Trustee Roles And Responsibilities
Trustee Information
Anyone appointed to a position on either the GMPF Management Panel or the Local Pension Board is expected to carry out their role in line with the LGPS Regulations, any other associated or relevant guidance & following the instructions of the chair.
Trustee Roles & Responsibilities
Trustees must attend all meetings (unless there are exceptional circumstances) and must undertake training regularly so they can carry out their role effectively. The chair will review attendance levels and training plans for all trustees.
The administering authority has documented all trustee roles and responsibilities to provide clarity over decision making and to ensure that decisions are made at the most appropriate level.
Role of a member of the GMPF Management Panel:
- Make key decisions regarding how GMPF is run.
- Agree GMPF’s objectives and investment beliefs, monitor progress towards these objectives and use the beliefs to form the investment strategy.
- Decide upon an appropriate investment strategy and structure.
- Identify and manage key risks.
- Set a policy on environmental, social and governance (ESG) related matters.
- Liaise with the Northern LGPS on investment options.
- Monitor performance over time of decisions delegated to others.
Role of a Local Board member:
- Provide support and assistance to the administering authority.
- Act as a critical friend, challenging constructively on issues where they may have concern.
- Regularly monitor areas of performance.
- Determine whether any breaches of legislation need to be reported to the Pensions Regulator.
- Check whether the Panel or relevant officers have taken appropriate advice and / or due diligence checks.
- Monitor the work of the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) and its subcommittees and the Pensions Regulator.
All Panel & Local Board members are required to:
- Abide by the code of conduct and seven principles of public life.
- Ensure they have read and understand the conflicts of interest policy and know when declarations of interest should be made.
- Ensure their knowledge and understanding is at the required level.
- Undertake training to ensure their knowledge and understanding is kept up to date.
- Understand their responsibility to identify and highlight any known or perceived risks.
Code of Practice
There is no specific guidance or code of practice confirming the knowledge and understanding requirements needed by members of the Panel. However, it is expected that Panel members have the same or a similar level of knowledge and understanding to that which is required of Local Board members.
The Pensions Regulator sets out the expected knowledge and understanding that members of the Local Board should have in its Code of Practice.
This includes:
- A working knowledge of the LGPS regulations and documented administration policies.
- Knowledge and understanding of the law relating to pensions (and any other prescribed matters), sufficient to exercise the functions of the role.
In order to be able to:
- Identify and where relevant challenge any failure to comply with LGPS regulations or other legislation, requirements or standards.
- Challenge any information or advice given.
The Pensions Regulator is clear that it expects:
- Local Board members to invest sufficient time in their learning and development alongside their other responsibilities and duties.
- Newly appointed members to be aware that their responsibilities and duties begin from the date they take up their post.
- Local Board members to undertake their own personal training needs analysis and regularly review their skills, competencies and knowledge to identify gaps and weaknesses.
Trustee Appointments & Conflicts of Interest
There are agreed procedures in place for the appointment of trustees to the GMPF Management Panel and Local Board. GMPF has a conflicts of interest policy (which is a separate policy for the Fund). Registered trustees must declare any interest they have.
Every administering authority is expected to have its own, separate conflicts of interest policy that relates to the Pension Fund, which documents its approach to dealing with conflicts of interest relating to the Fund.
There are agreed procedures in place for the appointment of trustees to Management Panel and Local Board. GMPF also has a conflicts of interest policy and register, and trustees must declare any interest they have.
The GMPF Management Panel consists of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (TMBC) councillors and other councillors nominated by the remaining local authorities within Greater Manchester acting through the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA). In addition, there is one representative of the Ministry of Justice.
The Advisory Panel members are appointed by the Chair of GMPF. Advisors work closely with the GMPF Management Panel and provide advice in all areas. Each local authority nominates a member to join the Advisory Panel, and there are six employee representatives nominated by the North West TUC. In addition, there is one representative chosen by the Ministry of Justice.
The Board consists of ten members:
Five member representatives
- Four are nominated by the recognised trade unions representing employees who are members of GMPF.
- One is selected directly from the membership of GMPF.
Five employer representatives
- Two are nominated by TMBC.
- Two are nominated by the other Greater Manchester local authorities.
- One is nominated by GMPF’s non local authority employers.
Employer representatives can be office holders or senior employees. No officer or elected member of the administering authority who is responsible for the discharge of any function of the administering authority under the regulations may serve as a member of the Board.
The terms of reference for the Board provide full details on the appointment process
A conflict of interest is a financial or other interest, which is likely to prejudice a person’s exercise of functions as a trustee.
A conflict of interest may arise when a trustee is required to take a decision where the trustee is obliged to act in the best interests of GMPF but has a separate personal interest or another fiduciary duty owed to a different party in relation to that decision; thus giving rise to a possible conflict with his first fiduciary duty.
When potential conflicts of interest arise, they need to be managed. The way in which conflicts are managed will be case specific and will reflect the nature of the conflict. For example, it might be appropriate to sit out of certain parts of meetings or abstain from voting where there is a potential conflict of interests.
Some conflicts of interest will be too large to manage in which case it might be appropriate for the conflicted member to resign. In such circumstances they could be replaced, as appropriate, by the appointment of an independent trustee.
Actual conflicts of interest are prohibited by the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 and cannot be managed; only potential conflicts of interest can be managed. In instances where the conflict of interest is not clear or the implications are not wholly clear, the regulator would expect the matter to be referred to a lawyer to obtain guidance.
The administering authority is responsible for ensuring that actual conflicts of interest do not exist and for managing potential conflicts of interest.
The regulations place a duty on the administering authority in its role as scheme manager to satisfy itself that those appointed to its Local Pension Board do not have an actual conflict of interest before the appointment is made and ‘from time to time’ thereafter.
At each meeting, the Chair will invite declarations of interest. You should also raise any conflicts that arise during the meeting that you may have not initially been aware of.
Outside of meetings, you should refer to the GMPF conflicts of interest policy and if you have any questions or concerns, you should raise these with a member of the Executive Support team or the Solicitor to GMPF.
The Pensions Regulator has provided a detailed guidance document for scheme managers around managing conflicts of interest in three stages. These stages are:
- Identify
- Monitor
- Manage
For any conflict of interest procedure to be successful, it must include a process for identifying conflicts, monitoring any changes that may arise and managing conflicts that come into play. Managing conflicts is the most difficult stage, as the law relating to conflicts is complicated and comes from a variety of sources. You can find more information on the Pension Regulator’s website.
Trustee Training & Development
Building skills, knowledge and understanding is an essential part of being a trustee. GMPF expects all its trustees to undertake regular training and development in order to be able to carry out their roles effectively.
The Local Pension Board is legally required to have relevant knowledge of the rules of the LGPS, and be aware of key scheme documents recording policy about the administration of the scheme. GMPF expects all its trustees to aspire to the same high level of competency.
All trustees are required to record and submit details of all learning and development activities undertaken so that GMPF can monitor this and evaluate the value of new or additional training activities.
As a GMPF trustee you are also able to access the Hymans Robertson LGPS Learning Academy, Aspire. Through this you will have access to several online learning modules covering a wider range of topics relevant to your role. You will receive an email with instructions on how to log into your learning plan. Please contact Loretta Stowers if you don’t receive an email or if you have an issue logging in.
Trustee Training Events
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