Public Employees Pension Fund & Jersey Teachers Superannuation Fund: Re-Appointment of Chairman

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A decision made 1 March 2019:

Decision Reference: MD-C-2019-0015
Decision Summary Title:	Public Employees Pension Fund and Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund - Recommendation to the Chief Minister – Re-appointment of Chairman		Date of Decision Summary:
Decision Summary Author:	Project Director – Pensions		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Public Employees Pension Fund and Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund - Recommendation to the Chief Minister – Re-appointment of Chairman		Date of Written Report:	February 2019
Written Report Author:	Projects Director – Pensions		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: For the Chief Minister to agree to the re-appointment of the Chairman of the PEPS and JTSF and to agree the fee and reasonable expenses to be paid (as detailed in the attached report).
Decision(s): Following a recommendation by the Treasury Minister for the Chief Minister to re-appointment the Chairman of the PEPF and the JTSF and the fee and reasonable expenses to be paid to the Chairman following consultation with both Committees.
Reason(s) for Decision: Public Employees Pension Scheme Legislation Under the Public Employees (Pension Scheme)(Administration)(Jersey) Regulations 2015 the Chief Minister may extend the Chairman’s initial term of office by re-appointing the Chairman for a second term of office not exceeding 5 years or any subsequent term of office thereafter not exceeding 5 years. The Chairman must on appointment (or re-appointment, as the case may be), enter into a contract for services with the States Employment Board which must specify such fee and reasonable expenses to be paid to the Chairman out of the fund, as is determined by the Minister for Treasury and Resources in consultation with the Committee. Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund Legislation Under the Teachers Superannuation (Administration)(Jersey) Order the Chairman of the JTSF shall be appointed by the Chief Minister on the recommendation of the Minister for Treasury and Resources. The fee to be paid to the Chairman from the assets of the Fund shall be decided by a simple majority of the member and employer representatives.
Resource Implications: None.
Action required: For the Administrator to advise the Projects Director – Pensions once this decision has been approved.
Signature:		Position: Senator J. Le Fondré Chief Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Public Employees Pension Fund & Jersey Teachers Superannuation Fund: Re-Appointment of Chairman

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States Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

Public Employees Pension Fund (PEPF) and

Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund (JTSF)

Re-appointment of Chairman

Purpose of the Report

Mr Gordon Pollock, the Chairman of both the Public Employees Pension Fund (PEPF) and the Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund (JTSF) was appointed for a 5 year period from 1 July 2014 until 30 June 2019.

Members of both Boards and Treasury officials support a second term of office for a further 5 year period from 1 July 2019 until 30 June 2024.

Background

Public Employees Pension Scheme Legislation

Under the Public Employees (Pension Scheme)(Administration)(Jersey) Regulations 2015 the Chief Minister may extend the Chairman’s initial term of office by re-appointing the Chairman for a second term of office not exceeding 5 years or any subsequent term of office thereafter not exceeding 5 years. The Chairman must on appointment (or re-appointment, as the case may be), enter into a contract for services with the States Employment Board which must specify such fee and reasonable expenses to be paid to the Chairman out of the fund, as is determined by the Minister for Treasury and Resources in consultation with the Committee.

Jersey Teachers’ Superannuation Fund Legislation

Under the Teachers Superannuation (Administration)(Jersey) Order the Chairman of the JTSF shall be appointed by the Chief Minister on the recommendation of the Minister for the States Treasury and Exchequer. The fee to be paid to the Chairman from the assets of the Fund shall be decided by a simple majority of the member and employer representatives.

Original Recruitment Process

The panel that conducted the recruitment, selection and interview process in late 2013 early 2014 were:

Ken Soar, Commissioner, Jersey Appointments Commission (Chairman) until 6th January 2014
Edward Sallis OBE, Commissioner Jersey Appointments Commission (Chairman) from 6th January 2014
Terence Le Sueur OBE, Employer Representative PEPS / JTSF
John Mills CBE, Employer Representative PEPS / JTSF
Ron Amy OBE, Chairman of PEPS / JTSF
Gary Burton, Member Representative JTSF
Mark Richardson, Member Representative PEPS
Laura Rowley, Treasurer of the States

The panel unanimously agreed that Gordon Pollock had the skills and experience that best matched the criteria for the role. A biography is included at Appendix A.

Chairman’s Remuneration

Remuneration, fixed for the 5 year term of office, was £85,000 per annum and is shared between both schemes. PEPF pays the higher amount of £50,000 per annum as it is the larger scheme, whilst the JTSF pay £35,000. The fee has remained fixed for the 5 year period of the first term of office.

Following consultation it was unanimously agreed by both Boards to increase the Chairman’s fee for the second term and to fix the level of remuneration for the next 5 year term of office. It is proposed the fee level has an inflationary increase equal to civil servants pay awards over the last 5 years to bring it to £92,500 per annum.

The amount will be divided with the PEPF paying £54,200 per annum and the JTSF £38,300 per annum.

Recommendation

PEPF legislation - for the Chief Minister to agree that the fee of £54,200 per annum being offered to the Chairman is appropriate following consultation with the Committee.

JTSF legislation – following the recommendation of the Treasury Minister for the Chief Minister to appoint Mr Gordon Pollock for a second term of office with the fee to be paid to the Chairman from the assets of the Fund as agreed by a simple majority of the member and employer representatives to be £38,300 per annum.

MB/ST&E

February 2019

Appendix A

Biography

Mr Gordon Pollock

Gordon is a former Worldwide Partner and UK Chief Actuary of Mercer and an expert witness. He joined Duncan Fraser & Co in Edinburgh in 1976 and was appointed Partner in 1983. After the firm was sold to Mercer in 1986 he advised some of the firm’s largest pension fund and corporate clients on pension issues including actuarial, funding strategy, and the impact of corporate activity. These included BT, SAUL, RAC, the Electricity Companies, PWC and Compass Group. He became Head of Mercer’s City office in 1989 for 6 years before being appointed Head of the UK Actuarial business.

Prior to his early retirement in 2011, he was UK Chief Actuarial Officer for 6 year and spent half his time in this role reviewing Mercers actuarial advice to the firm’s most complex pension fund clients.

From 2002 until 2004, he was Chairman of the Association of Consulting Actuaries, having been Honorary Treasurer since 1998. He lobbied the DWP and government ministers over pension policy, including their response to the increasing number of occupational pension schemes closing due to cost and regulatory pressures and the need to encourage growth in future pension savings. He is an experienced trustee, having been a director of the MMC UK Pension Plan (£3.3bn) for 16 years. He was a member of the investment committee which oversaw a Common Investment Fund and he chaired a sub-committee that focused on de-risking and new asset classes. He was also Chairman of both the Audit and Risk and the Legal committees.

Since retiring from Mercer, Gordon has continued to act as an expert advisor and witness in legal cases concerning actuarial and investment strategy. He was appointed as a consultant to Barnett Waddingham to help them develop the firm’s capability in this field. One of the largest cases he worked on involved possible litigation over actuarial and investment advice given in 2006 by a consulting firm. He was also appointed as the Chairman of Expert Witness Working Group of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries and a trustee of their Staff Pension Scheme (£50mil) and he recently acted as an expert in the court case involving the British Airways Pension Schemes. In 2017 he was appointed as an independent member of the Treasury Advisory Panel. Gordon has been described as an ‘industry heavyweight’ and brings considerable experience, gravitas and sound judgement to the Chair role.