Over 150 delegates, representing contributing employers, members and trade unions, attended our annual meeting on Friday 18 June.
The guest speaker was Sir Tom Farmer who gave the meeting an interesting, inspirational and thought-provoking insight into the subjects of success and achievement.
Download the slides used by our speakers at the meeting, the Hymans Robertson slides, the delegates list, the SPFO staff in attendance or the agenda.
Key messages from the meeting were:
- 2009/10 was an outstanding year for the Fund.
- The Fund’s investments produced a total annual return of 36.3% for the year.
- The Fund’s financial statements as at 31st March 2010 will show an asset value of almost £10.4 billion, a new high water mark.
- The Fund was 89% funded on 31 March 2010 though FRS17 valuations will not reflect this.
- However, much of the financial performance was recovery from the turmoil of the previous couple of years.
- And there may be difficult times ahead as the Local Government Pension Scheme is being examined by a number of bodies including the new government’s Public Sector Pensions Commission (which, it was announced shortly after the meeting, will be chaired by former Labour minister John Hutton).
- But the Fund and SPFO are well placed to rise to whatever challenges lie ahead.
Annual meeting organiser, Doreen Shannon, picked out a couple of comments from the feedback questionnaires to sum up the event:
- “Always worth coming along to.”
- “Easy to understand and humorous.”