Issue - meetings

School Admission Appeals

Meeting: 24/01/2017 - Pensions Board (Item 5)

5 Pension Board Appointments Process pdf icon PDF 58 KB

[To approve the appointments process for the Board]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Chris West reported that he was tendering his resignation from the Board.  He would be leaving the employment of Coventry City Council and would therefore no longer be eligible serve as a representative on the Board.

 

The Chair reported that she was sorry that Chris West would be leaving the Board.  She placed on record her thanks and appreciation to Chris West for his valued contributions to the work of the Board and wished him well.

 

Rachel Howe, Head of Governance outlined a proposed appointments process for the West Midlands Pension Fund Local Pension Board. From 2017/18 there would be a vacancy for an employer representative and a member representative.  A nomination pack had been prepared and would be published on the Fund’s website and circulated to the Fund’s employers and member groups within the next few weeks.

 

The Board discussed the pros and cons of using the alphabetical rotation for nominations to the Board rather than a random selection method but agreed there was no right or wrong approach and agreed the alphabetical rotation as a third stage nomination once stage 1 and 2 have provided no vacancies.

 

Sharon Campion reported that for the nomination of the Trade Union representatives, the nomination pack should go to Unison (who currently hold the seat up for nomination) for them to nominate and not the TUC. Adrian Turner agreed stating the TUC had previously agreed the representation on the Board by agreeing 1 seat per union with 2 going to Unison therefore any vacancies should be managed through the relevant trade union.

 

Adrian Turner suggested an amendment to paragraph 3.2 of the Appointments Process to include the words “write out to the appropriate Trade Union on an annual basis”. 

 

The Board went on to discuss the role of elected members on the Board, noted one member representative and one employer representative and annual appointment by the Council facilitated 2 of the 4 seats renominated each year. In response to questions raised around the legal requirements to have elected members on the Board, Rachel Howe, Head of Governance advised that under the Regulations it had been provided for but it was not a requirement.  City of Wolverhampton councillors could be appointed to the Board but they had to sit as either an employee or employer representative.  Rachel Howe also confirmed that the terms of reference for the Board, which include its membership, had been approved by the board working group in 2014  prior to the creation of the Board and that trade union and employer representatives were part of that approval process. It was noted that a number of authorities do have elected councillors on the Local Pension Board but that practice is only starting to emerge and Local Pension Boards report operations for the Pensions Regulator and Shadow Advisory Board review.

 

In the light of the comments made the Chair suggested that the Unison and TUC Regional Office and the employers be invited to write in with their concerns and thereafter a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5