Category: Defined Benefit
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I had the honour of running a workshop alongside Andy Seed last week at Owen James’ excellent Retirement Matters conference. We discussed the Pensions Commission and what it needs to consider, and one point really stood out: we seem to have lost sight of the philosophy that underpinned the construction of our welfare system. Beveridge’s…
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Defined Contribution (DC) schemes are under growing pressure to back UK growth, but the example they are told to follow – the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) – has some advantages they cannot easily replicate. Border to Coast’s £500m UK opportunities strategy shows what can be achieved when funds pool and commit to illiquid assets.…
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Sir Steve Webb, Partner at LCP and former Pensions Minister and MP very kindly had a chat with me about surplus extraction. I set out a summary of this fascinating interview below. 😊 PG: What are the government’s stated and unstated aims in allowing surplus extraction? Steve: The process started under the last government, and…
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I imagine that many of us greet news about DB scheme surplus extraction with “what does this mean? Is it dangerous? Surely taking money out of DB schemes is bad for members and an unfair treatment of their contributions?” At least, that’s what I thought at first. So I have done a little research in…
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Happy New Year! I hope you all had fabulous breaks! 😊 It seems appropriate that my first blog of 2025 looks at what might be coming up for pension schemes this year. Defined Contribution (DC) Schemes So much change is expected here! Alongside Value for Money (VFM) framework development, the government is looking at setting…
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I feel like the Government’s agenda around pension scheme investment is a bit confusing at the moment. On the one hand, there is the drive for DC schemes to invest more in illiquids, infrastructure and private markets generally. Then there is the added element that the Government believes a growing proportion of this needs to…
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The Government is frustrated at the slow pace of LGPS pooling. Since the eight LGPS pools were set up in 2015, the Government has been pushing for 100% pooling. However, as of March 2024, only 45% of LGPS assets are invested through pools (HMT, 2024). The level of pooling varies by Local Authority, in 2022…