LGPS board presses new ministers on TCFD timetable

The Conservative rebellion to oust Boris Johnson led to upheaval at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with Johnson sacking DLUHC secretary of state Michael Gove, and housing minister Stuart Andrew resigning in protest against party leadership.

Gove has since been replaced as secretary of state by Greg Clark MP, while Andrew’s position of housing minister has been filled by Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Scully.

There were widely-reported fears that ministerial upheaval could lead to delays across a number of pensions policy areas. Now the two ministers are in place, LGPS SAB chair Roger Phillips has written to each asking them to press on with changes to the scheme.

In the first letter, sent to Clark on July 15, Phillips welcomed the minister’s appointment, and expressed the board’s hope “that the timetable for public consultations on changes to the scheme which, up to now, had been planned for the Autumn will not be delayed by the recent changes in the ministerial team. 

“Those consultations were likely to cover a number of different areas relevant to the scheme, however, our main concern centres on the introduction of a framework for LGPS administering authorities to report on climate change risks, as stipulated by the Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures,” he said.

Concerns about the TCFD consultation also characterised Phillips’s letter to Scully, where he stressed the need for the consultation to be published “as soon as possible”.

He said the board had been waiting to progress with the TCFD since October 2021, and sought reassurance that there would not be further delays, given that the Department for Work and Pensions has already set out regulations and guidance in this area for private sector schemes.

Continuing in his letter to Clark, Phillips stressed that the LGPS “is already a year behind the private sector and delaying the planned [TCFD] consultation beyond the Autumn risks even further delay and the resultant criticism that the scheme, and those responsible for making scheme regulations, are dragging their heels on this key issue. 

“I very much hope that you will feel able to give an early assurance to the board that the anticipated public consultations, and in particular that the reporting of climate-related risk, will proceed in time for the necessary regulations and associated guidance to be introduced by April next year,” he said.

“This is necessary to enable LGPS administering authorities to put in place arrangements to report on climate risks and progress against emissions targets for the period 2022/23. Any delay beyond then would put us a further year behind the private sector, which would be regrettable for a globally significant investor like the LGPS.”

Phillips offered to meet with Clark to discuss the matter further.