The Daily Mail and General Trust pension fund has used alternative assets to provide inflation linkage, after demand and monetary policy drove up the cost of using gilts to mitigate inflation risk.

The West Midlands Pension Fund has set aside £40m for a direct lending fund to provide finance to small and medium-sized businesses in the Birmingham area, seeking a positive social impact alongside return.

The Pensions Regulator has said limited liability partnerships will have to consider auto-enrolling their partners, after a Supreme Court decision threw their employment status into doubt.

Investment experts have warned about the importance of careful selection when investing in second tier-property, as schemes increase allocations to the sub-asset class.

The University of East London has called for a greater say in the running of the Barking & Dagenham Pension Fund, as it says funding the scheme has become a growing financial burden.

Industry figures have predicted that early engagement and face-to-face guidance will drive take-up of the Budget’s promised guidance guarantee, as the industry debates how it will be delivered.

Local authority scheme experts at Wednesday's National Association of Pension Funds' 2014 Local Authority Conference discussed greater separation in decision-making structures, or increasing guidance, as ways to improve governance.

The head of Wiltshire Pension Fund has said early engagement was crucial to the implementation of this year’s Local Government Pension Scheme reforms, as local authority decision-makers stress the importance of staff training.

The Shell Contributory Pension Fund has created a contribution reserve account to prevent a trapped surplus as it exceeds full funding.