The UK’s largest pension funds have put pressure on fund managers to make the case for their responsible investment strategies, publishing a guide intended to “break down the information barriers” between schemes and managers.

The chief of the London Pensions Fund Authority has said the £500m tie-up with the Greater Manchester Pension Fund, announced last week, will consider “infrastructure in a broad definition”. 

As oil prices fall below $50 (£33) a barrel, investment experts have urged pension schemes to seize the opportunity to hedge their liabilities against inflation and heed the impact on their commodity markets exposure.

Legal experts have reported an increase in pension schemes planning to reduce their liabilities by changing their rules to allow partial transfer of members' pure defined benefit assets into defined contribution arrangements.

Pensions minister Steve Webb has signalled support for mastertrusts delivering a collective defined contribution option for members, at a Trades Union Congress conference on Wednesday – but at least one of the large mastertrusts has rejected the idea.