Wandsworth’s worst-performing pension fund manager has just had its worst quarter on record, losing 14% in three months while the rest of the market fell by under 2%.
The figures land 18 months after the committee first identified the problem and did nothing, and three weeks after it finally voted to sell on 10 March. The quarter ended on 31 March. In those three weeks, the fund recorded its worst-ever quarterly loss.
The failing fund holds roughly £400 million of Wandsworth’s pension money. People with pensions in the scheme will still get what they were promised – their payouts are guaranteed whatever the investments do. But poor returns have a cost. The council and local schools have to pay more in to make up the difference, and the review that sets those payments is due in 2028.
Jan–Mar 2026
same quarter
follows market, lower fees
stock-picks 25 companies
Why the fund keeps failing
The fund, managed by Longview Partners, picks around 25 individual stocks at a time. When those bets go wrong, there is almost nothing else in the fund to cushion the fall. The committee’s own papers say the latest losses came from ‘poor stock and sector selection,’ and that picking so few stocks means each wrong call hits harder.
The council also holds a tracker fund run by Legal & General, which simply follows the market and charges lower fees. Over three years, the tracker returned nearly 15%. The Longview fund returned under 1%.
The committee that kept not acting
The committee first flagged the problem in October 2024, when the fund had grown larger than its own rules allowed. No decision was taken. It reviewed the problem again in December 2025. Still nothing. At its March 2026 meeting, the investment adviser from London CIV told the committee to ‘dilute your exposure.’ This time the committee voted to sell £100 million and put the money into government bonds.
The vote was on 10 March. The quarter ended on 31 March. In those three weeks, the fund had its worst quarter on record.
Councillor Craigie, Deputy Chair of the committee, made the point himself at the March meeting, speaking in a different context, that ‘there are decisions that we see in our own papers that occasionally we lose 6 million quid because of a speculative decision that’s gone wrong, or an asset manager that isn’t managing the fund in the same way.’ The latest figures give that observation considerably more force.
The second problem the committee cannot solve
The committee is also sitting on a separate fund it cannot sell even if it wants to. The Schroders fund, worth £82.8 million, has been frozen since December 2025 when Schroders announced a merger with another firm. It has underperformed for 16 consecutive quarters.
The papers for Monday’s meeting carry this update, reproduced as written: ‘No further updates have been since the last Committee meeting, and officers will update the Committee as further information becomes available.’ The merger has since completed. There is still no date for releasing the money.
What happens next
A wider review of how the fund chooses all its stock investments has been shelved. It will not happen until the committee settles a separate argument about whether to stop investing in companies with military exposure. That argument is not expected to be resolved before September 2026.
Monday’s meeting is open to the public, at 7.15pm in Room 123, Wandsworth Town Hall. The full papers are available online.
The question of military investment is the other major paper on Monday’s agenda. That story is here.
This is the seventh story in Putney.news’s coverage of the Wandsworth pension fund. The previous piece, published 30 March 2026, trailed the June committee as the moment both problems would be reviewed. The data has got worse.
