The U.K.'s Local Government Pension Scheme is exempt from Competition and Markets Authority regulations providing guidance to help trustees run the bidding processes for consultants and fiduciary managers, a new consultation from the U.K. Department for Work and Pensions shows.
The consultation, published Monday, seeks views on the draft Occupational Pension Schemes (Government and Registration) (Amendment) Regulations. The proposed regulations mandate which steps trustees need to take when using fiduciary management and investment consulting services.
The consultation says that public pension schemes are excluded from the regulations since they do not have trustees and thus "our regulations do not therefore apply to the LGPS," the consultation says.
The consultation further says the department has not made any provision for applying Remedy 7, which reads that it is trustees' duty "to set their investment consultants' strategic objectives," to the LGPS, since that lies within the purview of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
The consultation is available on the Department for Work and Pensions' website and the consultation period ends Sept. 2.
Total assets of the LGPS funds are £263 billion ($328.3 billion), according to the 2018 figures from the advisory board.
Officials at the LGPS advisory board could not be immediately reached to provide comment.
