The tight government deadline to achieve pooling was a much-discussed, and indeed criticised topic, at the first day of the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Conference in Bedfordshire.
The government is aiming for all partner funds to have their assets 100% pooled with their respective pool by March next year.
Roger Phillips, chairman of the LGPS advisory board, said the “timetable was far too ambitious.”
Laura Collis, pensions manager for the Aberdeen-administered North East Scotland Pension Fund, said the “timescales [set by government for pooling] are outrageous.”
“Just the administration process is something of a challenge,” added Peter Wallach, director of pensions at Merseyside Pension Fund.
People within the conference itself were event more forthright.
“The government will have to rethink its current pooling timetable ambitions – they are simply not achievable,” one LGPS delegate told portfolio institutional.
In her opening address, PLSA chair Emma Douglas noted how the LGPS is “undergoing serious reform,” with the “perennial talking point” being pooling itself.
And Laura Collis also noted that the LGPS should not be forced into mandation by the government under any circumstances. “Pensions are not here to shore up the economy,” she said.
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