Local pension board and committee members have high levels of confidence in all areas of responsibility, according to a nationwide survey of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

The first study of its kind, conducted by Hymans Robertson, asked participants from LGPS funds to rate their confidence levels across eight key knowledge areas.

The two areas the representatives had the most confidence in were “investment performance and risk management” and “committee role and pensions legislation”, with 91 per cent feeling “mostly or completely confident” in the latter.

Hymans Robertson head of benefits, Ian Colvin commented: “It is encouraging to see that there are such high levels of confidence across all areas amongst those managing these multi-billion pound funds. The last few years have seen great upheaval and change for public sector pension schemes with the introduction of pooling alongside increased regulatory scrutiny.”

“Pensions accounting and audit standards” and “procurement and relationship managers” were the two areas which those surveyed had the least confidence in. However, both these categories had confidence ratings of above 60 per cent from both committee and board members.

“It is vital that these Funds don’t stop and say ‘job done’. There is no time, or reason, for complacency and committee and pension board members must continue to enhance their knowledge and skills and ensure that standards continue to increase.”

The remaining four areas committee and board members were asked to rate were: “pensions governance”, “pensions administration”, “financial markets and product knowledge” and “actuarial methods, standards and practices”, none of which were rated below 70 per cent from either group.

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