Falkirk Council Pension Fund

The Pensions Committee — a body of elected Falkirk councillors — sets investment strategy, advised by professional officers and an external investment consultant. Day-to-day manager selection and portfolio monitoring are delegated to officers, but strategic allocation shifts require committee approval. Committee minutes, including investment performance reviews, are publicly available on the Falkirk Council website.

Scottish LGPS funds pool assets through collaborative vehicles like the Forth Pension Fund Collaborative rather than the FCA-regulated pool companies used in England and Wales — preserving direct fiduciary responsibility at the individual fund committee level.

The Forth Collaborative aggregates roughly £4B from four central Scotland pension funds — Falkirk, Stirling, Clackmannanshire, and Scottish Water Superannuation — to jointly access private markets, infrastructure, and global equity mandates at institutional scale. It was established as part of the 2015 Scottish LGPS reforms. Each participating fund retains its own Pensions Committee and liability profile.

The fund deploys capital across public equities, fixed income, UK commercial real estate, infrastructure, and private equity. Private-market exposure is primarily accessed through the Forth Collaborative and external fund managers. Specific mandates are not publicly disaggregated at the individual council level, though the fund discloses high-level allocations in its annual report and committee papers on the Falkirk Council website.

Falkirk uses external fund managers for substantially all investments. Direct investments are limited; the fund accesses co-investments and fund commitments through the Forth Collaborative, which selects managers on behalf of the participating councils. Prior to pooling, the fund maintained its own roster of segregated mandates with firms including UK equity and property specialists.