The Role and Conflicts of interest
Purpose
Your principal aim is to safeguard the interests of all Pension Fund members, ensuring the Fund is run properly and that members’ benefits are secure, acting in line with the legal framework surrounding pensions.
What does the role involve?
Remaining impartial and always acting in the best interests of members
Administering the Fund in accordance with the law
Strategically managing and steering the investment of the Fund’s assets with help from professional advisers
Overseeing the administration and payments to members and their dependents.
Providing members with key information about the Fund
Ensuring strong Fund governance at all times
The day-to-day duties
As a Committee Member, you’ll be required to spend time reading meeting papers and to attend 4 meetings which are scheduled at the start of each calendar year. Additional meetings can be arranged with the agreement of the Chair.
Meetings are held during the working week and in the daytime, so you’ll need to have discussed and had approval from your line manager in advance.
Meetings are usually held in Bristol or London but hybrid arrangements are usually available. Each September we have a training day where in person attendance is strongly encouraged.
The next scheduled meetings are on:
11 December 2024
26 March 2025
25 June 2025
24 September 2025
Reimbursement
This is a voluntary position. The EAPF will pay for any expenses you incur while doing this role.
Training and support
You'll be helped with a wider package of training and support to assist you in your role. More details about this are in the 'Commitment to training' section.
We may recruit 2 member representatives. This is to allow one person to fill the current vacancy and one to be a shadow representative, who still attends the meetings, undertakes the training and can take the next available place.
In doing the job, you'll be supported by a range of EAPF officers and external professional advisers. Their job is to propose decisions on how the Fund should operate.
You and your colleagues on the Pensions Committee will be responsible and accountable for the decisions made.
Commitment
You’ll need to commit to approximately 10 days a year if you get the role. This covers attending the meeting and doing training to develop your understanding.
What we're looking for from our new member representative
You can develop networks with members to be able to share information on pensions and receive feedback from them.
You're from, or can build links with, parts of the EAPF membership which are not currently strongly represented on the Pensions Committee, notably members from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background, and/or younger people or Trade Union members.
You want to work with others on the Committee to make sure that the Fund is managed well and invested responsibly.
You're keen to develop your understanding of our pension fund and are willing and able to dedicate time to the role and training opportunities.
A conflict of interest may arise when an individual has a responsibility in relation to the Fund and at the same time has a separate personal interest or another responsibility which may impact on the Fund role. For example, you or your partner are on the Board of a company which the Fund invests in.
We have a 'Conflicts of Interest Policy' to ensure that the Environment Agency Pension Fund upholds a high standard of conduct, is well managed and the Pension Committee functions properly.
You can download our Conflicts of Interest policy at www.eapf.org.uk/resources/publications/policies
If you apply for the position you'll be asked if you would have any conflicts of interest in doing this role.
