Fund strategies, policies and statements

The aim of our administration strategy statement is to make sure both the administering authority (Shropshire Council) and our employers are fully aware of their responsibilities under the LGPS regulations, and to identify acceptable levels of performance.

The aim of the communication policy statement is to set out the communications strategy for the fund.

The Shropshire County Pension Fund is required by The Local Government Pension Scheme (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2004 to prepare and publish a funding strategy statement. The funding strategy statement is prepared in line with guidance issued by CIPFA’s Pensions Panel. A draft is shared with our employing bodies for comment before approval by the pensions committee.

The significance of the funding strategy statement is that our actuary looks at it as a part of the valuation process. The funding strategy statement must be updated whenever there is a material change to our investment policy.

The Shropshire County Pension Fund has adopted a governance compliance statement which includes information about our governance arrangements.

Shropshire County Pension Fund has developed a reporting breaches policy and procedure. This makes sure anyone responsible for reporting and whistle blowing can identify, assess and report (or record if not reported) a breach of law.

For many years LGPS funds have had to maintain a statement of investment principles. This document lays out the things considered by us when making investment decisions. It also includes the types of investments that could be held, how the various risks are taken into account and what our objectives were.

The Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Investment Regulations, which became effective on 1 November 2016, introduced a requirement for administering authorities to formulate, publish and maintain an investment strategy statement. This meant a SIP was no longer necessary.

Our investment strategy statement has been prepared in line with regulation 7 of the Local Government Pension Scheme (Management and Investment of Funds) Regulations 2016.

The purpose of this document is to describe the various “life stages” of an employer that participates in the fund. It summarises events and possible outcomes from those events right through until the employer withdraws from the fund.

The training policy was created to help all to whom this policy applies, in having sufficient knowledge and understanding to make sure all decisions, actions and other activities are carried out in an informed and appropriate way.

Shropshire County Pension Fund is taking part in a data sharing project with other LGPS pension funds across England, Scotland and Wales. As LGPS funds are all locally administered, the database allows us to check if members have LGPS records in other pension funds.

For more information please read the question and answers PDF document on the national insurance database.

Our actuary, Mercer, have also released information on how our member’s details are viewed and protected. You can read this on Mercer’s website.