Tower Hamlets Council has postponed its Employer Forum, originally scheduled for October 2025, until January 2026. Officers hope that the prospect of employers receiving their contribution rate will incentivize more employers to attend the event.
The decision was revealed during a meeting of the Pensions Committee on 11 December 2025, where members discussed the Pensions Administration Report - September 2025.
The delay is intended to align the forum with the anticipated release of employer-specific results from the triennial actuarial valuation by the Fund Actuary. This valuation is a comprehensive assessment of the pension fund's assets and liabilities, conducted every three years, and is crucial for determining employer contribution rates.
The Pensions Administration Report provided the committee with an update on various aspects of the scheme's management, including scheme membership, completed and outstanding tasks, and performance against suggested timelines from the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). The report includes a table (Table 3A) showing performance against CIPFA suggested timelines for various workflows, including new starters, opt-outs, refund calculations, deferred benefits, retirement quotes, retirement actuals, and deaths. The performance is measured as the percentage of workflows completed within the target days. For example, in July 2025, 96.7% of new starter workflows were completed within the target of 40 days. However, only 47% of opt-out workflows were completed within the target of 10 days. The report notes that the pensions team adopted a different way of working in mid-September, and the impact is visible in the October statistics, which show a significant improvement.
John Jones, the Independent Chair of the Pension Board, presented a report to the committee, detailing the Board's recent activities, including discussions on the Risk Register, the Fit for the Future
proposals, LGPS pooling, and Pensions Administration. The Board noted the potential increase in administration costs and complexity arising from the Government's consultation on LGPS Access and Protections,
and reiterated that mitigations and actions must be included against each risk in the Risk Register. It is important that this additional burden is highlighted in the LBTH response to Government. The council is reviewing the resource need for the team in light of current changes resulting from the government's consultations and other initiatives which will increase pressure on the team.
The potential implications of the government's consultation on 'LGPS Access and Protections' for Tower Hamlets Council's pension scheme members include increased administrative complexity, a potential need to update systems, communications, and retirement projections, and a possible impact on workforce planning for employers. The Council may see a small increase in employer contributions due to expanded eligible membership, requiring administration systems to distinguish this new employment category and updates to communications and employer guidance. The scale of membership increase is expected to be modest, but employer policy decisions will need to reflect the change.
The Fit for the Future
proposals are part of the government's policy objectives relating to investment pooling, management and governance, and scheme technical regulatory amendments for the LGPS. The key elements include mandatory pooling requirements clarifying the regulatory expectation that administering authorities must implement investments through their designated asset pool unless specific exceptions apply; governance and oversight of pool operators formalising the requirements relating to the governance structure of pool companies; transfer of legacy assets setting out frameworks for the transition of assets not yet moved to pools; and strategic versus implantation roles confirming that strategic asset allocation remains the responsibility of administering authorities, and investment implementation must be executed through the pools.
LGPS pooling is a government initiative requiring Local Government Pension Scheme funds to consolidate their assets into larger pools to achieve economies of scale, reduce costs, and improve investment performance. For Tower Hamlets, this means transferring assets to the London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV). The Fit for the Future
proposals reinforce the government's expectation that all LGPS Funds operate primarily through their pools. The LBTH Pension Fund is a shareholder in the LCIV along with 30 other London boroughs and the City of London.
The Pension Fund Risk Register is being rationalized, and a redesigned version will be provided to the next committee. Some recent risk movements in the risk register are:
- HRP0013 – Risk of failure to make appropriate decisions by those charged with governance: Removed because the reforms to the LGPS will result in fundamental changes to the roles and responsibilities, and the relationships between LGPS Funds and Pools.
- HRP0019 – Risk of real yields falling, which increases the liabilities: Changed from ORANGE to RED due to heightened geopolitical tensions that could lead to higher oil prices and increased inflationary pressures in the medium term with possible disruption to supply routes and wide-reaching consequences for global energy markets and investor sentiment. There is a Risk of increased liabilities due to market yields/inflation moving out of line from actuarial assumptions/forecasting.
- HRP0021 – Mandated transition of assets to London CIV under the
Fit for the Future
reforms: Changed from ORANGE to RED because of misalignment between Pool and Fund-specific investment goals (e.g., local impact, infrastructure weighting). Limited influence over manager selection, ESG methodology, or rebalancing timelines. Pooling mandates may prioritise standard passive strategies or centralised benchmarks. Funds with more active, bespoke, or thematic mandates (e.g., low-carbon, local growth, private markets) could see lower returns or divergence from actuarial assumptions. Shifting assets, managers, mandates and data involves cost, time, and risk. There is a Risk that the London CIV and Investment Managers underperform. - HRP0035 – Employers not fulfilling their responsibilities towards the Pension Fund: Removed because reforms to the LGPS will result in fundamental changes to the roles and responsibilities, and the relationships between LGPS Funds and Pools.
The Independent Chair of the Pension Board, John Jones, noted that in future mitigations and actions must be included against each risk
.
