Chris Rule, Chief Executive Officer, Local Pensions Partnership Investments, said: “This is the start of legislation that could deliver a clear path forward for LGPS pooling. The government believes that consolidation, coupled with greater investment in growth assets, can drive better outcomes for members, employers and taxpayers – and we agree.

“A key thing we hope to see as this progresses through Parliament is that partner funds retain their sovereignty when it comes to setting their funding and investment strategies. This is critical to allowing pools to act in the best interest of partner funds and their members, while also achieving the scale needed to access investment opportunities efficiently.

“We also hope that the proposals to allow partner funds to define what they mean by ‘local investing’ are carried through. The significant investments we’ve made in local projects across the country were made because they aligned with our partner funds’ objectives.”