Councils in England and Wales have spoken out against the Government’s plans for pension ‘megafunds’, warning they could lead to conflicts of interest.
Twenty-six local government pension funds, which collectively manage £145bn of assets, have urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to remove a requirement for town halls to take their ‘principal advice’ on asset allocation from the pools that manage their assets, according to a report seen by the Financial Times.
The report, which was co-ordinated by independent consultancy Hymans Robertson, also found that councillors warned the Chancellor that such as requirement could make it difficult for them to hold pools to account and could lead to conflicts of interest between the pool and the council.
The Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) recently urged ministers to ‘seriously reconsider' the fast pace of their reform to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).
