The Buckinghamshire Council Pension Fund Committee met on Wednesday 30 July 2025. The meeting included an update on the potential future pooling options for the Buckinghamshire Pension Fund, and a resolution to exclude the press and public from a portion of the meeting. The next meeting was scheduled for 10 September 2025.

Pooling Update Report

Mark Preston, Assistant Chief Finance Officer (Pensions and Projects) was scheduled to present an introduction to the Pooling Update Report. The report was intended to update Pension Fund Committee members on work undertaken since the last committee meeting on 24 June regarding potential future pooling options for the Buckinghamshire Pension Fund.

According to the agenda, a further Pooling Update Report was also scheduled to be discussed, after the press and public had been excluded from the meeting.

In April 2025, the Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government wrote to Buckinghamshire Council and the other nine Administering Authorities whose LGPS¹ Pension Funds are members of the Brunel Pension Pool, to say that Brunel's business case had not been accepted as part of the government's proposed reforms to the LGPS. The letter suggested that the authorities identify an alternative Pool to join, and make an in-principle decision with the preferred new pool by 30 September 2025.

The report pack stated that:

given the importance and far-reaching consequences of this decision, officers have been seeking to gather as much information as possible about prospective pooling options, in order to present informed options to the Committee.

The Pension Fund Committee was expected to make a formal decision on this matter in September.

The Committee was asked to note the report.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

The agenda included a resolution to exclude the press and public from the meeting while the Pooling Update Report was discussed, as it was expected to contain:

information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

This exclusion was proposed by virtue of Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972.