A.24/18
The Devon County
Council Assistant County Treasurer was in attendance to provide a
presentation to Members on the Pension Fund.
In so doing, the
presentation provided the following overview:-
-
Devon County Council was the Administering Authority
of the Fund and delegated management of the Fund to the Investment
& Pension Fund Committee;
-
As at 31 March 2018, the total size of the Fund
equated to £4.086 billion;
-
Over 200 employers paid into the Fund;
-
The Pension Scheme had over 100,000 members
comprising contributors, pensioners and deferred
pensioners;
-
Funds were invested by external investment managers
into equities, bonds etc; and
-
An actuarial review of the Fund took place every
three years to determine the funding level.
Looking ahead, the
presentation also concluded that:
-
the Pension Fund had a long-term horizon over which
to invest;
-
investments needed to be managed to meet liabilities
over the long-term;
-
negative cashflow (contributions less benefits)
needed to be factored into the Investment Strategy;
-
the Fund needed to adapt to a changing
world;
-
investments would be pooled with other Local
Government Pension Scheme Funds from April 2018; and
-
long-term performance remained the overriding
objective.
The Chairman invited
questions on the content of the presentation and particular
reference was made to:-
(a)
the Council’s funding position in comparison
to other local authorities in the county. The Assistant County Treasurer informed that the
Council’s position was well above the average. As a result, the Council’s deficit
contributions were much lower than the majority of other local
authorities in Devon;
(b)
the overriding objective of the Fund. It was confirmed that the policy that was applied
to the Fund was to ensure that the best financial return was
obtained on investments, irrespective of factors such as ethical
issues;
(c)
the implications of Brexit. Whilst acknowledging that it could be a risk, the
Assistant County Treasurer informed that the impact of Brexit on
the next actuarial valuation in 2019 was unknown.
In conclusion, the
Chairman thanked the officer for his informative presentation and
it was agreed that a copy of the presentation slides would be
circulated to the wider membership for their information and
retention.