Pension Fund Committee

London Borough of Bexley Council has delegated responsibility for pension matters to the Pension Fund Committee (the Committee). The Committee obtains and considers advice from the Tri-Borough Director of Pensions and Treasury, the Section 151 Officer and, as necessary, from the Fund’s appointed actuary, advisors and investment managers.

Terms of Reference for the Pension Fund Committee are set out in Appendix 1 as part of the Governance Compliance Statement.

The Committee is made up of eleven elected Members of the Council (eight from the majority party and three minority party representative) who meet at least four times a year. All members have full voting rights.

The Pension Fund Committee membership during 2023/24 was as follows:

• Councillor Howard Jackson (Chairman)
• Councillor Rags Sandhu (Vice-Chairman)
• Councillor Patrick Adams
• Councillor Zainab Asunramu
• Councillor Frazer Brooks
• Councillor Baljeet Gill
• Councillor Bola Carew
• Councillor Andrew Curtois
• Councillor Nicola Taylor
• Councillor Steven Hall
• Councillor Cameron Smith

Councillors may be contacted at 2 Watling Street, Bexleyheath, DA6 7AT.

Local Pension Board

The Pension Fund Committee established a local Pension Board in compliance with the requirements of the Public Service Pensions Act. The purpose of the Board is to provide oversight of the Fund Committee.

The Board comprises of 3 members – 1 from the Council representing employers and 2 employee representatives. The Chairman is elected by the Board.

The Board membership during 2023/24 was as follows:

• Geoff Smithson (Chairman – member rep)
• Councillor Peter Reader (Vice-chairman – employer rep)
• Oliver Wooller (member rep)

Conflicts of Interest

The Pension Fund is governed by elected members acting as trustees and the Code of Conduct for elected members sets out how any conflicts of interests should be addressed. A copy is available from Legal and Democratic Services at 2 Watling Street, Bexleyheath, DA6 7AT.

The Code includes general provisions on ethics and standards of behaviour which require elected members to treat others with respect and not to bully, intimidate or do anything to compromise the impartiality of those who work for or on behalf of the Council. The Code also contains rules about “disclosable pecuniary interests” and sets out the action an elected member must take when they have such an interest in Council business, for instance withdrawing from the room or chamber when the matter is discussed and decided in committee, unless dispensation has been obtained from the Council’s Monitoring Officer.

The Code also requires elected members to register disclosable pecuniary interests.

Governance Compliance Statement

The LGPS Regulations 2013 require Pension Funds to prepare, publish and maintain a governance compliance statement; and to measure the governance arrangements in place against a set of best practice principles. This measurement should result in a statement of full, partial or non-compliance with a further explanation provided for any non- or partial compliance.

The key issues covered by the best practice principles are:

• formal committee structure
• committee membership and representation
• selection and role of lay members
• voting rights
• training, facility time and expenses

The Fund’s Governance Compliance statement can be found in Appendices.