- 32 minutes 39 secondsPlumbing the Depths of Section 75and Nick unpack a TPR enforcement report involving the Plumbing and Mechanical Services scheme, an unpaid debt, and a fined accountant. Also on the agenda: Torsten Bell's continued grip on the pensions brief, Lords criticism of the Pension Schemes Bill, and a possible new fund from Nest, Railpen and the LGPS pools aimed at scaling up UK businesses.
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3 August 2026, 5:00 am - 43 minutes 6 secondsWhat the Commission HeardTorsten Bell drops a bumper package of regulatory roadmap updates - Tom and Nick sift through the value for money delay, guided retirement, and the pushed-back superfund timeline. The pair also discuss LGPS contribution rates, and what the Pensions Commission's call for evidence responses reveal about the industry's asks.
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20 July 2026, 5:00 am - 24 minutes 54 secondsLGPS Interviews Special: Mark Smith
In this episode of our LGPS Interviews series, we sit down with Mark Smith, Head of the Oxfordshire Pension Fund and newly appointed Senior LGPS Officer, to unpack what the role really involves day to day. Mark shares candid insight into governance reviews, local government reorganisation, pooling, the new independent person role, and Oxfordshire's approach to local investment.
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15 July 2026, 5:00 am - 19 minutes 46 secondsLGPS Interviews Special: Jennifer DevineIn this episode of the LGPS Interviews, we sit down with Jennifer Devine, head of Wiltshire Pension Fund, to discuss the fund's journey to a new pool following the Fit for the Future reforms. She shares what it was like to receive the news, how the fund set about finding a new pooling partner, and the lessons learned along the way.
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8 July 2026, 5:00 am - 47 minutes 8 secondsGold Stars and Grey Areas: The New LGPS GuidanceTom and Nick are joined by special guest Brian Gielty to dig into the newly published LGPS statutory guidance - from the Secretary of State's new intervention powers to the revamped four-tier governance ratings - plus reflections from the LAPF June conference, surplus strategy, and Faith Ward's move to LPPI
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6 July 2026, 5:00 am - 51 minutes 10 secondsSpaceX, Surpluses and the Senior LGPS OfficerSpaceX has gone public at a $2tn-plus valuation. Tom and Nick dig into what dual-class shares and fast-tracked index inclusion mean for pension investors who didn't sign up to own a piece of SpaceX. Plus the DWP's review of flexible apportionment arrangements after Aberdeen quietly took on Stagecoach's entire DB scheme, and Surrey's move to become a single purpose pension authority.
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22 June 2026, 5:00 am - 30 minutes 39 secondsAAPA presents... The World Cup of Pensions (Part 2)
The beautiful game continues - for people who still get a little too excited about replacement rates.
In part two, Tom and Nick pick up where the spreadsheet left off, taking the surviving nations from the Round of 16 all the way to the final to crown the world's greatest pension system. Brian is back on VAR duty, weighting his replacement rates and steadfastly denying he's been siding with anyone.
Across the closing rounds you'll get squeaky-bum-time penalty shootouts, a few heavyweight clashes, the occasional 7-1 reminder that pension assets aren't everything, and three judges, three methodologies and one increasingly inevitable champion. Strong opinions throughout. Usable financial advice: still none.
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11 June 2026, 5:00 am - 41 minutes 42 secondsAAPA presents... The World Cup of Pensions (Part 1)
It's the beautiful game, reimagined for people who get a little too excited about replacement rates.
Hosts Tom and Nick have done something nobody asked for: assessed all 48 World Cup nations across eight pension and lifestyle metrics and run a full knockout tournament to crown the world's greatest retirement system. There's no group stage, because the real ones are complicated enough - but there is a referee, Brian Gielty of LAPF Investments, to adjudicate the inevitable disagreements via VAR.
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10 June 2026, 12:30 pm - 40 minutes 7 secondsSpinning the Wheel of Pensions: LGPS, Dashboards and Retirement Living StandardsThe pensions news keeps coming, so Thomas and Nick spin the wheel again. This time: Fit for the Future deadline shuffles for LGPS pools, Nick's enduring (and largely solo) excitement about pensions dashboards, the thorny question of who actually understands the AI creeping into the industry, and what the latest Retirement Living Standards really tell us. Plus a World Cup of pension systems - coming to a future episode, maybe.
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8 June 2026, 5:00 am - 53 minutes 9 secondsThe Report, the Gap and the Robot in the Room
The Pensions Commission's interim report has landed - all 190 pages of it - confirming what the industry already feared: 15 million people are under-saving. Tom and Nick dig into what happens before the full report arrives in "early 2027" (definition pending). Plus the shrinking-but-still-enormous gender pensions gap, conflict-zone and local investment, and the regulator's new line on AI - including whether your pension chatbot can be trusted or is just confidently making things up.
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25 May 2026, 5:00 am - 29 minutes 38 secondsLGPS Interviews Special: Louise JackIn this episode of the LGPS Interviews, we sit down with Louise Jack, chief operating and financial officer at LPPI, to discuss how the pool has tripled its client base and doubled its assets under management following the Fit for the Future consultation. Louise shares insights on recruitment and integrating Brunel staff, opening the new Bristol office, building trust with partner funds, and the governance, operational resilience and cyber security considerations that come with scaling up.
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