Agenda and draft minutes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 02 June 2026.

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 June 2026 were confirmed and signed.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or personal interest as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct.  In making their decision councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

No declarations of disclosable pecuniary interests were made at the meeting.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected] by 08:00am on Thursday 03 September.

When submitting your question(s) and/or statement(s) please note that:

·       You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.

·       A question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.

·       It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.

·       Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.

·       When submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder). 

·       Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting.

·       Questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. 

·       All questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.   

There were no questions from members of the public.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total. Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.

The submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected] on Thursday 03 September.

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions from councillors.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To consider the quarterly report on pension fund administration.

Administration performance remained strong, although recurring data issues persist with a small number of employers, particularly those using outsourced payroll providers.

Retrospective rectification for McCloud remains outstanding because of software limitations. The software supplier will be challenged through the Local Pension Board on outstanding functionality and delivery timescales.

Annual Benefit Illustrations were issued on time without McCloud underpin information, affecting potentially fewer than 300 active members. Two regulatory breaches are to be reported to The Pension Regulator and affected members will receive updated information once calculations are validated.

The draft Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy was discussed, with members asking for greater recognition of the opportunities from AI alongside the risks.

To provide an update on the government’s LGPS ‘fit for the future’ reforms.

The government’s LGPS ‘Fit for the future’ reforms were intended to strengthen governance arrangements, improve investment outcomes and deliver efficiencies through greater scale and consistency across the LGPS, and to unlock investment potential for UK growth.

The Pensions Schemes Bill received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026 and was now enacted as the Pension Schemes Act 2026. Supporting secondary legislation (regulations) and guidance specific to the LGPS had come into force on 30 June 2026.

The regulations mandate full participation in Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) authorised asset pool companies.

The regulations require each administering authority to appoint an “LGPS Senior Officer” with responsibility across all pension functions including investment, funding, administration and governance and an “independent person” to provide support to the administering authority in the discharge of its LGPS duties.  Both appointments are required by the end of December 2026. Recruitment/procurement is progressing.

Committee member knowledge and training arrangements will need to become more formal, including training-needs assessments.

A new draft Investment Strategy Statement (ISS) will come to the Committee in December, followed by consultation and final approval in March 2027.

To receive a verbal update from Cllr John Beesley in his capacity as a member of the Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) for the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

Cllr John Beesley, a member of the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board (SAB), updated the Committee on governance matters relating to investment pooling. 

Much of SAB’s recent activity had focused on implementation of the ‘Fit for the Future’ reforms.

Cllr Beesley had been appointed Chair of SAB’s investment committee, whose remit includes responsible investment, transparency and investment pooling. Particular attention was being given to fiduciary duty guidance, with the aim of ensuring that emerging national guidance properly reflects LGPS circumstances and avoids divergent interpretations.

A Brunel close-down statement/report was requested following final wind down of the company, so that the Committee could understand the financial and governance consequences of the transition to LPPI.

To consider the draft pension fund annual report budget for 2025-26.

The report remains draft pending completion of external audit work and will return for final approval in December. Members were invited to submit corrections or comments to officers before then. Members identified some amendments regarding governance and training wording.

To consider the quarterly report on the value and performance of the pension fund’s investments.

The pension fund’s assets at 30 June 2026 were valued at just under £4.9bn, an increase of c. £335m since the beginning of the financial year.

The total return from the pension fund’s investments over the quarter to 30 June 2026 was 7.6%, compared to the combined benchmark return of 9.2% and the average Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) return of 6.9%.  The total return for the 12 months to 30 June 2026 was 16.4% compared to the benchmark return of 21.1% and average LGPS return of 13.8%. 

Over the longer term, annualised returns for the three years to 30 June were 11.5% compared to the benchmark return of 14.4% and average LGPS return of 9.6%, and for five years were 6.9% compared to the benchmark of 9.4% and average LGPS return of 6.9%.

The independent investment adviser emphasised that although returns were below benchmark, absolute returns remained above the actuarial discount rate (which is important for the funding position and therefore employer contributions) and compared favourably with LGPS peers over recent years.

Discussion focused on whether benchmark comparisons adequately reflect, for example, Dorset's deliberately more defensive equity positioning. Further work with LPPI will look at better distinguishing the impact of client fund strategic decisions from pool company implementation decisions and reporting.

Concerns remained that an Artificial Intelligence bubble was developing in US technology stocks and that sufficient returns to justify valuations would not materialise from the billions being invested. The independent adviser highlighted risks around high US/technology valuations and a potential AI-related investment bubble, supporting a cautious approach.

To confirm the dates for the meetings of the Committee in 2026/27:

1.30 pm Tuesday 1 December 2026 - County Hall, Dorchester.

1.30 pm Tuesday 2 March 2027 - County Hall, Dorchester.

All meetings to be preceded by training for committee members 10am to 12.45pm.

1.30 pm Tuesday 1 December 2026 - County Hall, Dorchester

1.30 pm Tuesday 2 March 2027 - County Hall, Dorchester

All meetings to be preceded by training for committee members 10am to 12.30pm.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph 3 of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There is no exempt business scheduled for this meeting.

There was no exempt business.