The Assistant Director – Resources presented the draft Statement of Accounts 2024/25 to the Committee for noting.

Members asked for more details on the consultancy budget underspend of £74k due to a lack of capacity from the consultants for development of the Pensions Administration system.

The Assistant Director – Resources explained that there had been staff vacancies in the systems team in 2024/25 and, that given the time and work needed to recruit, it had been decided at the time to put this budget aside to pay for consultants to undertake the work on the Pensions Administration System. However, due to a lack of capacity for the consultants to undertake the work due to other priorities such as the McCloud Implementation, this money was not spent. The Assistant Director - Resources explained that the underspend had been transferred to Reserves to be used for other consultancy costs on the myPension portal and the Employer Hub for 2025/26.

Members noted the 4.5% uplift in operational costs from 2024/25 and asked if there was a threshold for this budget that would constitute a risk.

The Assistant Director – Resources explained that the Authority (including the operational budget) was underwritten by the Fund and that no specific threshold had been set on these costs, however the Authority was always looking at cost savings to be an efficient and responsible steward for scheme member money and as such set this budget in line with inflation, minimising any spending beyond what was needed to effectively run the scheme.

RESOLVED: Members noted the draft Statement of Accounts 2024/25 at Appendix A of the report, subject to the audit currently in progress.