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The Local Government Pension Scheme held about $530 billion (£402 billion) at 31 March 2025 across 98 funds, and in 2026 it buys through six pools plus the funds that still commit to private markets themselves. Raising capital from the LGPS means working both layers: the pool for listed mandates, and the fund's pensions committee, officers and consultant for private markets. This guide covers who buys, what they hold, when seats open and how to approach them.
Key Takeaways
- The LGPS is 98 funds (86 in England and Wales, 11 in Scotland, plus Northern Ireland) with about $530 billion (£402 billion) at 31 March 2025, and the 86 English and Welsh funds were required to move their assets to six pools by 31 March 2026 (Scheme Advisory Board, 2025; government response to "Fit for the Future", May 2025).
- Dakota Marketplace maps 1,349 holdings across 87 LGPS fund and pool accounts naming 260 managers, and 59% of those holdings are private markets positions: private equity and venture (250), infrastructure (232), real estate (171), private credit (119) and other real assets (25) (Dakota Marketplace, October 2026).
- Listed mandates run through the pools and a handful of index managers: Legal & General Investment Management appears on 36 LGPS fund and pool accounts and BlackRock on 27, while M&G Investment Management is named on 20, Schroders on 19, J.P. Morgan Asset Management on 16 and Partners Group, Baillie Gifford and IFM Investors on 10 or 11 each.
- Seats open on a published calendar: quarterly pensions committees, annual reports by 1 December, pool transitions forced by the closure of ACCESS and Brunel, and new Investment Strategy Statements due from every English and Welsh fund by 31 March 2027.
- The decision sits with three parties at once: the fund's pensions committee and officers, its investment consultant, and the pool's investment team. A manager with no relationship at two of the three rarely wins.
Who buys in the LGPS: funds or pools?
Both, and the split by asset class decides whom you pitch. Since 31 March 2026 the 86 English and Welsh funds have been required to hold their listed assets through one of six pools, and the pools run manager selection for those mandates. Private markets still move fund by fund: a pensions committee sets its strategic allocation and pacing, and either commits directly or through a pool vehicle such as Northern LGPS's private equity pool or Border to Coast's private markets programmes.
Eight pools became six under the government's "Fit for the Future" reforms, consulted on in November 2024 and confirmed in May 2025. ACCESS closed on 31 March 2026 and Brunel wound up on 1 July 2026, with their member funds moving mainly to LGPS Central, Border to Coast and Local Pensions Partnership Investments. Scotland's 11 funds and Northern Ireland's NILGOSC sit outside the pooling regime and still select managers directly.
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Pool
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Member funds in Dakota's mapping
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Examples
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London CIV
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33
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Southwark, Camden, Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth
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LGPS Central
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19 (13 original plus 6 former ACCESS funds)
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West Midlands, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk
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Border to Coast
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14
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Tyne and Wear, South Yorkshire, Surrey, Kent, East Riding
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Local Pensions Partnership Investments (LPPI)
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9
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Lancashire, LPFA, Avon, Devon, Cornwall
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Wales Pension Partnership
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8
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Rhondda Cynon Taf, Greater Gwent, Cardiff, Clwyd
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Northern LGPS
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3
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Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Merseyside
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Outside pooling
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12
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Strathclyde, Lothian, Tayside, Fife, NILGOSC
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Sources: Dakota Marketplace LGPS mapping, October 2026; LGPS fund annual reports and committee papers.
Scale is concentrated. The three Northern LGPS funds and Strathclyde alone hold more than a fifth of scheme assets, and LGPS Central's partner funds held about $91 billion (£69 billion) at 31 March 2026 after six more funds joined on 1 April 2026 (LGPS Central annual report, 2026). The pools are becoming the largest institutional buyers in the UK, but each still answers to the committees that own the money.
What do LGPS funds actually hold?
Private markets dominate the named holdings. Of the 1,349 LGPS holdings mapped in Dakota Marketplace, 797 (59%) are private equity, infrastructure, real estate, private credit or other real assets. Listed equity accounts for 310, fixed income and cash for 176, and multi-asset and absolute return for 34. The holdings are read from fund annual reports, pool reports and committee papers, so they describe what funds owned at their last reporting date, not open mandates.
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Asset bucket
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Mapped LGPS holdings
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Share
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Most frequently named managers (by number of funds)
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Listed equity
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310
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23%
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Legal & General Investment Management, BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, Longview Partners
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Private equity and venture
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250
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19%
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Partners Group, Pantheon Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, Permira, Capital Dynamics
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Infrastructure
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232
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17%
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IFM Investors, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Schroders Greencoat, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners
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Fixed income and cash
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176
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13%
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Legal & General Investment Management, M&G Investment Management, Insight Investment
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Real estate
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171
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13%
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CBRE Investment Management, Aberdeen Group, Schroders, UBS Asset Management
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Private credit
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119
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9%
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M&G Investment Management, Partners Group, Arcmont Asset Management, KKR
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Multi-asset, absolute return and other
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91
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7%
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BlackRock, Ruffer (through London CIV), pool multi-asset credit funds
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Sources: Dakota Marketplace, LGPS holdings on fund and pool accounts, 22 October 2026. Counts are holdings, not assets, and a pool vehicle appears as the holding where the fund reports it that way.
Two patterns matter for a fundraiser. First, 464 of the 1,349 holdings (34%) name a pool vehicle rather than an external manager: London CIV funds on 129 rows, Border to Coast on 104, Brunel on 93, LGPS Central on 62 and the Wales Pension Partnership on 54. Those are the mandates where the pool, not the fund, chose the underlying manager. Second, infrastructure is now the second-largest private markets bucket by count, which reflects a decade of UK funds building direct and pooled infrastructure programmes such as GLIL Infrastructure, which Greater Manchester reports as a $1.5 billion holding.
Which managers already hold LGPS mandates?
A short list of firms appears again and again, and they are the incumbents you are competing with or sitting alongside. Legal & General Investment Management is named on 36 of the 87 LGPS accounts with mapped holdings, almost all of them index equity and fixed income sleeves. BlackRock follows on 27, then M&G Investment Management on 20, Schroders on 19, J.P. Morgan Asset Management on 16, UBS Asset Management on 14, Partners Group on 11, and Baillie Gifford and IFM Investors on 10 each. Group entities are merged in these counts, so Legal & General Investment Management includes the Legal & General and LGIM America records.
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Manager
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LGPS fund and pool accounts naming it
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Where it shows up
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Legal & General Investment Management
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36
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Index equity and bond pooled funds across every region
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BlackRock
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27
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Index equity, multi-asset credit, private markets sleeves
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M&G Investment Management
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20
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Private credit, real estate income, fixed income
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Schroders
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19
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Real estate, renewables, UK private assets
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J.P. Morgan Asset Management
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16
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Infrastructure, emerging market debt, real estate
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UBS Asset Management
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14
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Real estate, index equity
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Partners Group
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11
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Multi-asset private markets programmes, private credit
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Baillie Gifford
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10
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Active global equity, now largely via pools
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IFM Investors
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10
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Global infrastructure
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Pantheon Ventures
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8
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Private equity and infrastructure fund of funds
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Gresham House
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8
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Forestry, UK housing, sustainable infrastructure
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CBRE Investment Management
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8
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UK and global real estate
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Sources: Dakota Marketplace, 22 October 2026. Counts are distinct LGPS accounts with at least one holding naming the manager, including pool accounts.
The private markets incumbent list is wider and more open than the listed one. Beyond the names above, Permira, Octopus Capital, KKR, HarbourVest Partners, Capital Dynamics, Aberdeen Group, Stafford Capital Partners, GCM Grosvenor, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, Arcmont Asset Management and Blackstone each appear on four to six funds. Dakota's holdings name 260 managers in total, so a first-time LGPS allocation is a normal event, not an exception. Our post on what LGPS funds are buying in 2026 tracks how those seats change hands.
When do LGPS mandates open up?
On a calendar that the funds publish themselves. Every English and Welsh fund runs a pensions committee that meets at least quarterly, publishes its papers in advance and its minutes afterwards, and takes decisions on strategic allocation, private markets pacing, manager reviews and consultant appointments in public session. Every fund publishes an annual report by 1 December listing its managers and holdings. And every English and Welsh fund must publish a new Investment Strategy Statement by 31 March 2027 under the post-pooling rules, which means 86 strategy reviews are in motion through 2026 and early 2027.
Pool transitions add a second wave. The closure of ACCESS and Brunel forced their 21 former member funds to transfer portfolios into new pools, and those transfers reopen mandates that would otherwise have sat untouched. Dakota has logged 740+ LGPS mandate events from committee and pool papers since the start of 2025, including appointments, terminations, allocation changes, strategy reviews and live searches, which our 2026 appointments and terminations analysis breaks down by asset class.
Two honest caveats. Committee papers record decisions after the fact, so a termination in the minutes is a seat that has already moved, not an open request for proposals. And the formal route to market for most listed mandates is now the pool's own procurement, which may run through the National LGPS Frameworks or a published tender rather than a committee paper. Dakota Marketplace holds 109 public plan minutes and 15 searches on UK pension accounts today, and 249 LGPS committee summaries and 29 live manager searches are coming soon.
Who makes the decision at an LGPS fund?
Three groups, and you need two of them. The pensions committee, made up of elected councillors with employer and member representatives, owns the investment strategy and approves manager appointments at fund level. The officers, usually a head of pensions and an investment team inside the council's finance function, run the process day to day and write the papers the committee votes on. The investment consultant advises both, and in most funds no listed or private markets appointment goes to committee without the consultant's recommendation.
The consultant market is concentrated. Hymans Robertson, Mercer, Aon, Isio and Redington advise most English and Welsh funds between them, with PIRC, Barnett Waddingham and independent advisers on others, and the pools have their own research teams and in some cases their own consultant relationships. In Scotland and Northern Ireland the fund's committee and consultant are the whole decision, with no pool layer.
For pooled listed mandates, add a fourth party: the pool's investment team and board. London CIV, Border to Coast, LGPS Central, LPPI, the Wales Pension Partnership and Northern LGPS each run manager research, appoint and terminate managers in their sub-funds, and report to their partner funds. A manager who wins a pool sub-fund gains exposure to every partner fund that invests in it, which is why the pool is the right first call for a listed strategy and the fund is the right first call for a private markets fund.
How should a fund manager approach the LGPS?
Pick the layer, cover the consultant, and show up where the committees already are. The sequence below is a 90-day plan that works for a UK, European or US manager with a relevant strategy and a UK presence or plan for one.
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Weeks
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Action
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Why
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1 to 2
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Map the 98 funds and six pools against your strategy: which funds already hold your asset class, which pool runs it, which consultant advises each fund
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Private markets pitches go to funds, listed pitches to pools, and the consultant sits behind both
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3 to 4
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Secure a research meeting with the two or three consultants that advise your target funds
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A consultant rating is the practical pre-condition for most listed and many private markets appointments
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5 to 6
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Register on the pool's manager portals and the National LGPS Frameworks, and set up tender alerts on Find a Tender
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Pools and funds procure through frameworks and published tenders, not through inbound emails
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7 to 9
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Read the last four quarters of committee papers for your top 15 funds and note strategy reviews, pacing plans and terminations
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Papers tell you which funds are re-underwriting your asset class this year
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10 to 12
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Attend the autumn LGPS investment conferences and local authority pension events, and request meetings with officers at funds reviewing your asset class
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Officers write the papers; a relationship before the review beats a response after it
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Ongoing
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Track minutes, annual reports and Investment Strategy Statements as they publish
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Seats open on this calendar, and incumbents win re-ups when no one else is in the room
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Sources: Dakota Marketplace LGPS dataset; LGPS fund governance documents, 2025 to 2026.
Three practical points. First, fee and ESG expectations are set in public: pools report savings to their partner funds, and most funds publish responsible investment policies, so arrive with institutional fees and a credible stewardship record. Second, UK presence matters more than UK domicile; several US and European managers hold LGPS mandates through pooled vehicles or UK feeder structures. Third, the Scottish and Northern Irish funds are still direct buyers across every asset class, and their committees meet on the same public calendar as the English funds.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the LGPS and how big is it?
The Local Government Pension Scheme is the funded pension scheme for council and related public sector employees in the UK. It is run as 98 separate funds (86 in England and Wales, 11 in Scotland and one in Northern Ireland) with about $530 billion (£402 billion) in assets at 31 March 2025 and around 6.8 million members (Scheme Advisory Board, 2025).
Do I pitch the pool or the fund?
Pitch the pool for listed equity, fixed income and other pooled sub-funds, because the pool's investment team selects those managers for all its partner funds. Pitch the fund for private markets, because the pensions committee still sets allocation and pacing and commits fund by fund, often through a pool vehicle but on the fund's own decision.
Can a US or European manager win an LGPS mandate?
Yes. Dakota's LGPS holdings name 260 managers, including J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Partners Group, IFM Investors, Pantheon Ventures, HarbourVest Partners, KKR and Blackstone. Most hold their LGPS positions through pooled funds or UK feeder vehicles, and all of them were selected either by a pool or by a fund with its consultant's recommendation.
What is an Investment Strategy Statement?
An Investment Strategy Statement (ISS) is the document every English and Welsh LGPS fund must publish setting out its asset allocation, risk approach, pooling arrangements and responsible investment policy. New statements are due from every fund by 31 March 2027, which makes the 2026 to 2027 cycle a scheme-wide strategy review.
Which investment consultants advise LGPS funds?
Hymans Robertson, Mercer, Aon, Isio and Redington advise most English and Welsh funds, with PIRC, Barnett Waddingham and independent advisers on others. Dakota Marketplace records the consultant on the fund's account where the fund discloses it.
Where do LGPS funds publish their manager decisions?
In quarterly pensions committee papers and minutes on each council's website, in the fund's annual report published by 1 December, and in pool reports to partner funds. Dakota reads those documents and loads holdings, minutes and searches to the fund's account in Marketplace.
How much of the LGPS is in private markets?
Of the 1,349 LGPS holdings mapped in Dakota Marketplace, 797 (59%) are private equity, infrastructure, real estate, private credit or other real assets. By value, listed equity and fixed income still hold most of the money, but private markets are where new external appointments most often happen.
How is the LGPS different from a US public pension plan?
The committee structure is similar, but the LGPS runs no single state-level board: 98 funds each have a committee, and since 2026 the English and Welsh funds buy listed assets through six pools. Public papers are as detailed as US board minutes, and Dakota treats them the same way, as minutes and searches on the fund's account.
Ready to build your LGPS target list?
Dakota Marketplace tracks 162 UK public pension accounts with 1,583 contacts, 1,349 mapped LGPS holdings naming 260 managers, 109 public plan minutes and 15 live searches on UK pension accounts, with 249 LGPS committee summaries and 29 manager searches coming soon. Filter by pool membership, asset class held, incumbent manager and consultant to see which of the 98 funds already buy what you sell and who sits between you and the committee. A trial shows the holding-by-holding map behind every fund in this guide, plus the committee papers as they publish.
Book a Demo to see UK public pension coverage fund by fund and pool by pool.
Related reading: The Six LGPS Pools: A 2026 Guide for Fund Managers · Top 10 Largest LGPS Funds in the UK · What LGPS Funds Are Buying in 2026 · Top 10 Public Pension Funds in the UK
