LGPS Central launches stewardship service to ease governance burden

LGPS Central has launched a “first of its kind” stewardship service in the UK to ease the governance burden on partner funds and ensure all shares under the pool management are voted on in the same way.

The launch of the initiative follows the new £11bn (€13bn) oversight and stewardship mandate announced by the investment pool in January 2025.

The service will cover more than 2,500 companies each year across 15 equity funds, with assets under management of approximately £8.8bn. Including fixed income allocations, the total mandate value rises to approximately £11bn.

The stewardship service will complement LGPS Central’s existing stewardship activities, where the team already votes on behalf of £13.7bn of assets across 3,100 companies.

The service is designed to further ease the governance burden on partner funds, meaning that all shares under pool management are voted in the same way.

LGPS Central said this will ensure that all stewardship activities are aligned to its stewardship strategy, which was developed with and approved by its partner funds.

It added that progress will be reported at regular Responsible Investment Working Group (RIWG) meetings, directly to partner funds’ pension committees, and through regular stewardship reports.

The service provides coverage of the FTSE All World Developed Index and significant exposure to the MSCI ACWI IMI Index.

LGPS Central added that the launch of the service marks “another important milestone” in the pool’s commitment to “best-practice” stewardship. It follows the pool’s strong track record, recognised by high Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) scores and its longstanding signatory status to the UK Stewardship Code.

It added that LGPS Central remains “firmly” committed to supporting partner funds in fulfilling their fiduciary duties and delivering sustainable investment outcomes for the benefit of their members and wider society.

Read the digital edition of IPE’s latest magazine