Newham council pension fund aims to resolve 14 outstanding admission agreements.
The Newham Pensions Committee has been informed that progress is being made to resolve the remaining 14 outstanding admission agreements for the council's pension fund. These agreements are crucial for ensuring that contractors providing services previously undertaken by local authorities, schools, or academies are correctly registered with the pension fund, with details on their contributions and payment obligations.
Councillor John Gray, Vice Chair of the committee, highlighted the long-standing issue of a backlog in these agreements during the Pensions Committee meeting on Wednesday, 21 October 2026. He noted that while the number of outstanding agreements had been reduced from 29 to 14, progress had stalled since July.
The historical context of these agreements relates to contractors taking over services such as catering and cleaning previously managed by local authorities, schools, or academies. The backlog grew to 29 outstanding agreements because we didn't get the mission agreement done in the first contract and the second contract,
with complexity increasing with subsequent re-lettings. This has led to intricate historical data issues.
James Cocks, Assistant Director of Transactional People Services, explained that the remaining cases present complexities, including difficulties in accessing letting authorities during school holidays and intricate data management issues for cases involving admissions on top of admissions.
This refers to situations where contracts have been re-let multiple times, leading to complex historical data that needs to be accurately matched to the correct employer and membership records. The primary reason for this complexity is that individuals relating to the latest contract may be incorrectly matched to a different employer, making accurate historical reconciliation difficult. To manage these issues, LPPA is working with employer payrolls to ensure advance notifications are sent. Individuals with potential outstanding member queries are fast-tracked to the central pensions team, who liaise directly with the employer. While contributions are being received from some employers, formal admission into the scheme is still pending.
Officers estimate that it will take between six to nine months to resolve the remaining 14 cases. Despite the complexities, the committee was assured that efforts are being made to expedite the process, with the aim of resolving four of the cases within the next three months, pending necessary signatures.
Councillor Gray also raised concerns about the potential for delays in resolving these agreements, particularly as new contracts are awarded. He sought a projection on when these outstanding agreements would be resolved, to which officers responded with the six to nine-month timeframe. The committee was also informed that an exempt appendix may be presented at a future meeting to provide more detail on the specific issues delaying these agreements. The purpose of this appendix is to provide assurance that efforts are being made to resolve the outstanding agreements, and it may outline some of the issues that we'll wait for now.