The Team Leader – Governance provided Local Pension Board members with an update on the current status of compliance with each section of the Pensions Regulator’s (TPR’s) General Code of Practice.

Members queried the ‘red’ status of question 15 under Scheme Administration regarding having a robust business continuity plan in place. The Assistant Director – Resources explained that this plan is in draft currently and would be fully completed before the next report meaning the status should be green next time.

In response to a query regarding questions in the Communications and Disclosure section of the Code, it was also explained that a new Digital Media and Communications Officer was due to start in September 2025 and that this would  enable the Communications team to progress the actions planned in relation to arranging a review of scheme member communications against plain English and accessibility standards. It was also explained that the status of several questions under the Reporting to TPR section were set to improve should the Complaints and Breaches Procedures presented at item 15 of this agenda be approved.

The Independent Adviser noted that there were numerous outstanding actions that had been identified as ‘required’ and stressed the importance of keeping the Board up to date with progressing these actions. The Chair agreed and asked whether there were any particular actions that SYPA would struggle to meet.

The Head of Governance and Corporate Services expressed that they were confident all ‘required’ questions could be met with the actions being planned and that the majority had already been identified for improvement before the compliance review. Officers agreed to include specific progress updates on any required areas of the Code that remain non-compliant in the covering report at the next review to be reported in February 2026.

RESOLVED: Members:

a)    noted the update on compliance with the TPR’s General Code of Practice and actions identified; and

b)    considered if any further information or explanation was required from officers.