Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from the following Members:

Councillor Bayford;

Councillor Johnston, substituted by Councillor Campbell;

Councillor Jeremy Fairbrass, substituted by Councillor Crow-Brown.

To approve the Minutes of the meeting of the General Purposes Committee held on 24 November 2017, copy attached.

Councillor Lin Fairbrass proposed, Councillor Dellar seconded and Members agreed the minutes as a correct record of the meeting that was held on 24 November 2017.

Councillor Taylor-Smith proposed, Councillor Crow-Brown seconded and Members agreed that the public and press be excluded from the meeting for agenda item 5 as it contains exempt information as defined in Paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

Dominic Whelan, Director of EK Services introduced the report and made the following points:

·  KCC Superannuation Committee met in November 2017 and agreed that they would allow CIVICA UK Ltd to enter into the local pension scheme to allow staff with the current pension scheme to be transferred to CIVICA and be able to continue with the pension scheme arrangement if the contracting out decision is agreed by the EKSC;

·  The parties to the agreement are KCC, TDC (as the Scheme Employer) and CIVICA UK Ltd;

·  Guarantee or the Bond – Mr Whelan explained that an Actuarial report was commissioned that detailed the costs and liabilities pertaining to the group of staff potentially transferring from TDC to Civica. The actuarial report indicated that CIVICA would need to make a certain level of employers contribution to the scheme and it also outlined an amount of potential liability that KCC requires to be guaranteed.

·  This liability was either to be mitigated through a provision of an insurance bond or the provision of a guarantee in the form of an Indemnity from the Scheme Employer. Civica was willing to provide an Insurance Bond but the costs would be factored into the contract;

·  Mr Whelan explained that the three Council Finance Directors had reviewed this situation and it was recommended that the best way to maintain best value was for Thanet District Council to provide the guarantee to KCC;

·  The risk was limited as any liabilities would be shared between CCC, DDC and TDC and in reality any situation that may arise giving rise to the creation of a liability (such as Civica nonpayment of contributions or Civica going in administration or filing for bankruptcy) would be known about quickly and would result in a contract termination and the staff would reverse TUPE back to councils with the pension liabilities.

·  External legal advice had been sought in arriving at that position and this was summarised within the report.

·  Mr Whelan also stated that, following a restructure within EKS, a new position of Head of Shared Services / Client had been created (nil cost as this was a move following deletion of an equivalently funded post). This role would become a Deputy Chief Officer position, who would become the main client officer to manage to contract under consideration. The Committee was asked to approve this role being created as a Deputy Chief Officer, in order for the Head of Paid Service to enact any requirements necessary to formalise this position.

Tim Willis, Director of Corporate Resources confirmed that Thanet District Council was no more exposed with regards to this guarantee than any of the other participating councils. The risk is shared equally amongst the councils in question.

In response to the presentation, Members raised the following questions:

·  Will the new arrangement mean that all of CIVICA staff or just the ones being transferred over from local government be part of the pension scheme arrangement?

·  Is there no contradiction in the report where it is reported  ...  view the full minutes text for item 102.