Always a Pensions Angle

Torsten Bell drops a bumper package of regulatory roadmap updates - Tom and Nick sift through the value for money delay, guided retirement, and the pushed-back superfund timeline. The pair also discuss LGPS contribution rates, and what the Pensions Commission's call for evidence responses reveal about the industry's asks.

In this episode of our LGPS Interviews series, we sit down with Mark Smith, Head of the Oxfordshire Pension Fund and newly appointed Senior LGPS Officer, to unpack what the role really involves day to day. Mark shares candid insight into governance reviews, local government reorganisation, pooling, the new independent person role, and Oxfordshire's approach to local investment.

In this episode of the LGPS Interviews, we sit down with Jennifer Devine, head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, to discuss the fund's journey to a new pool following the Fit for the Future reforms. She shares what it was like to receive the news, how the fund set about finding a new pooling partner, and the lessons learned along the way.

Tom and Nick are joined by special guest Brian Gielty to dig into the newly published LGPS statutory guidance - from the Secretary of State's new intervention powers to the revamped four-tier governance ratings - plus reflections from the LAPF June conference, surplus strategy, and Faith Ward's move to LPPI

SpaceX has gone public at a $2tn-plus valuation. Tom and Nick dig into what dual-class shares and fast-tracked index inclusion mean for pension investors who didn't sign up to own a piece of SpaceX. Plus the DWP's review of flexible apportionment arrangements after Aberdeen quietly took on Stagecoach's entire DB scheme, and Surrey's move to become a single purpose pension authority.

The beautiful game continues - for people who still get a little too excited about replacement rates.In part two, Tom and Nick pick up where the spreadsheet left off, taking the surviving nations from the Round of 16 all the way to the final to crown the world's greatest pension system. Brian is back on VAR duty, weighting his replacement rates and steadfastly denying he's been siding with anyone.Across the closing rounds you'll get squeaky-bum-time penalty shootouts, a few heavyweight clashes, the occasional 7-1 reminder that pension assets aren't everything, and three judges, three methodologies and one increasingly inevitable champion. Strong opinions throughout. Usable financial advice: still none.