Pensions minister happy that LGPS pools are on the right track
Author: LAPF Investments | Published: March 11, 2026
Pensions minister Torsten Bell has said he’s happy all LGPS pools are on the right track in meeting government expectations for pooling.
His comments come just weeks ahead of the March 31st pooling deadline.
He said: “In aggregate my view is the LGPS has overperformed in delivering against what people said was possible…
“… there’s variation within that, but everyone’s on the same journey and we’re all going to get there.”
Speaking at the Pensions UK Investment Conference in Edinburgh, the minister – as he did in Manchester last year – also reiterated his thanks to the industry for delivering a large volume of change over the past year.
Moreover, and asked directly about the decision to shut down Brunel, Bell said the government has set out why they decided to shut down the pool and was not in the business of relitigating the past.
Addressing pooling more broadly he said: “The big decision we’re obviously making is that pooling needs to actually move to being pooling with 100% of assets – I know that’s not the view of 100% of everybody in the industry, but I think it’s a very large consensus.
“I think that’s the right thing that we should be doing, and then we have a practical judgement about making sure that we’re doing that in the right way.”
