{"id":109038,"date":"2025-09-02T11:59:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T11:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/109038\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T11:59:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T11:59:08","slug":"uks-reform-party-steps-up-attacks-on-woke-funds-in-pension-investments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/109038\/","title":{"rendered":"UK\u2019s Reform party steps up attacks on \u2018woke funds\u2019 in pension investments"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Illustrative<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s populist right-wing Reform party has stepped up its attacks on ESG and net zero investing in the country\u2019s Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) as part of a focus on what it describes as government waste.<\/p>\n

At a press conference on Monday, Reform deputy leader Richard Tice criticised what he claimed were \u201cegregious\u201d fees and poor performance by funds.<\/p>\n

The party only has four MPs, but in local elections held in May it took control of a number of councils and will have representation on committees<\/a> overseeing up to \u00a3100 billion ($134 billion; \u20ac115 billion) in pension money.<\/p>\n

Tice took aim at LGPS funds\u2019 illiquid climate investments, claiming that \u201cwhen you dig into these reporting accounts you find that actually there\u2019s more pages devoted to climate change than there is devoted to the performance of the funds\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got the Nature Climate Fund, you\u2019ve got the Climate Opportunities Fund, the New Environmental Opportunities Fund, renewable funds, sustainable funds \u2013 however long the list is, this is a meaningful cause of underperformance. Not the only one, but a meaningful one.\u201d<\/p>\n

At close to \u00a3400 billion, the LGPS is the largest funded pension scheme in the UK and one of the largest in the world. However, management and oversight is split across 86 local funds, which range in size from less than \u00a31 billion to \u00a330 billion.<\/p>\n

Successive governments have already taken steps to tackle this fragmentation and funds will be required to pool their money by March 2026.<\/p>\n

Tice claimed that a combination of benchmark underperformance and too-high fees results in a drag of between \u00a38 billion to \u00a311 billion a year on the total fund, which necessitates higher contributions from councils.<\/p>\n

Reducing this figure would release more money for councils to spend on social care, he said.<\/p>\n

He also took aim at asset allocations, claiming that funds should be invested with a 75:25 split between global equity and bond index funds. According to the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board, equities accounted for around 50 percent of investments in 2022-24.<\/p>\n

However, Tice was keen for councils to allocate towards social housing investments in their area, suggesting they could aim for up to 10 percent allocations to the segment.<\/p>\n

Reform has previously complained<\/a> about net zero and \u201cwoke investments\u201d, with Tice writing to the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund this year to complain about its ESG integration.<\/p>\n

Industry backlash<\/p>\n

Tice\u2019s claims this week provoked a backlash from stakeholders including the UK\u2019s largest union Unison, whose general secretary Christina McAnea said that the sums involved \u201cappear to have been plucked out of the air\u201d.<\/p>\n

Similarly, the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board said it \u201cdoes not recognise\u201d the claims made by Reform, while\u00a0UKSIF CEO James Alexander said \u201cill-advised attempts to override this forward-thinking approach could hollow out hard-earned pension pots\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestment decisions should be guided by experts who understand these financial principles, not parties with short-term political agendas,\u201d Alexander added.<\/p>\n

Industry body Pensions UK said the LGPS was \u201cone of the most successful in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zoe Alexander, its director of policy, said: \u201cLike all significant UK pension schemes, the LGPS takes responsible investment seriously and integrates climate considerations into overall risk management.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LGPS also has a strong record of investing in local areas \u2013 and we anticipate that the latest government reforms, and the devolution bill, will strengthen this further.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted that the fund has the highest proportion of investments in domestic assets in the UK pension sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny policy proposing changes to the structure or approach of one of the largest pension funds in the world should be supported by evidence and detailed plans. The duty of LGPS is to look after members\u2019 interests.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK\u2019s populist right-wing Reform party has stepped up its attacks on ESG and net zero investing in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[556,52899,59,57,58,1912,50,12064,35216,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-109038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-esg-backlash","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greatbritain","13":"tag-net-zero","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-pension-funds","16":"tag-private-markets","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}