The Authority considered an amended report seeking authority for South Yorkshire Pensions Authority to pool its LGPS assets with 12 other Funds in the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership.

At the Extraordinary meeting of the Authority on 16 February 2017, Members had expressed serious concerns regarding the lack of information on the role of Trade Union representatives or Local Pension Boards within the Pool and had asked the Chair to contact the Chairs of the other members of the proposed Pool to ascertain their position on the matter.

There had also been concerns regarding infrastructure investment at the Extraordinary Authority meeting and the meeting of the Investment Board the previous week.

The Authority agreed to the Chair’s suggestion to invite Fiona Miller, Chair of a Pool-wide Infrastructure Working Group, to a future meeting.

The Chair informed Members that she had spoken to all but one of the other Chairs.  The vast majority valued Trade Union input at Authority level and would not want to see this decreased.

Various ideas had been put forward for involving Trade Unions and Local Pension Boards in the governance of the Pool.  These would be discussed at the next BCP Governance sub-group, of which the Chair was a member.

Members were informed that at a meeting between the Chair, Vice-Chair, the Trade Union representatives and the Chair of the Local Pension Board an explicit SYPA policy had been agreed; this was detailed at paragraph 4.17 of the report.

It had also been decided that the Chair and Vice-Chair would meet with the Chair of the Local Pension Board and the Trade Union representatives ahead of BCPP Joint Committee meetings to consult on the agenda.

Members thanked the Chair for her work in this area, her time and efforts were appreciated.

Cllr P Wood expressed concerns about equal voting rights and the fact that the Authority would be contributing more assets than most other Authorities.

S Barrett and A Frosdick commented that this also had its advantages; set-up and ongoing costs would be the same for everyone – if SYPA had more than one share these costs would be significantly higher.  It was noted that equal voting rights were the norm in this type of arrangement.

RESOLVED:  That the Authority meets the regulatory requirements to pool Pension fund assets by:

1.      Agreeing to be a member of the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (BCPP) and to adopt its arrangements, by authorising the Clerk and the S151 officer in consultation with the Interim Fund Director to finalise the approval and execution, where required, of all legal documents necessary to give effect to the decision below:

i.       entering into the Inter-Authority Agreement between the Authority and the administering authorities of the other Pool funds

ii.      entering into the Shareholders’ Agreement between the Authority and the administering authorities of the other Pool funds and Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Limited

iii.     agreeing the Articles of Association to be adopted by the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Ltd.

2.      Approving the establishment of the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Joint Committee as a formal Joint Committee under section 102 of the Local Government Act 1972 in accordance with and to carry out the functions as set out in the Inter-Authority Agreement.

3.      Approving the subscription by the South Yorkshire Pension Fund of one Class A voting share in the asset management company, Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Limited.

4.      Appointing the Chair of the Authority as the shareholder for BCPP Ltd.

5.      Approving the subscription by the South Yorkshire Pension Fund for such number of Calls B non-voting shares in the Border to Coats Pensions Partnership Limited as shall be necessary to ensure that the Authority contributes by way of equity one twelfth of the minimum regulatory capital requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority.

6.      Appointing the Chair to represent the Authority on behalf of the Fund at the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership Joint Committee meetings.

7.      Authorising the Clerk to make the consequential changes required to the Constitution to reflect these new arrangements; and