The Pensions and Investments Committee was scheduled to meet to discuss the actuarial valuation of the Derbyshire Pension Fund, a performance report, and the fund's risk register. Councillors were also expected to discuss investment pooling as part of the Local Government Pension Scheme, during which the public would be excluded.

Derbyshire Pension Fund Risk Register

The committee was scheduled to review the Derbyshire Pension Fund Risk Register, which identifies risk items, their potential impact and probability, and risk mitigation procedures.

The risk register included four high risk items:

• Systems failure/Lack of disaster recovery plan/Cybercrime attack
• LGPS Central Limited related underperformance of investment returns
• Insufficient cyber-liability insurance relating to the pensions administration system
• Impact of McCloud judgement on administration

The report pack noted that pension schemes hold large amounts of personal data and assets, making them targets for cybercrime attacks. It said that robust procedures were in place for accessing the systems used by the Fund, and that the Pension Fund's Business Continuity Plan included the Business Continuity Policy and Business Continuity Incident Management Plan of Aquila Heywood, the provider of the Fund's pension administration system, Altair¹. The report pack stated that the government's 'Fit for the Future' proposals require Local Government Pension Scheme funds to transition the management and oversight of all of their investment assets to their pooling company by 31 March 2026. It noted that the Fund had transitioned around 15% of its assets into the active products of LGPS Central Limited, 8% into an LGPSC enhanced passive product, and 5% of the Fund's assets committed to LGPSC private markets' vehicles.

The report pack also noted that the McCloud case relates to transitional protections given to scheme members in the judges' and firefighters' schemes which were found to be unlawful by the Court of Appeal on the grounds of age discrimination. It said that the final regulations to implement the McCloud remedy in the LGPS came into force on 1 October 2023.

The report pack stated that the risk score for the impact of the McCloud judgement on funding had gradually been reduced, but that the administration risk remained high.

Half-Year Pension Administration Performance Report

The committee was scheduled to discuss the Half-Year Pension Administration Performance Report, which covers the period 1 April 2025 to 30 September 2025.

The report pack included data and summaries on the Fund's administration and performance, including:

• Membership totals
• Members electing for the LGPS 50/50 section[^3] [^3]: The LGPS 50/50 section allows members to pay 50% of their normal employee contribution rate and build up 50% of pension.
• Member opt outs
• Pensioner deaths
• Employers participating in the Fund
• New employers
• Academies
• Admission Bodies
• Determination of exit credits
• Key performance indicators
• Overall quantities of work
• Backlog Management Project
• Guaranteed Minimum Pension Reconciliation
• Data quality
• Pension contributions
• Complaints, compliments and appeals
• Communications and Training
• Administration updates

The report pack stated that the administration team's core role is to ensure that pension benefits are paid to members accurately and in a timely manner, and to provide clear information on pension options to members to help their planning for retirement.

The report pack noted that at 30 September 2025, the administration team included 49 members of staff individuals covering 44.66 full-time equivalent (fte) positions with 15.15 fte vacant administration positions.

The report pack stated that the Fund's key performance indicators have continued to evidence the administration team's good performance in maintaining an effective operation during the first half of 2025-26 during a period involving significant transitions in staffing and a high proportion of vacant positions.

The report pack noted that the implementation of the McCloud remedy in the LGPS from 1 October 2023 introduced an increased level of complexity to the task of calculating pension benefits for qualifying members to determine whether they are affected by the underpin.

The report pack stated that member engagement with the Fund's My Pension Online system has continued to increase with 33,609 members now fully registered, including over 42% of the Fund's active and deferred membership.

The report pack also included a table showing the Fund's membership totals at half-yearly intervals during the last two years:

The report pack included a table showing the totals of members who opted out of the scheme during each period:

*restated total from previous Half-Year Administration Performance Report

The report pack included a table showing the totals of conversions to academy status for the previous seven full years:

Derbyshire Pension Fund 2025 Actuarial Valuation

The committee was scheduled to discuss the Derbyshire Pension Fund 2025 Actuarial Valuation.

The report pack stated that under Regulation 62 of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Regulations 2013, administering authorities of LGPS funds are required to obtain an actuarial valuation of the assets and liabilities of the pension fund on 31 March every three years.

The report pack noted that the actuarial valuation is a planning exercise for the Fund to determine:

• The expected cost of providing the benefits built up by members at the valuation date in today's terms (the liabilities) compared to the investments held by the Pension Fund (the assets).
• The contributions needed over an appropriate time horizon to cover the cost of the benefits that active members will build up in the future (the Primary Contribution Rate).
• An adjustment for the difference between the Primary Contribution Rate above, and the actual contribution the employer needs to pay over the time horizon, referred to as the Secondary Contribution Rate.

The report pack stated that the valuation is calculated as at 31 March 2025 and will set the contribution rates payable from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029, which will be detailed in the Rates and Adjustments Certificate appended to the actuary's final valuation report.

The report pack noted that the funding level of the Pension Fund is the ratio of assets to liabilities at the valuation date.

The report pack included a table showing the initial whole fund results:

The report pack stated that Hymans Roberston LLP was scheduled to attend the meeting to present the initial whole fund results of the actuarial valuation of Derbyshire Pension Fund at 31 March 2025.

Local Government Pension Scheme Investment Pooling

The committee was scheduled to discuss Local Government Pension Scheme investment pooling, but the public would be excluded from this part of the meeting because it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph(s) 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972.