The Pension Board for Lewisham Council met on 23 September 2025, according to the agenda. The meeting included a general update on the pension fund, a review of the communications policy statement, and a discussion of the work programme. Part of the meeting was scheduled to be held in private, excluding the press and public.

General Update

The agenda included a general update report, which contained several items for the board to note. These included the appointment of Claudia Menichetti, Head of Employee Services, and Paul Pettitt, Union Representative and Multi-skills Operator, as new members of the Pension Board. The report also asked the board to note the publication of the Lewisham Pension Fund Annual Report 2024/25 and the draft accounts for 2024/25, as well as an update from the pension administration team, an update on the member's survey, and the quarterly investment performance report being presented to the Pension Investment Committee (PIC).

The general update included details from the pension administration team on several ongoing projects:

• TPR General Code of Practice (GCOP): A review meeting was scheduled for 11 September 2025, to review the GCOP tool checker.
• Pension Audit: The team was working with KPMG on the 2025 audit, with the audit ongoing until the end of October 2025.
• Dashboard Integrated Service Provider (ISP): Work on the first phase of the ISP had taken place, with the ISP Phase 2 kick-off meeting scheduled for 11 September 2025. The work was due to be completed in time for the Lewisham Pension Fund staging date of 31 October 2025, although the new dashboard was not expected to go live until 31 October 2026.
• Pensions Increase: The annual pensions increase of 1.7% was processed in April 2025.
• Data Cleansing Tool: This work was ongoing, and had highlighted cases where a deferred benefit member died some years ago. The team was trying to establish a process to trace the next of kin.
• Data Improvement Plan: The team aimed to have this completed by the December 2025 pensions board.
• Annual Benefit Statements (ABS): Over 12,500 ABS's were processed and sent out by the 31 August 2025 deadline. The ABS project had highlighted some additional work which the team would need to complete by the end of the 2025/2026 scheme year, relating to members who attained age 65 between 01/04/2022 and 31/03/2025.
• Valuation Data: The valuation data was submitted to the actuaries at the start of August. The actuaries had performed their high level checks, and the team was in the process of investigating some queries.
• Future Regulation Changes: The team had received draft regulations The Local Government Pension Scheme (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2025, which included amendments for around 20 regulations, some of which would require backdating over a period of many years.
• Resources: The team was planning to advertise a vacant post by early October 2025.

The update also included information on a member survey, which was scheduled to run from 1 October 2025 for two months, using Citizen Space¹. The survey questions had been provided by Hymans Robertson², and the council's Comms Team had been working to ensure that the wording of the questions was in plain English and accessible to all. The Pension Investment Committee was scheduled to be presented with the survey questions on 25 September 2025 for endorsement before the survey was released.

The questionnaire will cover subjects under Economic, Social and Governance (ESG) as the fund would like to understand what's important to the members of the fund when making decisions on investments.

The update also noted that the Hymans Robertson quarterly performance report for the quarter ending 30 June 2025 was scheduled to be presented to the Pension Investment Committee on 25 September 2025.

Communication Policy Statement

The agenda included a cover report on the Communication Policy Statement, the objective of which is to ensure transparency and efficient communication, and to keep all stakeholders informed of developments within the London Borough of Lewisham Pension Fund. The policy outlines how the Pension Fund communicates with its stakeholders, in compliance with the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Regulations 2013 and the Public Service Pensions Act 2013.

The report listed the communication methods as follows:

• Website: www.lewishampensions.org central hub for guides, newsletters, and updates.
• Email: Used selectively for non-sensitive communications.
• Paper & Electronic Formats: Most materials are available in both formats.
• Member Self Service (MSS): Portal for active and deferred members to manage their pension details.

The report also provided information about what each stakeholder Groups should receive:

• Active Members: MSS access, annual benefit statements, scheme guides, updates.
• Prospective Members: Induction seminars, statutory notifications, helpline support.
• Pensioners & Dependants: Payslips, P60s, life certificates, pension increase notifications.
• Deferred Members: MSS access, benefit statements, updates via post.
• Employers: Employer guide, training, annual reports, website resources.
• Elected Members: Committee access, reports, training, presentations.
• Pensions Board: Quarterly meetings, public reports, training.
• Other Bodies: Includes MHCLG, trade unions, employer reps, fund managers, actuaries, custodians, A Voluntary Contribution providers

The report also provided information on Data Protection & Fraud Prevention including; GDPR compliance; participation in the National Fraud Initiative (NFI); secure handling of personal data and third-party disclosures.

Work Programme

The agenda included the work programme as at September 2025, which included operational and strategic items. The work programme included the following items:

• Pension Fund Accounts update
• Pension Fund Annual Report
• Monitoring of Investment Performance
• LGPS Reform update
• Data improvement plan update including the pension dashboard
• Terms of Reference and Membership of the Board
• Annual Business Plan
• TPR's General Code of Practice updates

Other items

The agenda also included:

• The minutes of the previous meeting on 16 June 2025, for approval.
• Declarations of interest from any of the attendees.
• An update on the breaches log since the last report, which stated that there were no breaches to report.
• An update on the rolling action log.
• A training log report, to note the training requirements for Pension Board Members.
• A notice to exclude the press and public from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information: General Report – Part Two.
• The dates of future Pension Board meetings: 9 December 2025 and 16 March 2026.