> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Mansion House Accord and the £8bn Property Puzzle - URL: https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/the-mansion-house-accord-and-the-8bn-property-puzzle/ - Published: 2026-11-09T11:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-09T11:00:01.000Z - Description: The Mansion House Accord promised to unlock billions in pension capital for UK startups. But with property attracting the largest share of investment, questions remain over whether Britain's founders will see meaningful funding before 2028. - Author: Sharoni Banerjee - Tags: Funding & Capital *Seventeen pension providers pledged to put at least five pence in every pound of their main default funds into UK private markets by 2030\. We read the first progress report to see how much of it a founder could reach.* --- This spring, **Aegon UK and Cushon** made their first investment in UK venture capital. They did it through a £200m fund coordinated by the **British Business Bank**, alongside M&G. The first cheque out of British Growth Partnership Fund I, £8m, went to ***Wayve***, a self-driving company valued at $8.6bn. We believe that cheque is the most honest picture yet of what the ***Mansion House Accord*** delivers. Pension funds investing in UK startups was the promise, and a scale-up already worth billions, with the state alongside, was the first result. --- ## A pledge wide enough to fit a housing scheme **The Mansion House** reforms began in July 2023 under **Jeremy Hunt**, whose ***Mansion House Compact*** asked providers to put 5% of default funds into unlisted equity by 2030\. Seventeen workplace providers then signed the **Mansion House Accord** on 13 May 2025\. They intend, voluntarily, to hold at least 10% of their main default funds in private markets by 2030, with at least 5% in the UK. > *“…the accord that you’re all signing, will make it easier for our brilliant start-up and scale-up businesses to access finance.”* \- ***Rachel Reeves, then Chancellor, at the signing, 13 May 2025*** The definition is generous. Private markets mean unlisted equities, property, infrastructure and debt. A UK asset is one whose underlying assets sit in Britain, and shares on AIM and Aquis can count too. A block of affordable flats counts as much as a robotics startup. --- ## Of £11.1bn, £500m went to private equity. The first progress update, published on 21 October, covers the end of 2025\. Under the **Mansion House Accord**, signatories held £22.1bn in private markets, 6.6% of £334bn in growth-phase default assets. The UK share was *£11.1bn, or 3.3%,* against a 5% target, that is is two-thirds of the way with five years left. A further £3bn is signed but not yet deployed. Property took £8bn, infrastructure took £1.3bn and private debt took £0.9bn, while private equity took £0.5bn. We discovered the update gives no separate figure for venture capital, so we cannot tell a founder how much an early-stage company has reached. The UK pension funds private markets figures stop at 31 December 2025, which leaves the **Wayve** cheque outside them. Venture managers typically charge more than property managers, and many employers and their advisers choose a scheme on price. Signatories also say the main constraint is a shortage of suitable UK investments. The ABI argues that property still helps the economy through homes. We think price and pipeline explain part of the split. Some providers are further ahead than the total suggests. Nest says it has already delivered on its commitments, with around 20% of its assets in private markets and 5% in private equity. The older Mansion House Compact, which targeted unlisted equity alone, fared worse. Its signatories reached 0.85% of default funds by the end of 2025, £2.7bn, against a 5% goal. > *“At the current rate of progress, the Compact target will be missed by a decade or more.”* \- ***Michael Moore, chief executive, UK Private Capital*** --- ## Two binding commitments and a long wait A survey of 83 venture and growth equity firms, run this spring by their own trade body, gives the founder’s side. The trade body had identified only two legally binding commitments to VC funds from default funds aligned with the **Mansion House Compact**, six firms were in active talks to secure one. Three quarters said they had not been able to engage meaningfully with DC pension providers. Almost half, 48%, were not optimistic that the **Mansion House** agreements would deliver more investment by 2030, against 20% who were. The trade body wants the money to flow, so we treat its evidence as an advocate’s. It still matches what the progress report shows. We think that for **Mansion House Accord** startups, most of the money so far has landed in a different asset class. --- ## The first cheques came through the state. **The British Growth Partnership** exists to lower the barriers that keep pension funds out of venture. Its first close was the first time the British Business Bank had raised outside capital from several investors. The £8m for Wayve formed part of a £25m investment the Bank announced in February. A final close is still to come. > *“Unlocking pension capital into high-growth technology companies is critical if the UK wants to lead in AI.”-* **Alex Kendall, co-founder and chief executive, Wayve** The 28th October Budget gave the Bank £5bn of extra capacity, £1.4bn of it for equity funds. A proposed UK Scale-up Fund of more than £1bn is being worked up by **Railpen**, **Nest** and three local government pension pools, with the Bank alongside. By August, asset managers were competing to run it, it remains a proposal. ![ Mansion House Accord](https://storage.ghost.io/c/05/a4/05a4a052-18ab-4836-8924-ec8b322c371c/content/images/2026/11/Rainy-Evening-at-the-Historic-Mansion-House.png) Mansion House Accord ## A backstop that cannot bite until 2028 Parliament gave ministers a reserve power to force the issue. **The Pension Schemes Act 2026** became law on 29 April, after four rounds of ping-pong between **the Lords and Commons.** The pension mandate power was capped at the Accord’s own numbers, 10% of a default fund with no more than 5% in UK assets; it covers master trusts and group personal pensions used for auto-enrolment. It cannot be used before 2028 or after 2032. The Act also pushes master trusts towards default funds of at least £25bn by 2030 or on course for it by 2035, on the theory that size makes private markets affordable. The Chancellor who hailed the pledge has gone. ***Rachel Reeves*** resigned on 20th July, and **John Healey** replaced her under Prime Minister Andy Burnham, his government inherits the *Pension Schemes Act 2026* and its backstop, and his first Budget still expects the **Mansion House Accord** to unlock around £25bn of additional investment in UK private markets. The next **Mansion House Accord** progress update should cover 2026, the year of the Wayve cheque. Will it show venture capital as a line of its own? And will pension funds investing in UK startups amount to something a founder can find on a cap table before 2028 arrives and the reserve power with it? ***Read Next:*** [*Will Great British Railways Turn Startup Pilots Into Orders?*](https://entrepreneurplus.co.uk/will-great-british-railways-turn-startup-pilots-into-orders/) --- **Sources:* ABI and Pensions UK, Mansion House Accord first progress update, 21 October 2026, via the Pensions UK and ABI releases; City AM, 21 October 2026; Professional Pensions, 21 October 2026; Insurance Business, 21 October 2026; British Business Bank press release on British Growth Partnership Fund I, 2 April 2026; Pensions Expert and IPE coverage of the fund close and of Nest’s commitments; UK Tech News, 25 February 2026, on Wayve’s Series D; Express & Star (PA), 13 May 2025, on the Accord signing; UK Private Capital survey release, 19 May 2026; Corporate Adviser, Mansion House Accord text, May 2025, and HSF Kramer on the Accord’s definitions; ABI, Mansion House Compact progress update, 16 October 2025; Hymans Robertson briefing note and UK Parliament, on the Pension Schemes Act 2026; Bloomberg Government, 20 July 2026, and Professional Pensions, 21 July 2026, on the Chancellor change; Pensions Age, Sky News and Corporate Adviser, on the UK Scale-up Fund; Finance Connect, 28 October 2026, and Grant Thornton, on the Budget.*