The Dorset Council Pension Fund Committee met on 9 September 2025, and members reviewed the fund's investment performance, administration, and next steps for investment pooling. The committee also received an update on the connection to the Pensions Dashboard and the McCloud remedy¹.

LGPS Investment Pooling Update

The committee discussed the next steps in responding to government plans for the future of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) investment pooling. The administering authorities of ACCESS and Brunel Pension Partnership had received a joint letter from the Minister for Pensions and Local Government advising them that they would need to identify a new pool to work with by 30 September 2025.

Pension Fund Investments

The committee reviewed the quarterly report on the value and performance of the pension fund's investments.

• The estimated value of the pension fund's assets at 30 June 2025 was £4.204 billion, an increase of £133 million compared to £4.071 billion at the start of the financial year.
• The total return from the pension fund's investments for the quarter to 30 June was 3.6%, compared to the combined benchmark return of 3.7%.
• The total return for the year to 30 June 2025 was 7.3%, compared to the benchmark return of 9.1%.
• Annualised returns for three years were 7.5% compared to the benchmark return of 8.1%.
• Annualised returns for five years were 7.2% compared to the benchmark return of 9.1%.

According to the Apex Group's Market Review included within the Public Reports Pack, the second quarter of 2025 was volatile due to uncertainty regarding US trade tariff policy, extensions of US tax relief measures, and increasing geopolitical uncertainty.

The committee reviewed a performance summary by investment manager, an independent investment adviser's quarterly report, Brunel's quarterly report, and the CBRE Quarterly Investment Report.

According to the Brunel Pension Partnership's Quarterly Performance Report ending 30 June 2025, the top 10 equity holdings at the pension fund include Microsoft, Nvidia, Shell PLC, HSBC Holdings PLC, and Amazon.com Inc.

The report also provided stewardship and climate metrics, including the weighted average carbon intensity relative to the benchmark.

Pensions Administration

The committee considered the quarterly report on pension fund administration, as detailed in the Pensions Administration Report 9 September 2025 final.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) for the period 1 May 2025 to 31 July 2025 are included in Appendix 1 Full KPIs May 2025 - July 2025 PFC. The report indicated that 96.67% of cases were completed on time, against a target of 97.66% for the previous quarter.

The committee was informed that annual benefit illustrations for active and deferred members had been issued. Karen Gibson, Service Manager for Pensions, confirmed that 22,570 deferred benefit illustrations were issued on 16 July 2025, plus 23 councillor statements, using the deferred benefit statement attached at Appendix 2 Deferred Annual Benefit ABI 2025. 23,103 active benefit illustrations were issued on 21 August 2024, using the active benefit statement attached as Appendix 3 LGPS Annual Benefit Illustration 2025. An online version of the annual statements has been available to view on the member portal since 21 July. The annual newsletter, Appendix 4 PFC Pension Administration, was also issued to active members.

The report noted that the overall score of tests passed for common data held was 99.67%, and the overall score for scheme-specific data was 95.89%.

The committee was informed of delays in the provision of the 2025 valuation data due to third parties, including Civica.

The committee received an update on the Pensions Dashboard, with Phase 1 completed and Phase 2 commencing on 8 September.

Regarding the McCloud remedy, a letter has been sent to 15,910 members who are not in scope, to ask for details of any previous non LGPS public service employments that may entitlement the member to be in scope for the McCloud remedy within the LGPS Dorset Fund. A bulk check of the National NI database identified approximately 1627 members in 91 funds that need further investigation.

Dates of Future Meetings

The committee confirmed the dates for future meetings in 2025/26: 1.30 pm Tuesday 2 December 2025 and 1.30 pm Tuesday 17 March 2026, with training for committee members preceding each meeting.