Market inefficiency meaning

What was the background to the Pensions Investment Review and the two associated consultations on ‘Unlocking the UK pensions market for growth’ and ‘LGPS: Fit for the future’? The Review was set in motion by the new UK administration, aiming to channel more investment, lift returns for savers and cut inefficiency across the pensions landscape. It arrived amid worries that UK pension schemes, both DB and DC, were underexposed to domestic productive assets, including infrastructure and venture capital. Ministers observed that, relative to overseas counterparts, British funds allocated comparatively little to these areas, and that this position limited exposure to domestic growth opportunities. The exercise was also intended to look afresh at how the pensions ecosystem is organised overall, paying particular attention to workplace DC arrangements and the LGPS in particular. More broadly, the Review sat within a wider government drive to release capital to strengthen the home economy and to ensure the UK’s financial architecture advances long-term national goals such as the transition to net zero and levelling...

For fuller commentary on the regulation, consenting and incentivisation of the net zero energy transition under the laws of England and Wales, see also: Collinson and Hockman on Energy Law: Regulating, Consenting and Incentivising the Energy Transition. That textbook contains in-depth treatment of the topics addressed in this Practice Note. What is TMO4+? ‘Target Model Option 4 +’ (TMO4+) is a significant suite of reforms endorsed by Ofgem in April 2025, amounting to a comprehensive reset of Great Britain’s electricity grid connection processes. The package was driven by the UK government’s climate commitments and by persistent inefficiency and delay in the existing connection process, which have created substantial obstacles to investment and the deployment of renewable energy. This section briefly outlines the TMO4+ measures, highlighting the contrast between the previous grid connection system and the arrangements introduced through TMO4+. It also flags the energy market participants most likely to be impacted by TMO4+ reforms. Background Pre‑TMO4+, the route to obtaining a grid connection to both the...