LGPS pooling: SAB asks for deadline extension
Image: Skylight55/Pixabay
Pardon the Interruption
This article is just an example of the content available to mallowstreet members.
On average over 150 pieces of new content are published from across the industry per month on mallowstreet. Members get access to the latest developments, industry views and a range of in-depth research.
All the content on mallowstreet is accredited for CPD by the PMI and is available to trustees for free.
The Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board has asked local government minister Jim McMahon for an extension to the pooling deadline, given the number of other projects currently in train.
The chair of the SAB, Cllr Roger Phillips, and vice-chair and Unison assistant general secretary Jon Richards wrote to the minister on Monday asking for engagement on the government’s timescales for a revamp of pooling arrangements by March 2026.
“The Board has some concerns with the pace of change proposed in the pooling letters,” the SAB writes. “We believe that more time will be needed to realistically implement the government’s proposals and not put the scheme at risk.”
It says the sector’s “shared and unanimous” experience from having built eight asset pools was that the changes asked for cannot be delivered with the care needed within the proposed timescale.
“This would be the case even in the best of times, but the next 12-18 months is already set to bring challenging and competing pressures on pension officers, senior statutory officers, elected members,” the SAB writes.
Administrative challenges such as the ongoing implementation of the McCloud remedy, connecting to pensions dashboards, and demonstrating compliance with the Pensions Regulator’s new Code of Practice are creating pressure, it suggests. In addition, MHCLG wants to make changes to member benefits and introduce revised governance arrangements, as well as a new Fair Deal, it notes.
“We would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to start a dialogue about some of the constraints and difficulties that are being experienced on the ground now, and try to reach agreement on an alternative, mutually acceptable, plan for the future,” the letter reads.
Some have argued that the main reason pooling should be pushed back was not mentioned. Isio partner Steve Simkins said on social media platform LinkedIn that the biggest challenge and opportunity the LGPS in England and Wales faces this year was “getting the actuarial valuation right”.
The 2025 valuation is a good reason to defer pooling changes, Simkins said, suggesting it would make sense to “see what you've got in terms of surpluses, net cashflows and risk appetite first”.
The March 2026 deadline was confirmed by pensions minister Torsten Bell in March this year. mallowstreet understands that pension funds in Brunel Pension Partnership and Access were told last month that they have until September to let the government know what they plan to do, after being told that the two pools do not meet government criteria for continuing independently.
