Pages 51 to 58 of the 2019/2020 CPF Annual Report contains the Pension Board summary of its work for the 2019 / 2020 year.
The Chair of the Pension Board is also Chair of the Pensions Consultative Forum
We are concerned at the lack of oversight by the Pension Board in the two early 2020 consultations, before Lockdown.
Events, agendas and dates of the two consultations do not seem to match the scrutiny and process described on page 52:
- The changes to the policies, along with consultation responses, were reviewed jointly by the Committee and Board at joint training sessions and sub-committee meetings.
- This allowed Board members to not only scrutinize the changes to the policies and the consultation responses, but also to observe the process that the Committee undertook to approve changes to the policies.
These two important consultations were not on the agenda of the Pension Board for scrutiny – (the FSS Funding Strategy Statement to employers, and the wider ISS / RIP Investment Strategy Statement and Responsible Investment Policy)
- https://www.cheshirepensionfund.org/members/about-us/how-we-manage-the-fund/governance-structure/pfc/
- Neither consultation was mentioned in the agenda or minutes for
- 29 October 2019
- 4 February 2020
- Drafts, timescales and consultation processes should have been scrutinised on behalf of employers and members to ensure the whole process is valid
- The ISS / RIP consultation was published on 19 February 2020 and closed on 31 March 2020. Fund members and pensioners were not informed by email, payslips or Cheshire Chat, even though they could have been as the consultation was then still open. Members might have seen it if they looked at the website. Consultations closed on the day the policy was implemented.
- The FSS was emailed to employers on 24 December 2019, and the closing date was 24 January 2020
We challenge the support for employers, members and pensioners by the Pension Board.
Instead we suggest it defends how the fund operates and is managed.
www.cpfmembersforum.com 