activity
• Minutes from the Staff and Pensions Committee and the Pension Fund Investment Sub Committee

The report noted that the main areas of concern regarding risk management remained those related to the potential impact of climate change, cyber security, and long-term investment market risks.

The report highlighted the findings of an external review by AON of the fund's governance practices, which concluded that the governance of the Fund was of a high standard and demonstrates best practice in most areas. The key positives identified in the review were:

• Good coverage of the required policies and strategies
• Good compliance with the Pensions Regulator General Code of Practice
• Good engagement at the Local Pension Board
• Generally clear and concise reports and oral updates to pension fund committees and the Local Pension Board

The report also included several recommendations for the Fund to consider, including:

• Operating a single Pensions Committee
• Updating business planning to consider a rolling 3 year or medium-term planning horizon
• Updating the Terms of Reference of the Pension Committee and Local Pension Board
• Reviewing longer term training requirements for committee and board members
• Documenting a recruitment and retention policy for the Local Pension Board

The report noted that the recruitment and retention of suitably qualified and experienced staff is a national problem across the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

Governance, Regulatory and Policy Update

The board was scheduled to discuss the main governance issues affecting the Warwickshire Pension Fund, including the forward plan, risk monitoring, updated policies, training, and regulatory updates.

The Forward Plan was to be presented for the Local Pension Board's consideration.

An update on the risks facing the Fund and the management actions necessary to address them was scheduled, with a summary of the named risks and their residual risk scores.

Three policies had been reviewed:

• The Communications Policy outlines how the Fund will communicate with its stakeholders. Changes to the policy include a section highlighting the key risks to the Funds successful delivery of the Communications Policy, updated wording to reference the member self service site by its new title of Engage, and a next communications policy review date of June 2026.
• The Breaches Policy outlines the procedures for the Fund and its stakeholders to report breaches of pensions legislation to the Pension Regulator. The policy has been revised to enhance clarity, governance and compliance. Key amendments are summarised as Policy Objectives and Risk Assessment, Governance and Review Schedule, and Disclosure Requirements.
• The Data Retention Policy sets out measures adopted by the Fund to comply with the principles of data minimisation in relation to the personal data it holds. A next review date of June 2026 has been added.

The 2025/26 training plan had been shared with members of the Local Pension Board on the Warwickshire Pension Fund Governance SharePoint page. A training session had been arranged on Risk Management in the LGPS. Training covering the future of pooling after the recent Fit for the Future consultation, new local investing requirements and climate change was to be organised for quarter 2.

The board was also scheduled to discuss regulatory updates, including:

• The LGPS Access and Fairness Consultation launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in May on changes to the LGPS in England and Wales. The proposed changes are intended to improve fairness in and access to the LGPS, including equalising survivor benefits, removing the age 75 limit for death grant eligibility, removing the requirement to nominate a cohabiting partner, making authorised absences of less than 31 days automatically pensionable, updating the definition of child related leave, making gender pensions gap reporting mandatory, and removing the requirement that a member must have left employment because of the offence for forfeiture to be possible.
• The government response to the Fit for the Future consultation, confirming that the core proposals included in the consultation will be taken forward, including the proposed changes to LGPS fund governance requirements.
• Publication of the Scheme Annual Report by the Scheme Advisory Board.

Governance Action Plan

The board was scheduled to consider and comment on the content of the Governance Action Plan. The Warwickshire Pension Fund commissioned an externally led review of its governance arrangements, conducted by AON, which considered the requirements of the Pension Regulator's General Code of Practice, the Scheme Advisory Board's Good Governance requirements, and AON's own governance checklist. A project board comprised of relevant officers is being set up to oversee and manage the consideration and implementation of appropriate actions arising from the review. This activity will be reported to the Local Pension Board on a quarterly basis to enhance project transparency and ensure effective oversight of its progress and completion.

Pension Administration Activity and Performance Update

The board was scheduled to receive an update on the key developments affecting pensions administration and the performance of the Pensions Administration Service (PAS). The take up of Member Self Service (MSS), split by different types of members, is as follows:

• Active 8,196 42.20% of active members
• Deferred 6,694 30.78% of deferred members
• Pensioner 6,219 35.35% of pensioners
• Dependents 202 9.61% of dependents

The PAS has completed the switch from the current MSS system to Engage, a new system provided by the current provider. The PAS were able to test the new system between 17th February and 28 April 2025, at which point the system went live. Communications with members of the Scheme to advertise the new system will be staggered, firstly targeting members who have already registered for MSS, with this group split by active, deferred and pensioner members. These users will have their login transferred over to the new system with minimum input required on their part. Communications will then be issued to members that do not currently use the portal, to advertise the new system and updated functionality. The system has been advertised to all employers within the fund via the monthly employer newsletter and the PAS held a training session with employers on 10th June to show updated functionality. Feedback from users of the system has been positive, focusing on the ability for members to have automatic access to information and be able to consider various scenarios for retirement. The updated functionality for members includes a retirement planner, where members can plot their pension accrual against three standards of living and personalised spending categories to aid with financial planning for retirement. The system has increased security for members by moving to a two factor authentication upon login utilising an SMS messaging system.

11 out of 16 KPIs are meeting their target.

Pensioner payroll for Warwickshire Pension Fund is administered by Warwickshire County Council's payroll team.

From 1 June 2024 to 31 May 2025 there were 33,815 cases created and 34,533 completed, with a 102.1% open to close variance; that is to say, the PAS has reduced the volume of outstanding work.

The PAS are progressing with the procurement of a data cleansing tool which will update and enhance active and deferred member data for the Pensions Dashboards Programme¹.

The PAS is preparing member data to be submitted to the fund actuary as part of the valuation process.

Warwickshire Pension Fund Business Plan 2025/26 Update

The board was scheduled to note and comment on the progress made as at Quarter 1 towards the Business Plan objectives. The Warwickshire Pension Fund Business Plan 2025/26 Update sets out the plan as approved by the Staff and Pensions Committee in March 2025, and the progress made up to the first quarter.

Two items have been marked as Amber in quarter 1 to reflect the challenge of the delivery of each objective. Item 35 has been marked as amber because the stress test on the business continuity plan was due to be undertaken in the previous quarter but has now been scheduled for July 2025.

LPB Investment Update Q1 2025

The board was scheduled to note and comment on the LPB Investment Update Q1 2025. As at the end of March 2025, the pension portfolio had a value of £3.05bn which represents a decrease of 0.4% from the previous quarter. A key activity for the Fund remains the building up of investments in alternatives, in line with the approved Investment Strategy (Private Equity, Infrastructure, Private Debt and the new Climate Opportunities fund). The Fund serviced 78 capital movements in the last quarter, with a net capital outflow of £6.29m. This shortfall was comfortably covered by the current cash position.

The Fund holds actively managed equities through funds within Border to Coast Pension Partnership² (BCPP), and passive equities managed through funds held with Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM ). These equities carry voting rights.

The Fund has completed a transition of assets from the BCPP Global Equity and UK Alpha funds to the BTC Global Multi Factor Fund, LGIM Low Carbon Transition Fund, LGIM UK Equity Index Fund, and LGIM Passive Index Linked Gilts. This change reduces the level of risk in the Funds equity investments and switches some investments from growth assets (equity) to protection assets (gilts).

The Fund determined to commit in the range £25m-£75m to the UK Real Estate Fund in the first year, and ultimately bid to invest £70m. BCPP confirmed that it would be approving 75% of all commitment bids for each partner fund, therefore the Fund's first year investment commitment into the UK Real Estate fund has been set at £52.5m.

Officers have started work on a Task Force on Climate Financial Disclosure Policy (TCFD).

The government has responded to the pooling reform plans submitted to them by LGPS investment pools, including the Border to Coast Pension Partnership. The plan submitted by BCPP was positively received. However, the plans of two pools (ACCESS and Brunel) were assessed as not being satisfactory and the 21 funds within those pools are required to find a new home. Fund officers are reviewing the government report on LGPS reform and Pensions Bill and the implications for the fund.