I wholeheartedly agree with pension funds investing in the UK as part of their portfolio, but we must ensure that there is enough ‘rear view mirror’ protection for pension schemes when creating a ‘UK first/UK+ pension policy’. Trust law creates a fiduciary duty on delivering the best outcome for the beneficiaries, and we need to avoid at any cost future headlines such as ‘X % lost by investing in UK’. The pension review should consider what is the best way of doing this – for example via incentivisation, the VFM framework or some form of ‘safe harbour’ legislation.
There are many positives of UK investment, including the increased engagement opportunities they could provide, and we need to measure these softer, more subjective benefits too and include this in any retrospective look-back that will inevitably happen with a policy that has potentially decades before the outcome is known. It’s upon us to unleash the opportunity for better outcomes and I’m looking forward to the industry taskforce moving at pace and engaging in fresh thinking.