Always a Pensions Angle

In this special edition, Tom sits down with Brian Gielty, Editor-in-Chief of LAPF Investments Magazine, to unpack the brand new Issue 10, from a career-spanning cover interview with LGPS legend Fiona Miller to deep dives on climate risk, local investment, pension committees, and the gender pensions gap.Plus, a first look at the shortlists for the 2026 LAPF Investments Awards, taking place 30 September at the Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, London - all available now in print or online at lapfinvestments.com.

In this episode of the LGPS Interviews, we sit down with Max Townshend, Head of Investment Strategy at LPPI, to discuss how the pool has managed its recent expansion from three to nine partner funds. He shares what that growth has meant for the team day-to-day, how LPPI is rethinking its product range and investment beliefs to serve a more diverse partnership, and his views on local investment, surplus management, and how recent geopolitical shifts are reshaping the way funds think about risk and diversification.

Tom and Nick look at the risks trustees may have overlooked over the summer, from DB schemes drifting without a clear endgame strategy to the growing investment implications of climate change, AI and a more fragmented geopolitical landscape. Also on the agenda: the latest LGPS debate over investment in conflict zones and the tricky question of fiduciary duty, before turning to Oxfordshire Pension Fund's backing for a new fund aimed at tackling homelessness through affordable housing.

Tom and Nick unpack a TPR enforcement report involving the Plumbing and Mechanical Services scheme, an unpaid debt, and a fined accountant. Also on the agenda: Torsten Bell's continued grip on the pensions brief, Lords criticism of the Pension Schemes Bill, and a possible new fund from Nest, Railpen and the LGPS pools aimed at scaling up UK businesses.

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.