Hampshire County Council HIWFRA Firefighters’ Pension Board Meeting

Apologies were received from Sean Harrison, Richard Scarth and Dan Tasker.

Members were mindful of their duty to disclose at the meeting any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest they had in any matter on the agenda for the meeting, where that interest was not already in the Authority’s register of interests, and their ability to disclose any other personal interests in any such matter that they might have wished to disclose.

No interests were declared.

It was noted that concerns had been raised at the previous meeting regarding the Immediate Detriment and age discrimination, but the Board was reassured by the Chief Financial Officer that work was being done to resolve the issues.

With this in mind, the minutes of the meeting were then agreed as a correct record.

There were no deputations for the meeting.

There were no formal Chairman’s announcements.

The Board received an update from the County Councillor Employer Representative. Whilst they did not attend the last Scheme Advisory Board, it was confirmed that a letter had been circulated from the Fire Brigade’s Union and the Local Government Association to the Home Office and HM Treasury asking for an age discrimination remedy.

The Board received a report from the Chef Financial Officer (item 7 of the minute book), which summarised the work of the Board for the 2021/22 financial year in the exercise of its functions.

The officer summarised the report, particularly focusing on the McCloud age discrimination remedy and highlighting paragraph 52 of the report. The Board supported the work of the LGA regarding the Immediate Detriment.

In paragraph 33 of the report, it was confirmed that the reference to overpayments was in relation to pensions.

Officers were thanked for their work.

RESOLVED:
That the annual report was agreed for submission to the HIWFRA Standards and Governance Committee.

The Board received an update report from the Chief Financial Officer (item 8 in the minute book).

The abatement and cost control valuation details were highlighted within the report and it was confirmed that further information around regulations was being sought ahead of action being taken around tax impacts of the McCloud remedy as referenced in paragraph 18b of the report.

RESOLVED:
That the content of the report was noted by the HIWFRA Firefighters' Pension Board.

The Board received a report from the Chief Financial Officer (item 9 in the minute book) on the Status Report and Risk Register Review.

The report was summarised with the Matthews/O’Brien case highlighted, which would run alongside the work on the McCloud case.

The board discussed Appendix B and the benefits of collecting participation data. It was agreed that it would be more helpful to look into percentages of opt-out’s for permanent wholetime staff, permanent retained staff and fixed term contract staff to determine whether there would be merit in further investigation.

It was noted that data on retained firefighters related to the Matthews/O’Brien case had been requested from the Isle of Wight and the scoring contained within the Risk Register would be revaluated once this had been received.

RESOLVED:
a)That the content of the report was noted by the HIWFRA Firefighters' Pension Board.

b) The HIWFRA Firefighters' Pension Board agreed that investigation be done on the number of opt-out and participation percentages on permanent wholetime staff, permanent retained staff and fixed-term contract staff in order to establish whether there was merit in further pensions data being sourced and analysed.

c) The Risk Register as set out in paragraphs 34-35 and Appendix C was

approved by the HIWFRA Firefighters' Pension Board, pending any further updates following the data being received from the Isle of Wight which would be delegated to the Chief Financial Officer.