Data sourced from Dakota Marketplace, the global LP and GP intelligence platform trusted by thousands of investment professionals. Learn More | Book a Demo
LGPS manager activity in 2026 is running at a pace the UK institutional market has rarely seen: Dakota has logged 740+ mandate events across the 98 Local Government Pension Scheme funds and six pools, including 221 manager appointments, 125 terminations, and 38 searches, extracted from committee papers and pool documents. Active global equity is being replaced by passive and screened products, while private markets allocations keep building.
Key Takeaways
- Dakota's LGPS mandate ledger stands at 740+ events as of August 2026: 221 manager appointments, 125 terminations, 272 allocation changes, 87 strategy reviews, and 38 searches, all sourced from published committee and pool papers (Dakota Marketplace, 2026).
- Global equities is the most contested asset class with 149 logged events, and the direction is one-way: active mandates including Baillie Gifford, Morgan Stanley, and Harris Associates products have been terminated at multiple London funds, with proceeds moving to BlackRock and LGIM passive and ESG-screened funds.
- Private markets account for roughly 44% of all logged events across real estate (119), infrastructure (76), private equity (68), and private credit (66), including Border to Coast's ~$544 million single-family rental deal with Aberdeen Investments in August 2026.
- The wind-down of the ACCESS and Brunel pools is forcing re-tenders that would never otherwise happen, such as Oxfordshire's ~$1.8 billion portfolio transition from Brunel to LGPS Central in the second quarter of 2026.
- Incumbents win re-ups when performance holds: Islington re-committed to Pantheon, Quinbrook, and Crescent Capital funds in a single committee cycle rather than opening new searches.
What is driving LGPS manager turnover in 2026?
Two forces are compounding. The first is pool consolidation: the government's reforms cut eight pools to six, wound down ACCESS and Brunel, and set a March 2027 deadline for new investment strategy statements at every England and Wales fund. Assets in motion mean mandates in motion, and the ex-ACCESS and ex-Brunel funds are re-tendering portfolios that had been stable for years.
The second is a cost and conviction squeeze on active public equities. Committee papers across the scheme show the same reasoning: underperforming active global equity mandates are being cut, with proceeds moved into cheaper passive products, increasingly with ESG screens, freeing fee budget for private markets where committees still believe active management earns its keep.
The result is visible in the ledger's shape: 221 appointments against 125 terminations, with allocation changes (272) outnumbering both, because much of the money moving is changing structure, from active to passive and from listed to private, rather than simply changing manager.
Which asset classes are LGPS funds buying?
The table below breaks Dakota's 740+ logged LGPS mandate events down by asset class. Events include appointments, terminations, searches, allocation changes, and strategy reviews recorded in committee and pool papers over the trailing period to August 2026.
|
Asset class
|
Logged events
|
Direction of travel
|
|
Global equities
|
149
|
Active out, passive and screened in
|
|
Private real estate
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119
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Building, UK residential emerging
|
|
Multi-asset and credit funds
|
94
|
MAC replacements and new allocations
|
|
Private infrastructure
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76
|
Building, renewables and UK focus
|
|
Global fixed income
|
71
|
Duration and gilts additions
|
|
Private equity
|
68
|
Re-ups dominate, pacing steady
|
|
Private credit
|
66
|
Building, new fund commitments
|
|
Real assets and other
|
69
|
Selective
|
|
Emerging market equities
|
19
|
Restructuring around pool vehicles
|
|
Hedge funds and liquid alternatives
|
12
|
Niche, pool-led exploration
|
Private markets, taken together, account for roughly 44% of all activity. That is the structural story of the LGPS in 2026: a scheme built on listed assets rebuilding itself around private allocations, at the same time as its buying structure consolidates into pools.
Who is winning and losing global equity mandates?
The losers are named in the minutes. The LCIV Global Equity Quality fund, run by Morgan Stanley, was terminated by the City of Westminster (~$503 million) and Hammersmith and Fulham, and Baillie Gifford growth mandates were cut at Kensington and Chelsea and Camden, with Camden also terminating a Harris Associates value product. Outside London, Cumbria's committee papers record Lindsell Train replaced on Border to Coast's Global Equity Alpha sub-fund, and Shetland opened a search to replace Baillie Gifford.
The winners are passive at scale. BlackRock took the Westminster proceeds into an ESG-screened index fund, won a ~$555 million passive mandate at Kensington and Chelsea, and shared a ~$484 million allocation with LGIM at Hammersmith and Fulham. Where active survived, it changed style: Camden moved ~$95 million into the LCIV Global Equity Value fund run by Wellington Management, and AllianceBernstein took the Border to Coast Global Equity Alpha seat in April 2026.
For active equity managers, the message is uncomfortable but useful: generic growth mandates are being structurally retired, while value, screened, and pool sub-fund seats are still being contested and won.
Want the ledger, not the summary? Dakota Marketplace logs LGPS searches, appointments, terminations, and allocation changes as committee papers publish, mapped to Dakota accounts with the managers named. 740+ events and counting across all 98 funds and six pools. Book a demo.
How are LGPS funds building private markets exposure?
Through pools where vehicles exist, and directly where they do not. Border to Coast agreed a ~$544 million acquisition of 866 single-family rental homes with Aberdeen Investments in August 2026, a marker for LGPS capital moving into UK residential at scale. Infrastructure activity (76 events) leans toward renewables and UK assets, in line with government pressure for domestic investment.
Fund-level re-ups remain the private markets workhorse. Islington's committee re-committed to Pantheon Ventures in private equity, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners in infrastructure, and Crescent Capital in private credit in a single cycle, choosing incumbents over new searches. Multi-asset credit is the exception where genuine openings exist: Brent allocated ~$101 million to a CQS MAC mandate, and Leicestershire is running a live replacement search after terminating a Western Asset product.
The pattern for GPs: first commitments are hard-won and increasingly pool-mediated, but an LGPS LP that commits tends to stay, so the durable prize is a seat in the re-up rotation.
Where are the live opportunities right now?
Open processes logged in recent committee papers include Leicestershire's replacement search for a global multi-asset credit manager, Shetland's search for a global equity manager to replace Baillie Gifford, Sutton's private equity allocation awaiting a new London CIV vehicle, and North Yorkshire's ongoing discussions with Border to Coast about a liquid alternatives fund. Consultant and adviser tenders, such as Lambeth's investment consultancy retender, also cycle continuously.
Search volume understates opportunity, because most LGPS mandates now change hands without a public tender: pool sub-fund reshuffles, transition-driven re-tenders, and committee decisions to restructure allocations all create entry points that only appear in the papers. That is why the ledger tracks allocation changes and reviews, 359 events combined, alongside formal searches.
Timing is the edge. A fund reviewing an underperforming mandate this quarter is next quarter's termination and the following quarter's appointment, and the sequence is visible in public documents for anyone reading them, or for any Dakota member the moment they land.
How can fund managers act on committee intelligence?
Cover the calendar, not just the contacts. LGPS committees meet quarterly and publish agendas, papers, and minutes on a known rhythm. The managers who win here read the strategy reviews before the search opens, know which consultant supports which fund, and arrive when the problem is identified rather than after the tender publishes.
Doing that manually across 98 funds and six pools means monitoring hundreds of council web pages every month. Dakota does it as a product: every event in this article came from the same pipeline that feeds Dakota Marketplace, where each search, appointment, and termination is mapped to the account, the managers involved, and the asset class, refreshed as papers publish.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many manager searches are LGPS funds running in 2026?
Dakota has logged 38 formal search events across LGPS funds and pools as of August 2026, alongside 221 appointments and 125 terminations. Formal searches understate real activity because pool sub-fund changes and transition-driven re-tenders move mandates without a public tender.
Which asset classes are LGPS funds allocating to in 2026?
Global equities sees the most activity (149 logged events), driven by active-to-passive switches, while private markets collectively account for roughly 44% of events: private real estate (119), infrastructure (76), private equity (68), and private credit (66). Multi-asset credit is the most active area for genuinely new external mandates.
Which managers have lost LGPS mandates recently?
Terminations logged in 2026 committee papers include Baillie Gifford growth mandates at several London funds, the Morgan Stanley-run LCIV Global Equity Quality fund, a Harris Associates value product at Camden, Lindsell Train's seat on a Border to Coast sub-fund, a Western Asset multi-asset credit fund at Leicestershire, and Invesco and LaSalle real estate products at London boroughs.
Which managers are winning LGPS mandates?
Recent appointments include BlackRock and LGIM for passive and ESG-screened equities, Wellington Management and AllianceBernstein for active equity seats, Lazard on a Wales Pension Partnership sub-fund, CQS for multi-asset credit, Aberdeen Investments for UK residential real estate, and re-ups for Pantheon, Quinbrook, and Crescent Capital in private markets.
Where does LGPS mandate intelligence come from?
LGPS funds and pools publish committee agendas, papers, minutes, and annual reports, which disclose manager decisions in detail. Dakota extracts mandate events from those documents across all 98 funds and six pools and maps each to accounts and managers in Dakota Marketplace, refreshed as new papers publish.
Do LGPS pools or individual funds make the buying decisions now?
Both, split by layer: pools increasingly select managers for listed-asset sub-funds, while individual funds set allocations, appoint consultants, and drive most private markets pacing. The wind-down of ACCESS and Brunel adds a third layer of transition decisions running through 2027.
Ready to see LGPS mandates as they move?
Every appointment, termination, and search in this article was sitting in a public document that almost nobody reads at scale. Dakota Marketplace reads them all: 740+ LGPS mandate events logged and mapped to accounts, managers, and asset classes, on top of manager-level holdings for 90 funds and the full six-pool structure.
Book a Demo to see the live LGPS mandate ledger and get ahead of the next search.
Related reading: The Six LGPS Pools: A 2026 Guide · Top 10 Largest LGPS Funds in the UK · Top 10 Public Pension Funds in the UK
