News Roundup: TFL’s Pension, Right to Buy Calculations, Welsh Savings, Road Formula and Hull Profits from Death

Infrastructure pension platform launches with local authority on board
At least one local government pension fund is among the investors in the second fund to be launched by the UK’s Pensions Infrastructure Platform. The PIP Solar PV fund this week reached close on £131m and will be managed by Aviva Investors. Pension funds in West Midlands and Strathclyde, which were founder members of PIP, were unable to confirm if they are taking part, when approached by Room151.

TFL moves pension investments
Transport for London Pension Fund has moved a significant chunk of its assets to investment manager BlackRock from Legal & General Investment Management. The pension fund has signed a £1.6BN liability-driven investment deal with BlackRock, along with a £2.2bn passive equity portfolio.

Government ‘got Right to Buy calculations wrong’
Ministers have miscalculated the amount that can be raised by forcing councils to sell their housing stock to fund an extension of the Right to Buy for housing association tenants, according to the Financial Times. Research by property consultant Savills found the government is likely to raise only £3.2bn a year from 5,500 council home sales, rather than the £4.5bn from 15,000 sales predicted by the government.

Wales councils told to seek savings
Welsh councils could save £151m through a radical transformation of service delivery, according to a report produced for the Welsh Government. The report said that authorities could achieve substantial annual savings through standardising their approach across Wales and seeking to match equivalent spending levels with their peers in England. The report covered activities including property management, ICT and finance.

£100m council tax owed to Scottish town halls
Scottish councils are owed almost £100m in unpaid council tax from last year, according to Scottish government statistics. Nationally, the collection rate for the tax rose again slightly to a figure of 95.4%. Poll tax arrears dating from the 1990s were written off by the government earlier this year.

Road funding formula changed
A new round of funding to repair roads will be allocated to councils on the basis of performance, the Department for Transport has announced. The move is aimed at moving away from the current system which ministers believe provides a perverse incentive for councils to let roads deteriorate in order to qualify. The new system will be phased in over a number of years.

Death surge boosts Hull coffers
Hull City Council underspent its 2014-15 budget by £800,000, helped partly by a rise in the death rate. The council’s crematorium has reported annual income more than £297,000 more than originally forecast. The flu virus and cold weather were blamed for a spike in deaths. The £800,000 under-spend is being allocated to a number of projects this year, including £273,000 on new desktop and computer software.