PIRC LGPS pension funds recorded an average annual performance of 21.4 per cent in the year to end of March 2017.

Of the 60 LGPS funds in the PIRC Universe, there was an "extremely strong" performance over both the medium and longer terms. Over the last five years, the average fund returned 10.7 per cent per annum and over ten and twenty years, including the global financial crisis period, the average fund returned 7 per cent per annum and 7.4 per cent per annum, respectively.

There was no considerable change in asset allocation over the year at a macro level, with equities making up the largest allocation within the majority of portfolios. At a lower level, however, there were a number of changes due to funds re-aligning their managers to benefit from the new pool structures.

PIRC head of performance services Karen Thrumble said: “The strong performance has been driven by the excellent results from equities which returned almost 30% for the year. The outperformance of benchmark indices by alternative assets was the key driver in the unusual statistic that more than three quarters of funds managed to outperform their benchmarks in the latest year!”

Thrumble concluded that, “We have said it in the past and I’m sure we’ll it say again, the asset side of funds’ balance sheets is in good health.”

The PIRC Local Authority Universe was made up of 60 funds at the end of March 2017, with a total value of £162bn.

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