Lothian Pension Fund (LPF), Scotland’s second largest Local Government Pension Scheme fund with over £10.1 billion assets under management, this week published its 2023/2024 Unaudited Annual Report and Accounts. It can be viewed at: www.lpf.org.uk/publications/reports.
Key headlines from the 2023-24 report are:
- Total assets of Lothian Pension Fund at the end of March 2024 were £10,178m (end of March 2023 were £9,701m)
- LPF paid out £230m in pensions to 36,453 members and welcomed 6,604 new members
- LPF was 157% funded at its last valuation as at 31 March 2023 and able to reduce contribution rates for the majority of employers, at the same time increasing the level of prudence in the valuation basis
- LPFI continued to provide advisory services to other Local Government Pension Schemes advising and managing around £3bn for partner funds
- LPF won the LGPS Fund of the Year (Assets over £2.5bn) at the LAPF Investment Awards 2023 and retained the Financial Reporting Council’s Stewardship Code accreditation
- Retained the Pension Association Standards Award (PASA) accreditation, maintained the Customer Service Excellence award with increased scores and achieved Cyber Essentials Plus.
David Vallery, LPF’s Chief Executive Officer, says about the 2023-24 report:
“It’s been a busy and successful year for Lothian Pension Fund. We’ve made great progress focusing on continuous improvement from on-line service capabilities, to investing in risk management processes and technology, such as boosting cyber security measures.
“We’ve also won awards and been recognised by peers and specialists, which helps affirm that we’re on the right path to deliver outstanding pension and investment services for members and employers.
“As important as strong benchmarking is, our core purpose is paying benefits to members and their dependents. We’re delighted our members reported a high level of customer satisfaction whilst we continue to invest in improvements, such as biometric facial technology and a payments portal to simplify and improve the process for overseas pensioners.
“Responsible investment as always continues as a central commitment for LPF. This year we’ve retained the Financial Reporting Council’s Stewardship Code accreditation, and our published Stewardship Report explains our activity in responsible investment, individually and collectively, including voting on resolutions and engagement with the companies we invest in.”
David Vallery comments further:
“As we seek to be a responsible investor and good steward of capital, we also aim to be a good employer and foster a great team and working environment. We recently moved to a new office, giving colleagues a larger and modern space with room for more collaborative working.
“I’d like to thank the LPF team who work so tirelessly for members and employers, and to the committees and boards, who together oversee the fund and operating entities, and for their counsel, guidance and encouragement.”