At its meeting on Monday 7 March 2022, the ACCESS Joint Committee agreed proposals enabling each ACCESS Authority’s Local Pension Board (LPB) to send two observers on a rotational basis which can be drawn from scheme member, employer or independent LPB representatives.
In December 2019 Councillor Roger Phillips, SAB Chair, wrote to the LGPS asset pools which had yet to include some form of scheme member representation in their governance arrangement in accordance with the Board’s policy objective agreed on the 23rd March 2017 and updated in May 2018 (see below). When the Board met on the 13th December 2021 it was reported that ACCESS remains the only asset pool not to include member representation. Although ACCESS has complied with the Board’s policy by explaining their reasons for excluding scheme members, the Board wishes to express its disappointment and strongly urges the representatives of the fund authorities to re-consider their position and to extend their governance arrangement to include scheme member representation either as full members with or without voting rights or as observers. (Note this statement has been amended to clarify the 'comply or explain' basis of the Board’s Policy)
MHCLG has prepared new statutory guidance on LGPS asset pooling. This will set out the requirements on administering authorities, replacing previous guidance, and builds on previous Ministerial communications and guidance on investment strategies. MHCLG are now inviting views on the draft guidance, the document below:
MHCLG Draft guidance on pooling consultation, pdf, 9 pages, 370kb
This is an informal consultation with interested parties only, including the Scheme Advisory Board, Pensions Committees, Local Pension Boards, the pool Joint Committees or equivalent, the Cross Pool Collaboration Group, the pool operating companies where owned by participating funds, CIPFA and ALATS. All responses to the consultation should be sent to [email protected].
Please indicate if the response is an individual response or on behalf of an organisation, and please also indicate which section of the guidance you are commenting on. The consultation will remain open for 12 weeks and will close on 28th March 2019.
A joint MHCLG Scheme Advisory Board infrastructure event was held on 15th November 2018. This was well attended by pension fund committee chairs; this note provides a summary of the main points of discussion for those committee chairs unable to attend:
Note on Infrastructure event 15th November 2018 pdf, 2 pages, 238kb
At its meeting on the 16th February 2018, the Board agreed to review the wording of the policy statement on pool governance published here on the 23rd March 2017. The following statement was subsequently agreed (revised text shown in bold) –
“The Board recognises that it is for scheme managers within each pool to develop appropriate governance to assure all stakeholders of the transparent and effective implementation of strategy. In this respect the Board notes the comments made by the then Local Government minister Marcus Jones MP on this matter in the Westminster Hall debate on 24th October 2016.
The board recognises that strategic decisions on asset allocations and responsible investment will remain at the local level and therefore the involvement via local pension boards of those employers beyond the scheme manager along with member representatives in those areas would continue. However the Board would expect that scheme managers involve those same employers and member representatives in assisting with the assurance of transparent reporting from pools and ensuring the effective implementation of strategies by pools. Such involvement should include the consideration of provision of direct representation on oversight structures. In line with the UK Corporate Governance Code principle of ‘comply or explain’, any pool making a decision to exclude member representatives from their formal oversight structures should publish this decision and formally report the reasons to the local pension boards which the pool serves.”
On the 27th March 2018, the Chairs of LGPS pension committees and local pension boards attended an open session where representatives from the eight asset pools reported on their progress in establishing their organisational structures and governance arrangements. A copy of the presentations used on the day can be found here. Steps will soon be taken to establish the Cross Pool Open Forum approved by the Scheme Advisory Board in February 2018, comprising three representatives from each of the eight pools and three trade union representatives.
Following the meeting of the Board on 6th March 2017, the following statement was agreed:
"The Board recognises that it is for scheme managers within each pool to develop appropriate governance to assure all stakeholders of the transparent and effective implementation of strategy. In this respect the Board notes the comments made by the Local Government minister Marcus Jones MP on this matter in the Westminster Hall debate on 24th October 2016.
The board recognises that strategic decisions on asset allocations and responsible investment will remain at the local level and therefore the involvement via local pension boards of those employers beyond the scheme manager along with member representatives in those areas would continue.
However the Board also encourages scheme managers to involve those same employers and member representatives in assisting with the assurance of transparent reporting from pools and ensuring the effective implementation of strategies by pools. Such involvement should include the consideration of provision of direct representation on oversight structures.”
| Name of Pool | Funds | Assets (£bn) |
Proposal document |
|---|---|---|---|
| London CIV | Established for the 33 LGPS funds administered by London's 32 boroughs and the City of London Corporation, | 25 | pdf 667kb 31 pages |
| Northern Pool | West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside | 35 | pdf 400kb 23 pages |
| Central | Cheshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, West Midlands, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority | 34 | pdf 1.87Mb 55 pages |
| Brunel | Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucester, Somerset and Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the Environment Agency Pension Fund. | 23 | pdf 969kb 32 pages |
| ACCESS | Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, East Sussex, Essex, Norfolk, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Kent, Hertfordshire, West Sussex and Suffolk. | 34 | pdf 892kb 35 pages |
| Wales | Carmarthenshire, Cardiff, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, and Torfaen. | 13 | pdf 283kb 29 pages |
| Border to Coast | Cumbria, East Riding, Surrey, Warwickshire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Pension Fund, Tyne & Wear, Durham, Bedfordshire, Northumberland and Teesside. | 36 | pdf 1,680kb 95 pages |
| LPP | Lancashire, Berkshire and the London Pension Fund Authority | 13 | pdf 618kb 35 pages |
February 2016 - Eight pools submit initial proposals to government
Findings of Project POOL Final Report (PDF, 173 pages, 2.63Mb)
Project POOL Final Summary Report (PDF, 19 pages, 431.69Kb)
November 2015 - Government publishes investment reform criteria and guidance for pooling.
Criteria and guidance for investment reform doc (PDF, 454KB, 25 pages)
Thank you to everyone who attended the event on Friday 21st August. For the benefit of those who couldn’t attend, and for information, please find below the slides presented at the event:
|
Name |
Organisation |
Presentation slides |
|
Joanne Segars |
Scheme Advisory Board (SAB) |
|
|
Greg Smith |
LPFA |
|
|
Hugh Grover |
London Councils |
|
|
Mike Weston |
PIP Funds |
|
|
Geik Drever |
WMPF |
|
|
Nicola Mark |
Norfolk Pension Fund |
What are the objectives of the summer budget announcement on pooled investment in the LGPS? How much say will the sector have in the outcome? What will the criteria be and what will the back stop legislation look like?
The Scheme Advisory Board have arranged the opportunity for LGPS funds to put these and other questions directly to government officials and to hear how the process will work leading up to draft legislation and on to implementation.
This event will be free (spaces will be limited) and is bookable via the LGA events website
Following the second meeting of the LGPS Shadow Advisory Board (SAB), Joanne Segars, Chair of SAB, set out the role of the body as part of the DCLG-LGA call for evidence on the future structure of the LGPS.
Ms Segars said: “As requested by the Local Government Minister, Brandon Lewis, the Shadow Board is committed to continuing to work openly and constructively with DCLG and LGPS stakeholders on the call for evidence. The Board is conducting analysis of the responses and the conclusion of this analysis will be submitted to the Minister later this year, along with a set of recommendations. This report will inform the DCLG's consultation on options.
"The Shadow Board has been made aware of the tender exercise being undertaken by Cabinet Office and DCLG. This commissions further analysis of the costs and benefits and technical issues involved in the potential restructuring, and further collaboration of LGPS and other public service funds. We recognise the legitimate concerns that stakeholders have about this exercise and have raised these with the Minister. The Board’s analysis and recommendations may take on board the output of the tender exercise.”
18 October 2013
