The Board Secretary has recently written to Local Government Minister, Jim McMahon MP, to reconfirm the Board’s previous recommendation made for the separation of pension fund accounts from the administering authority’s main accounts.

Separation is a solution the Board has previously raised with Government in a letter dated August 2022 and have continued discussing since. When the Compliance and Reporting Committee (CRC) met on 21 October 2024 delays in completing administering authority audit was highlighted as a persistent issue for the scheme, with separation a potential solution that has worked well in other areas of the United Kingdom. This recent letter sets out the opportunities that separation of accounts might bring the scheme and highlights that the King’s Speech in July 2024 contained a commitment to bring forward a number of potential vehicles for the Board’s recommendation to be enacted – for example, the Pension Schemes Bill, the Devolution Bill or the draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill.