London councils eye pooled pension fund to cut costs At present there are 34 separate pension schemes in London and the Financial Times reports that supporters of the plan claim that pooling funds would see total annual administrative costs of £30m drop sharply. They also claim around £2bn - or 7.5pc - of the combined assets could be directed into local infrastructure projects. Sir Merrick Cockell, chair of the Local Government Association, told the newspaper: "Each scheme has separate advisers, administrators, fund managers with their performance fees - if councils work together that cost can be steeply cut." The plan is said to have the "broad backing" of Eric Pickles, communities secretary, and Boris Johnson, the London mayor.