The Wolverhampton Council Pensions Board is scheduled to meet to discuss several key areas, including the Pension Administration Strategy 2025, customer engagement, fund performance, and risk management. The board will also receive updates on investment governance and pooling arrangements. Some items, particularly those concerning investment pooling, funding, and pension dashboards, will be discussed in a closed session due to their confidential nature.

Investment Governance and Local Impact

The board is scheduled to receive an update on investment-related matters, including responsible investment activities and the implementation of the fund's investment strategy through the LGPS Central pool. The meeting will include a discussion of the Fund's Local Investment Impact Report, which was prepared by The Good Economy. According to the report pack, as of December 2024, the fund had £203 million invested within the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) area. The report pack states that the Fund commissioned the report by The Good Economy, an independent advisor that supports investors in understanding and improving place-based and impact investments, and that the report provides analysis on the Fund's private market investments in the UK, West Midlands and wider Midlands area and the impact these investments have generated. The report pack also notes that the Fund contributed to a whitepaper on local investing by The Good Economy, which proposes a common strategic framework for developing local investment strategies that can be readily adopted by LGPS Administering Authorities (AAs) and their investment pools, and aims to support the UK government's ambition to encourage LGPS funds and pools to increase local investments whilst delivering appropriate risk-adjusted returns. The report pack says that the Fund updated its position statement regarding its approach and exposure to companies operating in the Aerospace and Defense sector in May 2025, and that the statement is available on the Fund's website.

Pension Administration Strategy 2025

The board is scheduled to discuss the Pension Administration Strategy (PAS) 2025. The report pack states that the PAS sets out a framework for assessing fund and employer performance standards developed to ensure delivery of a cost-effective and quality pensions administration service. According to the report pack, the Fund has voluntarily maintained and regularly reviewed its PAS for a number of years, recognising its role in supporting best practice. The 2025 review incorporated wider review and employer consultation. The report pack states that formal responses were received from 15 individual employers, some of them comprehensive in nature, which has provided valuable feedback to take into consideration alongside informal feedback shared through employer forums. The report pack also notes that the consultation included a dedicated briefing session held on 14 July with a positive response and coverage across all of the key sectors within the employer base, including local authorities, universities, colleges, academies, 'other' scheduled bodies and admission bodies. The report pack indicates that key changes made to the 2025 strategy post consultation included:

• Clarity and structure: In relation to notifiable events, to provide examples of material changes in membership profile and/or payroll to aid employers' understanding.
• Communication and support: To enhance accessibility, the Fund intends to review the hours of helpline support more generally.
• Performance monitoring and accountability: In the context of leaver notifications and submission no sooner than 6 weeks before or 3 weeks after retirement, to insert in general and to include wording to confirm we will engage employers if experience is outside of these parameters and where tolerances are exceeded. The report pack states that the final version of the 2025 PAS was approved by Pensions Committee and includes the changes outlined above.

Customer Engagement

The board is scheduled to receive an update on the Fund's customer engagement activity from 1 April 2025 to 30 June 2025 and to cover future planned customer engagement activity in the context of the Fund's Customer Engagement Strategy. The report pack notes that one of the Fund's key objectives is to engage to improve outcomes for its customers and that in line with this objective, the Fund has published, and keeps under review, a Customer Engagement Strategy, to review satisfaction and help inform improvements to its pension services. The report pack states that the Member Services team delivers member support via hybrid channels including member webinars, face to face presentations and following up with individual pension consultations as required and that during this reporting period the team supported 1,748 members with their retirement journey. The report pack also notes that the Fund's roadshow vehicle delivered 2 roadshow events, to one depot and one Further Education college and that these provided members with face-to-face support with their benefits in the month of April. According to the report pack, 3,233 members have registered for the Pension Portal during this reporting period, bringing the total registrations at 30 June 2025 to 94,565. The report pack indicates that the most popular queries to the contact centre remain as follows:

• Customers following up on an existing Fund process
• Requests for Pensions Portal support
• Enquiries about accessing pension benefits
• Request for support with a Fund letter/form
• Members updating their personal details. The report pack states that the Employer Services team continues to hold performance meetings with various employers and payroll providers throughout the period in line with the Fund's Pension Administration Strategy (PAS).

Pension Administration

The board is scheduled to be informed of the routine operational work undertaken by the Pensions Administration Service areas during the period 1 April 2025 – 30 June 2025. The report pack states that the Fund provides a pension administration service covering employer, customer and member services, data processing, benefit operations, payroll, and systems/technical support and that a report is provided to the Pensions Board on a quarterly basis to assist in monitoring the activity and performance of these functions during that period. The report pack notes that the total number of scheme member records in the Fund on 30 June stands at 363,942 with net movements in the status of membership records over the most recent quarter shown in the table below.

The report pack states that the volumes of total retirement casework outstanding remain in-line with pre-2023 levels and have remained stable during the period, despite a 27% increase in new cases started compared to the previous quarter and that the average retirement processing times for members remains in-line with the Pension Administration Strategy. The report pack also notes that during the reporting period, the Fund completed over 11,256 processes following member requests for information and that during the quarter, 5,882 workflows were completed within the payroll team. The report pack indicates that 309 individual transfer payments were made during the period, 1 April to 30 June 2025, resulting in a total amount transferred of £17.8 million. The report pack states that on 15 May 2025 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) published its Access and Fairness consultation on proposed amendments to LGPS Regulations and that the consultation aims to ensure that the LGPS remains fair, accessible and sustainable for all members.

Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25

The board is scheduled to note the approval at the September Pensions Committee, the delegation of the authority to the Chair to approve the final Statement of Accounts, once the audit is completed, and the final publication of the Fund's 2024-25 Annual Report, agreed by the Pensions Committee in June 2025 and the update on the Fund's External Audit from Grant Thornton. The report pack states that Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds are required by law to produce an Annual Statement of Accounts and that these form part of the wider Administering Local Authority's accounts and are subject to Local Government Accounts and Audit regulations and publication deadlines. The report pack also notes that in preparing their accounts, Funds must have regard to proper practice and to any guidance which has the effective standing of 'statutory guidance' and that these are, for the Statement of Accounts, The Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in the United Kingdom 2024/25 as published by CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy) ('the Code'). According to the report pack, at the time of writing and subject to the finalisation of audit processes, it is anticipated that Grant Thornton, the Fund's External Auditor (appointed by the Administering Authority), will issue an unqualified audit opinion for the Fund.

Risk and Assurance

The board is scheduled to receive an overview on the work of the Fund to deliver a well governed scheme. The report pack states that the Risk Register captures the potential for impact in the Fund's service delivery as a forward-looking review, together with horizon scanning for changes which may impact or require change to the Fund's processes and delivery model and that as such, the risks are refreshed each quarter. The report pack notes that this quarter, there is a strong focus on operational activity and the resulting business change activity resulting from a number of regulatory changes which have been the focus of previous risk monitoring and that the Fit For The Future consultation outcomes and delivery of Government objectives including build of new pool capabilities, transition of asset management responsibilities and pool consolidation by March 2026 have required focussed engagement to support in ensuring the pool meets the deadlines set. The report pack also indicates that this quarter, the Fund acknowledges the increased focus on Responsible Investment activities in light of ongoing global conflict and redirection of time and resource to support and enable changes to pooling partnerships within the LGPS. According to the report pack, the Fund has seen 12 data breaches being reported this quarter, which is an increase of seven compared to last quarter and that the majority of these related to manual errors, however some were due to electronic enveloping errors. The report pack states that the Fund received seven FOI requests during the quarter, all of which were responded to in accordance with the statutory deadlines and that eight SAR requests were received this quarter, an increase of three since last quarter. The report pack notes that as part of the Fund's ongoing build of assurance for its stakeholders, the Fund has been working with an external body in the development of its Service Auditor Report (SAR) and that the SAR seeks to provide independent assurance of the Fund's internal control environment, mapped to industry standards and benchmarked for levels of compliance with comparator organisations. The report pack also states that in line with good governance and in supporting the Fund's objective of accountability in its assurance framework, the Fund has established a Member Case Review Panel and that the overall objective of the panel is to ensure that no member is left out of pocket as a result of the delays in customer servicing experienced through 2024 and the early part of 2025.

LGPS Investment Pooling, Funding and Actuarial Valuation, Development of Fund Resources and Operating Model, and Pensions Dashboards Update

These items are scheduled to be discussed in a closed session, excluding the press and public, because they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information falling within paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A to the Act, relating to financial or business affairs. The board is scheduled to receive an update on LGPS pooling and the development of the LGPS Central pool. The board is scheduled to receive an update on progress of the 2025 valuation, including work undertaken in line with the Employer Risk Management Framework, and the range of considerations for Funds as they approach the triennial review and engage with employers. The board is scheduled to receive an update on the development of Fund resources and Operating Model, supporting delivery of the Fund's Corporate Strategy 2025-28. The board is scheduled to receive an update on the ongoing programme of work being undertaken to implement Pensions Dashboard.