The Pension Fund Committee of Buckinghamshire Council met on Monday 29 September 2025. During the meeting, the committee was scheduled to discuss a pooling update report, and to decide whether to exclude the press and public from a discussion of a confidential report on the same topic. The next meeting date was scheduled to be confirmed as 1 December 2025.

Pension Pooling Update

Mark Preston, Assistant Chief Finance Officer (Pensions and Projects), was scheduled to present two reports to the committee regarding the pooling of pension funds.

The first report, the Pooling Update Report, was scheduled to update the Pension Fund Committee members on work undertaken since the last committee meeting on 10 September regarding potential future pooling options for the Buckinghamshire Pension Fund. The report recommended that the committee note the report.

The report pack indicated that on 9 April 2025, a joint letter from the Treasury and the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government was sent to Buckinghamshire Council and the other nine Administering Authorities whose Local Government Pension Scheme ¹ (LGPS) Pension Funds are members of the Brunel Pension Pool². The letter stated that the business case submitted by Brunel as part of the government's proposed reforms to the LGPS had not been accepted. 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.

This report introduces the Pooling Update Report, which in turn seeks to update Pension Fund Committee members on the work undertaken by officers since the last Committee meeting on the 10th of September with respect to potential future pooling options for the Buckinghamshire Pension Fund.

The second report regarding the pooling update was scheduled to be discussed in private, with the press and public excluded due to Paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12a of the Local Government Act 1972³. This paragraph allows for the exclusion of the press and public when a discussion contains information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person. The report summarised the progress made to date and sought agreement on the next steps.