£6.1bn Devon Pension Fund to join LPPI pool

The local authority said the council's investment and pension fund committee had approved that its local government pension scheme (LGPS) fund should join the LPPI pool as shareholder and client.

The Devon County Council Pension Fund – currently part of the Brunel Pension Partnership – said it has been very focused on taking forward the best of what has been achieved through Brunel into the new pooling arrangements, noting it would now be working with both Brunel and LPPI colleagues to achieve that objective.

LPPI chief executive Chris Rule commented on the decision. He said: "We are really pleased that Devon Pension Fund has selected LPPI as their preferred pool following a thorough due diligence process. This decision marks the beginning of an exciting collaboration where we will work together to achieve Devon Pension Fund's strategic goals and bring the advantages of pooling to their members, employers, and taxpayers."

Devon's decision follows the government's Fit for the Future consultation and the subsequent Pension Schemes Bill – a reform process which will see the current eight LGPS pools consolidate to six.

In April, the government announced member funds of the Brunel and Access pools would be required to find a new pool – with their 21 partner funds needing to have reached an ‘in principle' agreement to have joined a new pool by the end of September. The deadline for the funds to have formally joined their new pool is April next year.

The Devon County Council Pension Fund is the third of Brunel's partner funds to select a new pool – with the Gloucestershire Pension Fund, Oxfordshire Pension Fund and Wiltshire Pension Fund all selecting LGPS Central.

In August, the Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Norfolk and Suffolk funds, currently part of the Access pool, signalled their intent to join LGPS Central. This came after the seven other funds that are part of the Access pool signalled their intent to join Border to Coast.