Stuart Basnett, Grant Thornton UK LLC introduced the report of the Director of Resources which outlined Grant Thornton’s external audit plan for Merseyside Pension Fund for 2020-21 which had been undertaken as part of their statutory audit and presented to the Pensions Committee in June 2021.

It was reported that the process for undertaking the audit for the Pension Fund was comparable to that of the Council, therefore the significant risks relating to the Pension Fund were outlined including fraud in revenue and expenditure recognition, valuation of level 3 investments and valuation of directly held property. It was further reported that additional work had been undertaken to mitigate the risk of the valuation of directly held property including liaising with the Fund’s property valuator as well as engaging an independent valuator to gain assurance on the appropriateness of the valuations. The audit site visits had taken place earlier in the year remotely, and the final accounts were due to be completed later in the week with the findings to be reported back to the September committee.

Resolved – That

1)  the report be noted.

2)  it be agreed that the proposed Audit Plan and the arrangements set out meet the Committee’s expectations with regard to providing independent scrutiny.