OUR ROUND-UP OF THE LATEST PUBLIC SECTOR NEWS AND INSIGHTS
Current Issues in the LGPS - September 2024
05 Sep 2024
All LGPS eyes are on the first phase of the government’s Pensions Review, which continues at pace - a call for evidence is now open until 25 September. Catch up on the background in our policy series. And there’s plenty to digest around the likes of pooling, ESG and longevity, and some tips on improving your fund’s resilience ahead of the next major IT outage.
In this month's edition of Current Issues in the LGPS, some highlights include:
Leadership changes within our LGPS team
We’re delighted to announce that Rob Bilton has been appointed as Head of LGPS Actuarial and Robbie McInroy as Head of LGPS Client Consulting. Rob and Robbie will work alongside Susan Black as Head of Governance, Administration and Projects, and Iain Campbell as Head of LGPS Investment to deliver all of the services we provide to the LGPS. Catherine McFadyen has been promoted to Head of Pensions, covering the whole pensions market at Hymans Robertson. As Catherine takes on her new role, she will be retaining her LGPS clients and presence in the LGPS market.
New government: LGPS policy series
The new Labour Government has acted quickly to shine the spotlight on the LGPS since coming into power. It’s disappointing that the premise of the recently launched Pensions Review is tackling “fragmentation and inefficiency”. However, considering the costs and structure of the LGPS within the review is perhaps only a means to an end, with the key aim being to boost UK growth. For the LGPS, this begins and ends with more investment in UK-based “productive assets”, and at pace. To support you in navigating this environment, we'll be sharing a series of publications over the next few months. We’ve produced three publications so far:
- A summary of central government policy initiatives that impact the LGPS
- An explainer on the ‘Canadian model’
- A note about how the Terms of Reference for Phase 1 of the Pensions Review affect the LGPS in England and Wales.
And hot off the press, it’s just been announced that HMT/DWP/MHCLG have issued a call for evidence to inform the first phase of the Pensions Review. It closes on 25 September. Look out for our briefing.
Preparing for pooling
With the 31 March 2025 deadline to pool assets fast approaching, we discuss the work that funds in England and Wales should undertake to ensure they are in as strong a position as possible for the subsequent required reporting. Funds should have clarity over what is pooled, what the plans are for assets yet to be pooled, and strong justifications for assets where there is no plan to pool.
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If you have any questions, or would like to discuss anything further, please get in touch.
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