The eight schemes – Cheshire Pension Fund, Shropshire County Pension Fund, Staffordshire Pension Fund, West Midlands Pension Fund and those for Derbyshire County Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority and Worcestershire County Council ‒ said they expect to submit plans for the collaboration to government in February.
Chancellor George Osborne announced a plan to merge the assets of the 89 LGPS schemes into six new British Wealth Funds at the Conservative Party conference.
Initial proposals have been called for by 19 February with finalised submissions expected in July. The new pooling arrangements are expected to be set up by 1 April 2018.
The eight Midlands schemes said that a £35bn pool would meet the scale sought by the government in its investment pooling criteria. The plan aims to deliver cost savings and build on the individual funds’ current strong investment performances by providing scale, greater knowledge sharing and robust governance.
Individual funds will continue to retain their separate identities and local accountability. The collaboration will offer an equal say in the oversight of the new entity to each participating fund.
