The end for Access, as last four partner funds opt for LGPS Central

by Andrew Holt

14 Aug 2025

Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk and Suffolk have chosen to join the Midlands-based pool.

LGPS

Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk and Suffolk have chosen to join the Midlands-based pool.

It is the end of the road for the Access Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) pool, as its last four members have opted to join LGPS Central.

Pension funds for Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Norfolk and Suffolk have chosen to join what had been the pension pool for the eight local government pension schemes in the Midlands.

That now all changes for LGPS Central with the new partner funds potentially joining, along with Wiltshire Pension Fund, which opted for LGPS Central last month.

It means LGPS Central, which has in excess of £45bn in assets, will see these assets boosted by more then £22bn with its new members.

It also means it is the end for Access as a pool, as its other seven funds have already departed having chosen to join Border to Coast.

This was always inevitable after the government’s Fit for the Future consultation resulted in the culling of Access and Brunel Pension Partnership, meaning 21 partner funds needed to find new homes.

The decision to admit new funds to LGPS Central and Border to Coast rests with their respective shareholders.

All eyes will now turn to the nine remaining partner funds from Brunel: Avon, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, the Environment Agency, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and Somerset who have yet to make their call on which pool they will join.

But the clock is ticking, as the government wants this wrapped up by September.