In this episode of The Professional Investment Podcast, host Charlotte Moore talks to Chris Hitchen, chair of Border to Coast Pension Partnership about the UK’s Pension Schemes Bill.Laid in early June, the Pensions Bill is wide-ranging with policies aimed at closed corporate defined benefit schemes, the LGPS and auto-enrolled workplace schemes. These represent ambitious reforms aimed an improving the system and the retirement income of scheme members.Chris and Charlotte unpack the implications of the pensions bill for the LGPS with assets to be consolidated in six pools and the continued focus on local investment. They discuss the advantages of scale and impact this has on relationships with asset managers as well as how diseconomies of scale emerge when a fund becomes too large.The Bill includes a recommendation for auto-enrolled pension schemes to offer a default retirement income. Chris and Charlotte talk about the investment challenges pension providers need to solve to ensure members don’t run out of money in their life time as well as the operational challenges.They also welcomed a value for money framework but note this will need to be navigated carefully to avoid too great a focus on short-term performance. The government’s ambition to consolidate small pots is also to be welcomed.Finally, Chris and Charlotte discuss the implications of Reform’s strength in the recent local government elections and what implications this will have for pools’ fund selection in the future.ABOUT THE GUEST:Chris HitchenNest Board Member from 1 June 2018 to 31 May 2024Chair, Investment committee from 28 May 2019 to 31 May 2024Chris re-joined the Board in 2018, having previously served from 2010 to 2015. He has over 30 years’ experience in investment and pensions.He is Chair of the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership, investing money for 11 Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) pension funds with assets under management totalling £60 billion, and Chair of the £20 billion Nuclear Liabilities Fund, helping to protect future generations from the costs of decommissioning nuclear power stations. Chris also sits on the Board of the Scott Trust Endowment Limited, which backs the Guardian newspaper, and on the Finance and Investment Board of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.For almost twenty years Chris led Railpen, the 350,000-member UK Railways pension system, first as Chief Investment Officer and then as CEO. He also chaired the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) and was the inaugural Chair of the Pensions Quality Mark, raising standards in defined contribution (DC) pensions.With a strong interest in corporate and institutional governance, Chris has served as a board member for the Toronto-based International Centre for Pensions Management and for the UK’s Investor Forum, which promotes strategic dialogue between companies and investors.Chris is an actuary and an honorary fellow of the CFA Society of the UK. ⸻ABOUT THE HOST:Charlotte Moore is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Moore Squared Communications. She has spent almost two decades writing about how the UK’s largest investment organisations allocate their capital for a number of different specialist magazines including Professional Pensions, IPE and MandateWire. She started this podcast to increase understanding of how and why the UK’s £3 trillion pensions industry invests its members’ capital to provide the best possible retirement.🔗 https://lotsmoore.co.uk/⸻#Pensions #UKEconomy #InvestmentStrategy #PensionSurplus #FinancePodcast #Brightwell #ProfessionalInvestment #nest #CharlotteMoore #PensionFunds