Agenda and minutes

To note the attendance at this meeting of any duly appointed Reserve Members.

Reserve Members may attend meetings:-

(i)                 to take the place of an ordinary Member for whom they are a reserve;

(ii)               where the ordinary Member will be absent for the whole of the meeting; and

(iii)             the meeting notes at the start of the meeting at the item ‘Reserves’ that the Reserve Member is or will be attending as a reserve;

(iv)              if a Reserve Member whose intention to attend has been noted arrives after the commencement of the meeting, then that Reserve Member can only act as a Member from the start of the next item of business on the agenda after his/her arrival.

RESOLVED:  To note the attendance at this meeting of the following duly appointed Reserve Members:-

To receive declarations of personal or prejudicial interests, arising from business to be transacted at this meeting, from:

(a)               all Members of the Committee;

(b)               all other Members present.

RESOLVED:  To note that the following interests were declared:

Agenda Item 4 – Academies: Employer Contribution Rates

Councillor Camilla Bath declared a personal interest in that she was a Local Authority appointed governor at Harrow High School, Bentley Wood High School, Whitchurch Junior School, St George’s Catholic Primary School and Rooks Heath College for Business and Enterprise.  She would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Stephen Wright declared a personal interest in that he was a Local Authority appointed governor at Pinner Wood School, a co-opted governor at  Canons High School and his wife was Deputy Head at the Sacred Heart Language College.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Ramji Chauhan declared a personal interest in that he was a parent governor at Hatch End High School.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Anthony Seymour declared a personal interest in that he was a governor at Pinner Park Infant and Nursery School.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Ajay Maru declared a personal interest in that his wife was a teaching assistant at a school in Haringey.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Krishna Suresh declared a personal interest in that he was a governor at Vaughan Primary School and Roxbourne School. He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor Mrinal Choudhury declared a personal interest in that he was a Local Authority appointed governor at Elmgrove Primary and Nursery School. 

He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

Councillor John Nickolay declared a personal interest in that he was a governor at Welldon Park Infant and Junior School.  He would remain in the room whilst the matter was considered and voted upon.

To receive deputations (if any) under the provisions of Committee Procedure Rule 16 (Part 4B) of the Constitution.

RESOLVED:  To note that no deputations were received at the meeting.

Report of the Corporate Director of Resources.

The Panel received a report of the Corporate Director Resources which set out Employer Contribution rates for all Harrow Schools converting to Academy status and for newly established Free Schools.  The report proposed the adoption of a common approach in setting the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) employer contribution rates for each Academy or Free School.

The Corporate Director Resources stated that this issue had been widely debated at a previous meeting of the Pension Fund Investment Panel and three subsequent Licensing and General Purposes Committee meetings during 2011.  Members of L&GP had received extensive information from different sources, including a Department for Education Briefing note, and presentations by Hymans Robertson, the Council’s actuaries, which had informed their decision-making. 

The Corporate Director Resources added that at its meeting of 17 May 2011, the Committee agreed the following approach and that this be adopted by the Council as a common approach in setting LGPS employer contribution rates for each Academy or Free School:

1.                  Schools that apply for Academy status will not be pooled with Harrow Council.

2.                  A separate employer contribution rate for each Academy be established.

3.                  No stabilisation of contributions to be applied.

4.                  A deficit recovery period of 20 years to be used to recover the share of deficit allocated to each Academy.

5.                  The 20 year recovery period to only be applicable for as long as the Academy or DfE did not give notice of exiting its status.

6.                  On receiving 7 years notice of exiting Academy status, the outstanding deficit be spread over the remainder of the notice period and the contribution rate be recalculated with effect from the start of the following financial year.

7.                  The Committee to reserve its position regarding the actuarial basis to be used for the recalculation.

8.                  The share of the deficit to be transferred to the schools be calculated based on the liabilities of current LGPS staff who transfer to the Academy and the estimated liability for deferred and pensioner members formally employed by the former maintained school.

9.                  The cost of calculating Academy specific contribution rates to be charged to each school (Academy).

The Corporate Director stated that the Committee had revised its initial decision to opt for a deficit recovery period of 7 years, and had instead opted for a deficit recovery period of 20 years, following a formal request from the 7 schools that had converted to Academy status in 2011.

Following questions and comments from Members of the Committee, the Corporate Director advised that:

·                    following conversion to Academy status, each School would be deemed to be a ‘Scheduled body’, ie a separate scheme employer and would have individual pension contribution rates.  This did not mean that each Academy or Free School would be part of a separate pension fund, but rather  their portion of the fund would be ring fenced;

·                    the 7 schools that had converted to Academy status in 2011 had chosen not to be in a single pool, and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 78.