Despite rumours, counter rumours, hints, nods and winks, plus the odd informal gathering or two in Whitehall watering holes, the long-awaited DCLG consultation document, Local Government Pension Scheme: Opportunities for collaboration, cost savings and efficiency was published on 1 May. Responses have been invited by 11 July. Accompanying the document was a Written Statement to Parliament, giving an inevitable political slant to the issues.

The document's publication marks a significant milestone in bringing to an end a series of work-streams announced in mid-2013, and aimed then at extracting a further radical, almost totemic, set of reforms from the locally funded and invested LGPS in England and Wales.