The market value of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds increased by 23.8 per cent to £337.1bn in 2020/21, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities has revealed.

The increase was attributed to improvements in the financial markets following the fall seen in March 2020.

LGPS funds’ market value is measured through contributions, investment income and transfer values.

Total income rose by 8 per cent to £17.3bn between March 2020 and March 2021, with 60 per cent of income coming from employer contributions, 21 per cent from investment income and 14 per cent from employee contributions.

Employer contributions increased by 34.3 per cent to £10.3bn, which reflected early payments made by many employers following the triennial review, while employee contributions totalled £2.4bn.

Total LGPS expenditure rose by 1.2 per cent over the year to £13.6bn, with pensions or annuities making up 68 per cent of this expenditure, lump sums making up 14 per cent and disposal of liabilities making up 6 per cent.

LGPS membership totalled 6.1 million people at the end of March 2021, consisting of 2 million active members, 1.8 million pensioners and 2.3 million deferred members.

The number of retirements fell by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to 82,936.

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