Chancellor sees Canada-style pension reform to boost investment in the UK | Business News

The Chancellor confirmed she is considering plans to consolidate local government pension schemes and use their £360 billion in resources to invest in the economy.

Rachel Reeves said she is interested in following Canada’s example, where pension funds are used to invest heavily in infrastructure projects to help drive growth.

That comes later Sky News revealed that the chancellor would meet with a group of Canadian retirement funds in Toronto during a three-day trip to North America this week.

Currently, local government pensions in England and Wales are fragmented into 86 individual funds, spread across around six million members.

Mrs. said: “The size of Canadian pension systems means they can invest much more in productive assets, such as vital infrastructure, than ours.

“I want British schemes to learn lessons from the Canadian shape and stimulate the UK economy, which would deliver better returns for savers and unlock billions of pounds of investment.

“We are already starting to see schemes announcing investment plans. This is a vote of confidence in our work to fix the foundations of the economy, rebuild Britain and improve the situation for all parts of our country.”

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Ms Reeves previously announced a review of the pensions sector and the push to boost economic growth was also a key message from the King’s Speech.

The chancellor is expected to outline more details about her pension plans in her first speech at Mansion House.

Investment firms including Legal & General, Aviva and Phoenix welcomed the industry review, which was released in July.