17 October 2025
4 min
It was a big thrill to attend this year’s Pensions UK conference at Manchester Central. Particularly so for me, as the last time I set foot in the building it was to see the Pixies live at the G-MEX in 1991. The venue has changed a lot, but then so have I.
It was standing room only in the main auditorium to hear Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, speak. And while questions regarding the forthcoming budget were strictly off limits the Minister spent a good 50 minutes tackling anything and everything to do with the UK’s pension landscape.
The Minister described those who work in the industry as having a pensions vocation and doing the good work of delivering for members. Bell argued that scale matters and that the industry will need to transition to larger, better governed schemes.
On the LGPS, he confirmed that there were no plans for the forced merger of LGPS funds or pools and that the LGPS will be a globally significant player in 15 years’ time.
Slightly down the bill from the Pensions Minister, I was delighted to join Clair Alcock (Head of Pensions at the LGA) and Vickie Hampshire (West Sussex CC Pension Fund Governance Officer) for a panel session on LGPS governance. With so much going on at the moment, there was plenty to discuss and some interesting questions from the audience.
Panel Chair Krista D’Alessandro (Policy Lead Pensions UK) asked about the current state of LGPS governance. In my view there are some outstanding examples of well-run funds that are already well on the way to implementing the recommendations of the Good Governance review. On the other hand, it would be wrong not to acknowledge that limited resource and the sheer volume of LGPS business-as-usual is placing a great strain on others. Will the introduction of the senior LGPS officer and triennial reviews help these funds access the resource they need?
We also discussed the role of politics in the LGPS. In my experience pension committees are apolitical, with the vast majority of members scrupulous about leaving their party rosettes at the door. In recent years though the ability to maintain that non-partisan consensus has come under pressure. Partly through a ramping up of political discourse in general, and as a result of the situation in Gaza and a weakening of the consensus over environmental issues, pension committees are increasingly asking what is appropriate within the fiduciary obligations that they owe to members.
We wrapped up with some thoughts on how the triennial independent governance review can avoid being a tick box exercise and instead add real value. For me it’s about not losing sight of the main stakeholder in all of this; the member. A review that fails to consider the member experience and overlooks the quality of service they receive is missing the point. I’m also interested to see how the LGA’s peer review process will play out. The LGPS has always been great at collaborating and sharing good practice, so this feels like a natural development.
If you have any questions on anything covered in this blog or would like to discuss things further, please get in touch.
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