Perspectives differ

America’s great hymn to freedom, the Star -spangled Banner, celebrates the ‘Land of the Free’. It was written to commemorate US military heroics – but in a war it started with the invasion of Canada. Perspectives differ.

And perspectives differ too on the suggestion that government should mandate pension fund investment in UK private markets (such as infrastructure) if voluntary commitments under the Mansion House Accord fall short of expectations.

In the early 1980’s, with the prospect of a change of government, some large pension schemes were so fearful of interference in their investment decisions that they took advice on what they could do to mitigate the possibility. Most private sector employers which offered pensions then did so through final salary schemes. As PAT’s Ross Goobey collection illustrates, they were only too aware of the impact of their investment policy on the cost and sustainability of the scheme, and commonly altered trust deeds containing restrictions on permitted investments to remove these restrictions and to extend the range of investments that the scheme might invest in.

Members of defined contribution schemes whose benefits are directly affected by the success or failure of scheme investments may have a similar mindset. It is one thing to decide to invest in a particular asset class as part of a balanced portfolio, but quite another to be told to do so. Or is using ‘our nation’s wealth to build an economic future for UK citizens’ benefit’ the right way to go? It all depends on your perspective.

Pensions Archive Trust Director, Jane Marshall

https://pensionsarchive.org.uk/our-collections/

This article was first published in the June 2025 edition of Pensions Age magazine