05 September 2025
5 min
With the 2025 valuation season in full swing, we’ve picked out the trends so far from the reporting. The political summer break feels firmly behind us as legislative announcements start to flow in again from England, Wales and Scotland.
The initial results for several English & Welsh funds are now in and the headline news is positive - however, the devil is in the detail! While funding levels have improved for most, the improvements are varied and a fair dose of caution about the future remains. Rob Bilton and Tom Hoare have picked through the detail and discuss early trends that are emerging at the 2025 valuations. You can rewatch this latest webinar on demand here.
We've been continuing our engagement with GAD on both the 2023 (Scotland) and 2025 (England & Wales) Section 13 valuations. For Scotland, we understand that the 2023 valuation report is going through its final stages of review. Hopefully it will be released shortly to feed into pre-valuation planning. For England & Wales, further to our update in July, GAD will be looking to understand the governance and decision making process around key funding strategy decisions such as assumption setting and determining funding policies. We're considering how this could be best summarised in the final valuation report and also suggest that funds keep a detailed governance audit log for the valuation. This will not only support any potential future engagement with GAD but could be useful to demonstrate the process followed to other oversight bodies (such as Local Pension Boards), as well as providing a handy reference for 2028.
On 2 September, Scottish Ministers launched a consultation on a range of LGPS administration and benefits issues, with many of the proposals similar to those outlined in the LGPS England and Wales Access and Fairness consultation earlier this year. Amongst the topics covered are the death grant age limit, gender pensions gap reporting, steps to obtain better data on scheme opt outs, forfeiture and McCloud. However, the consultation also covers several other technical issues, including issues that are specific to LGPS Scotland (for example, the transfer of Scottish Fire and Rescue staff to the Strathclyde Pension Fund). The consultation closes on 25 November.
We're proud to share that we've been recognised as a signatory to the Financial Reporting Council’s UK Stewardship Code. Now in our fifth year of formal reporting, our 2024 Stewardship Code report reflects a year of evolution and impact. We sharpened our focus on climate transition action plans, deepened asset manager engagement and refreshed our Responsible Investment Mission Statement. As sustainability risks grow more complex, the need for resilient, purpose-driven stewardship has never been greater. Our signatory status reflects our commitment to helping investors such as LGPS funds achieve better financial outcomes and support real world change. Read the announcement here.
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If you have any questions or would like to discuss the topics covered in this edition, feel free to get in touch.
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