London council to spend £100m from gold-plated pensions on homelessness
A London council is facing criticism over plans to use its gold-plated pension scheme to fund accommodation for homeless people.
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will invest £100m from its pension fund to buy 250 homes in an effort to save taxpayer money.
It comes amid mounting scrutiny of councils' gold-plated pensions after The Telegraph revealed some authorities were spending more than half of taxpayers' money on staff schemes.
But experts questioned whether it was appropriate for Kensington and Chelsea to use its pension fund to 'indulge political objectives'.
Neil Record, a former Bank of England economist, said: 'Local Government Pension Funds benefit from a de facto government guarantee which allows local councils to indulge their political objectives at the expense of prudent investment management. This is a particularly egregious example.'
The Conservative-led council's pension scheme is worth £2bn, twice the amount needed to fully meet obligations to its members, meaning it is in rude health financially.
The vast savings pot has become a target for councillors seeking to raise money for more spending without significantly increasing council tax bills.
In February it was announced payments into Kensington and Chelsea's defined benefit scheme would be halted temporarily to save £9m earmarked for survivors of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire.
This went against the advice of the fund's actuaries who said it would be 'inappropriate' to lower contributions before next spring but agreed the move would 'not have a detrimental effect' on the council's ability to pay out pension benefits.
Michael Hayles, of law firm Burges Salmon, said: 'The Kensington and Chelsea fund has a well-publicised strong funding level.
'However, as things stand, this investment will still need to stand up as an appropriate investment, with appropriate returns, bearing in mind the fiduciary duties of the pension fund when making investment decisions, notwithstanding the funding surplus.'
There is no blanket legal guarantee that would compel the Government to meet the costs of all funds within the LGPS or make good their deficits. More than a quarter of schemes within the LGPS were in deficit in 2022, according to an official review published last year.
Cllr Emma Will, who oversees property at the town hall, said more local authorities could follow Kensington and Chelsea's example, as many struggle to fund the costs of meeting their statutory obligations.
She added: 'We are fortunate to have an extremely well-managed pension fund, it's been the best performing for 30 years [and] it's very over-funded, which is terrific.'
Ms Will said that the unusual move was 'completely above board' and should not be discredited simply because 'it hasn't been done before'.
She said that investing £100m was 'very low risk' because the council plans to pay its pension fund for use of the new properties with government grants it receives to tackle homelessness.
'It is innovative and we are quite excited. If we get this right it's like the holy grail. We believe it does work, and it's nil cost to the council and it's low risk and win-win for everyone.'
Last year bills in Kensington and Chelsea for the average Band D property were £1,569.46 a year, up from £1,508.98 the previous year.
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