Council pension fund increases in value by £400m

The Dorset Pension Fund covers more than 200 employers in the area

A council's pension fund, which predominantly pays retired local authority workers, has increased in value by £400m during the year and is now worth £3.9bn.

The Dorset Pension Fund covers more than 200 employers in the area, the largest of them local government.

Returns on investments stood at 11.4%, although this is below the benchmark average of 12.5% for similar funds.

A committee monitors how the fund is doing and its chairman, Dorchester councillor Andy Canning, said the performance is probably one of the best ever for the fund.

Better world situation

The performance is seen as good news for all of the fund pensioners and for those still paying into the scheme.

The majority of the fund, 83%, is managed by the Brunel pensions partnership.

Advisors to the pension fund committee said the world situation is now much better than it was a year ago when stagnation and inflation were causes for concern in some markets.

David Vickers, chief investment advisor for Brunel, said six out of nine of the council’s main assets had out-performed expectation in the last three months and the three which did not were only slightly behind the benchmark.

He added: “You have seen an incremental improvement since 2022, but there is the adage that markets tend to go down by the lift and up by the stairs.”