Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund

Strategic asset allocation is set by the Pension Fund Committee, chaired by Councillor Simon Bond, with professional management oversight from Head of Pension Fund Jo Thistlewood. The majority of investment implementation is delegated to the Local Pensions Partnership (LPP), an FCA-regulated entity co-owned with Lancashire County Pension Fund and the London Pensions Fund Authority. Berkshire retains direct discretion over certain local investments, including venture and real estate commitments, but day-to-day manager selection for pooled mandates sits with LPP's London-based investment team.

Berkshire is a founding partner in LPP, which launched in 2016 as part of the UK government's LGPS pooling initiative. Unlike informal investment collaborations, LPP is structured as an FCA-authorised investment manager with a dedicated professional investment committee. Berkshire pools the bulk of its listed equity, fixed income, and private-market allocations through LPP, while retaining fiduciary responsibility via its independent Pension Fund Committee.

Berkshire's exposure spans public equities, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure, private credit, and venture capital. The venture allocation is deployed through direct fund commitments — such as to the Gresham House British Strategic Investment Fund — and through LPP co-investment vehicles. Stage coverage tilts toward UK-focused growth and infrastructure equity, with later-stage venture fund commitments rather than seed-stage angel investing. The LPP structure also gives the fund access to direct co-investment opportunities alongside infrastructure and private credit GPs.

Berkshire maintains a formal engagement and climate posture. It is a member of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), which coordinates shareholder activism across UK local government schemes, and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC). The fund uses LAPFF to vote and engage publicly listed holdings on governance issues, while the IIGCC membership signals a commitment to portfolio alignment with net-zero frameworks. Exact carbon-footprint disclosures and TCFD reporting are handled through the LPP pooling structure.

Yes, Berkshire holds a longevity insurance contract — a de-risking mechanism where a portion of member longevity risk is transferred to an insurer. This structure reduces the volatility of the fund's liability profile, which matters for a closed or maturing defined-benefit scheme. The exact counterparty and coverage ratio are not publicly detailed but the existence of the contract signals a liability-driven investment (LDI) overlay within the broader allocation framework.

For the direct venture and real-asset sleeves that sit outside LPP, the fund relies on manager relationships and, in the case of the Gresham House British Strategic Investment Fund, a mandate that actively originates UK housing and green infrastructure projects. The LPP pipeline, which represents the majority of private-market exposure, sources through its own London-based origination team and GP relationships cultivated since LPP's 2016 launch. Co-investment flow is also routed through those LPP GP relationships rather than a proprietary Berkshire origination engine.

The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead serves as the statutory administering authority. In practice, this means the borough's elected councillors appoint the Pension Fund Committee and retain ultimate fiduciary duty under UK pension regulations. Operational oversight sits with the professional team led by Jo Thistlewood. The arrangement is standard for LGPS funds, but Berkshire's delegation of daily investment management to FCA-authorised LPP distinguishes its governance model from peers that still manage everything in-house through council committees.