Guest
Jamie Charters
Client Relationship Manager
CCLA Investment Management
Jamie Charters on Investing Council Funds (and a Word Called Meraki)
Meet the guest
Watch
Get the Video and Slides
Show notes
Every pound in a parish or town council's reserves represents a future investment in the community — playground repairs, village hall upkeep, the project a clerk hasn't yet thought of. Most councils default to a "safety first" approach that quietly costs them money: with high-street banks paying 0.5–2.5% while the Bank of England base rate sits at 4%, even modest reserves can be underperforming significantly. Jamie Charters has spent 25 years at CCLA Investment Management — "all I've ever known, really" — and he joins the show to walk through what the alternatives look like, who they're for, and the misconceptions councils most often hold about them.
Jamie is a Client Director on the public-sector side of CCLA — that's Churches, Charities, and Local Authorities, where "local authorities" stretches to cover the whole public sector: ports and harbours, national parks, crematoria, principal authorities, and over 800 town and parish councils on the firm's books. CCLA manages around £15 billion across 36,000 clients; the public-sector book sits at roughly £2.5 billion across more than 1,200 clients. The common misconception Jamie opens the episode with: CCLA only deals with the big councils. Not so. Everyone gets the same level of customer service, irrespective of size.
The talk itself works through three funds, then settles in on one. The Cautious Multi-Asset Fund takes a 3–5 year view, caps equities at 50%, targets CPI+2% — minimum was £1m, restructured around 2024 down to £1,000; currently used by 33 clients, all principal authorities bar one parish. The Local Authorities' Property Fund is actively-managed UK commercial property, 5-year view, common landing spot for Section 106 money — but needs an opt-up to professional-client status and an IFA suitability report. The bulk of Jamie's time, and the bulk of CCLA's public-sector book, is the third: the Public Sector Deposit Fund (PSDF).
The PSDF was born from the Icelandic banking crisis. The Local Government Association approached CCLA in the wake of it, asking whether the firm would launch a short-term money market fund for the sector. Fifteen years later, the fund holds just shy of £1.5 billion pooled across local-authority clients, placed with a watchlist of around 55 approved banks and building societies (30–40 in use at any one time). The risk framework is the headline: minimum A- credit rating per institution, no more than 10% with any one counterparty, daily monitoring for upgrades and downgrades, no exposure to Russian, Middle Eastern, Belarusian or Chinese banks, UK-domiciled and currency-risk-free. The fund itself carries an AAA Money Market Fund rating from Fitch — the highest possible — and its assets are safeguarded by a custodian bank so that, in the incredibly unlikely event CCLA itself were to fail, client money remains separate.
The pitch, in Jamie's framing, is the trade-off most clerks haven't quite been told: cash offers certainty, security, and access. The PSDF is instant access — an instruction in before 11:30 am gets the funds back same-day, at no charge, with no transaction or statement fees. Nothing exotic in the portfolio: call terms, certificates of deposit. No equities, no derivatives, no asset-backed securities. The minimum for new clients is £25,000. The current yield is 3.7029% net of fees for new clients under £1m; existing clients (pre-September 2024) and anyone with over £1m get the slightly higher rate at roughly 3.80%.
Jamie spends a thoughtful minute on what's not covered. The PSDF is not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme — but as he gently points out, many town and parish councils precept under the £500k threshold above which FSCS coverage falls away anyway. The risk is real, but not this risk: it's whether CCLA's diversification and credit-rating discipline holds. "If two of those banks were to fail," Jamie says, "we'd have a systemic economic crisis. A lot of us would be out of a job."
The Bumblebee slide gets a moment — CCLA's client map, with the most northerly client being Moray Council near the Cairngorms and the most southerly road-accessible client being Penzance Town Council (with the Isles of Scilly even further south but off the mainland). Devolved nations all represented. Then the Jupiter Asset Management partnership, rubber-stamped in February 2026, with a 25-year covenant protecting CCLA's mission, brand and investment process. Investment and client-facing teams remain unchanged — "business as usual."
On sustainability, Jamie covers the ESG framework that's built into the credit-approval process: institutions are evaluated on the quality of corporate governance, regulatory compliance, ranking in CCLA's Mental Health and Modern Slavery Benchmark, and the strength of their coal, oil and gas expansion policies (externally rated by Sustainalytics). A separate paper is available for any council that wants the detail in writing.
The outro turns toward the personal. Eighteen-year-old Jamie was in Beckenham, south-east London, finishing a GNVQ, playing tennis and cricket, hanging out with mates. The advice he'd give him: work hard, take your professional qualifications, and — the bit that actually mattered — find a good mentor. For Jamie that was Mark Davis, who championed him for the job he ended up making a 25-year career out of. "Someone who backs you and believes in you," Jamie says. "You need that."
Pay-it-forward: Tom Sykes left Jamie his question about taking one word from another language that does heavy lifting in that language and adding it to English. Jamie's answer is Meraki — Greek for "finding joy in effort" — which he'd stumbled across, of all places, on the side of a company that makes kitchen door handles. The word captures doing your work with soul and passion, getting satisfaction from the effort itself. Jamie's outgoing question for Episode 10: What is the skill or attribute you have developed that you have benefited the most from?
Chapters
Questions answered in this episode
Drawn from our conversation with Jamie Charters, Client Relationship Manager at CCLA Investment Management. The answers below are editorial summaries of points raised in the webinar — not verbatim transcripts — and are not investment advice. CCLA is regulated by the FCA but is not a financial adviser.
What is the Public Sector Deposit Fund (PSDF), and how does it work?
The PSDF is a short-term money market fund designed specifically for the UK public sector — town and parish councils, principal authorities, ports, harbours, national parks, and other public bodies. Money from clients is pooled (currently just under £1.5 billion) and placed across a watchlist of around 55 approved banks and building societies. The fund's stated objectives, in order, are security, liquidity and yield. It was launched in May 2011, on the back of the Icelandic banking crisis, at the request of the Local Government Association — described internally as "designed by the sector, for the sector."
How is CCLA managing credit risk inside the PSDF?
Risk is mitigated by diversification and discipline. Every approved institution must hold a minimum A- credit rating, monitored daily for upgrades and downgrades. No more than 10% of the fund can sit with any one counterparty. The approved list excludes Russian, Middle Eastern, Belarusian and Chinese banks, and the fund is UK-domiciled with no currency exposure. The fund itself carries an AAA Money Market Fund rating from Fitch — the highest available — based on CCLA's competence as managers, the conservative investment guidelines, and the credit quality of the portfolio.
Is the PSDF covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)?
No — because CCLA is not a bank, the fund itself is not covered by FSCS. In practice though, many town and parish councils precept under the £500k threshold above which FSCS coverage at a high-street bank also falls away. The PSDF therefore tends to be used by councils who have weighed the risk (no FSCS cover) against the reward (diversification across many institutions, AAA fund rating, instant access, ~3.7% yield) and concluded the fund's structure addresses the risk in a different way. There is nothing in PCSO standing orders or general financial regulation that prevents a council using the fund — unless the council's own written investment policy explicitly forbids non-FSCS-covered products.
What's the current yield on the PSDF?
As of the recording, 3.7029% net of fees for new clients holding under £1m, and approximately 3.80% for clients who joined before September 2024 or who hold over £1m. The yield is daily and the management charge is taken from the gross income earned on the fund — clients never see a charge applied to their capital or income.
What's the minimum investment to open a PSDF account?
£25,000 for new clients.
How quickly can a council get its money back from the PSDF?
The fund is instant access. An instruction submitted before 11:30 am on any business day is settled same-day, with no charge. There are no transaction fees, no statement fees, and no cap on the number of transactions a client can run in a year.
What kinds of instruments is the PSDF actually invested in?
Plain, well-understood cash instruments only — call terms and certificates of deposit with the approved banks and building societies. The fund has no exposure to the stock market, no derivatives, and no asset-backed securities. Nothing exotic.
How does CCLA approach ethical and ESG considerations?
ESG is built into the credit-approval process for the PSDF's underlying banks and building societies. Institutions are evaluated on the quality of their corporate governance, compliance with global laws and regulations, their ranking in CCLA's Mental Health and Modern Slavery Benchmark, and the strength of their coal, oil and gas expansion policies. The external coal/oil/gas rating comes from data provider Sustainalytics. A two- or three-page sustainability paper is available on request for any council that wants the detail in writing.
What changed in the PSDF's charging structure in September 2024?
The annual management charge was raised from approximately 0.08% to 0.10%. Existing clients from before September 2024 retained the previous charge (their share class currently yielding roughly 3.80% net), while new clients from 1 September 2024 onwards joined the new share class (currently yielding 3.7029% net). Clients with holdings over £1m get the higher rate regardless of when they joined. Either way, the management charge is taken from the gross income the fund earns and is never deducted from a client's capital or income.
What does the Jupiter Asset Management partnership mean for existing CCLA clients?
The partnership was rubber-stamped in February 2026 and is described by CCLA as "business as usual." A 25-year covenant protects CCLA's mission statement, brand name and investment process. The investment teams and the client-facing teams — including Jamie — are unchanged. CCLA frames it as a scale-up opportunity: greater operational capability within the Jupiter group, plus distribution and growth potential.
Why aren't councils getting more out of their high-street bank accounts when interest rates have been so high?
Two things are happening. First, banks have historically been slow to pass on Bank of England base-rate rises to savings accounts (a point the FCA and Treasury both flagged after 14 consecutive rate rises). Anecdotally, councils are reporting that they're getting anywhere from 0.5% up to roughly 2.5% on significant balances, even when the base rate sat at 4%. Second, banks and building societies are increasingly reluctant to take on town and parish council deposits at all — they don't understand the sector and find it easier to turn the business away. Fewer institutions accepting council money, and the ones that do paying well below base rate, is the combination councils are quietly stuck with.