11 December 2025
5 min
Another exceptionally busy LGPS year is almost over. We won’t be producing a January edition of Current Issues but, instead, please look out for our 2026 LGPS priorities. We hope you have a great Christmas and Hogmanay and enjoy the downtime!
Please see excerpts below from our latest edition. Click here to view the full edition.
Relax, grab a hot drink, pretend it’s snowing outside and see if you can complete our short crossword in under 5 minutes. And in the unlikely event that you can’t guess the answers, they’re tucked away at the end of the ‘In brief’ section (in the full version). Good luck!
A round-up of the Pension Schemes Bill, the Fit for the future – technical consultation and draft statutory guidance, the LGPS (England and Wales) scheme improvements consultation, and the LGPS (Scotland) benefits consultation.
The main pensions talking point from the Chancellor’s Budget on 26 November was around salary-sacrifice arrangements. From 6 April 2029, any employee pension contributions above an annual amount of £2,000 will no longer be exempt from National Insurance Contributions (NICs).
Our 60-second summary covering Budget 2025 can be found here.
A big thank you to the circa 70 LGPS officers who joined our client-only webinar on 4 December to discuss stakeholder engagement. The session was Chatham House only and was not recorded. However, we plan to follow up shortly with a communication that shares some of the analysis, such as peer comparisons, and insights from the polls that were run throughout the webinar.
LGPS funds must now manage cash flows more carefully, with economic and demographic factors leading to many funds having negative cash flows. The reduced contribution rates arising from the 2025 actuarial valuations will intensify this challenge, especially as LGPS pensions are expected to rise by 3.8% in 2026.
Our 60-second summary on managing cashflows in the LGPS can be found here.
As we approach the New Year, the last LGPS employers of 2025, with a financial year-end at 31 December, will hear soon from their LGPS contact about the options available for their FRS102 accounting.
Our webinar, 2024/25 LGPS accounting disclosures: understanding your results, can be seen here.
In the final blog in his series, our digital guru Chris Varley considers testing and how this can be applied within the LGPS. Traditionally, testing is seen as the final hurdle to be overcome prior to “going live”. But it’s worth considering its role more broadly - as an ongoing opportunity to learn, adapt, and improve solutions based on feedback. He concludes that early and honest feedback ultimately drives better outcomes.
A round-up of our latest insights of all things RI-related.
With all the change affecting the LGPS it would be easy to lose sight of Pension Dashboards coming over the hill. For funds in England and Wales (and Scotland next year), the outputs from the triennial valuation process can help officers to direct and prioritise work in readiness for the public to search for lost or forgotten pension pots. Our blog explains more.
With changes in legislation comes changes in training needs. We’ve listened to your feedback, carried out horizon scanning and delved ever deeper into the world of best practice. From this, the latest evolution of the LGPS Online Learning Academy is emerging. We are committed to providing the best possible training services to the LGPS and are looking forward to releasing the latest version in the new financial year. For more information about what we’ve been up to, check out our blog.
Global growth has proven resilient, despite rising US tariffs and uncertainty. We’ve seen high global equity valuations, largely driven by the tech-heavy US market. While strong tech earnings justify some premium, valuations assume sustained growth and leave the US exposed to AI disappointment.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss anything further, please get in touch.
Our round-up of the latest public sector news and insights
Opens in new window Current Issues In The LGPS December 2025We pride ourselves on being thought leaders and are constantly discussing the many issues facing and shaping our industry. Sign up to find our current thinking on topical issues.
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