CYBER crime has been identified as the biggest threat facing a major Cumbrian pension fund according to a risk review.

The report comes after Copeland council was brought to its knees by an interstate hit launched before the August bank holiday of 2017.

The Cumbria Pensions Committee, which manages the Local Government Pension Scheme on behalf of the county council, noted the revised “risk register” at a meeting this week.

The committee regularly looks at the possible threats to the fund, identifying new ones and removing others from the league table.The risks from cyber crime and data security have now been listed together, with the threat level ranked at “most severe”.

But Gillian Troughton, district council representative for Copeland, said there needed to be greater focus on how to bounce back from a cyber attack.

“Under the controls and measures and planned improvements there is very little about recovery,” she said. “We should not be complacent.”

Responding to coun Troughton’s concerns, finance manager Peter George agreed that the register could be “strengthened up” in that area.

Copeland council is now seeking Government permission to take £1.79m from its capital coffers deal with the aftermath of the attack.

Among the new risks identified in the review is the possibility that Local Government Pension Schemes may in future be forced (“mandated”) to invest in particular markets. This could affect the “sovereignty of the fund” – meaning the committee has less of a say in how they manage the pension fund. But the review recommended that the committee monitor any changes in Government policy so that “Cumbria’s voice is heard” in the decision-making process.

Coun Mel Worth, committee chairman, said: “If the Government is going to insist we invest a proportion of the [pension] fund, then they have to take on part of the liability.”

The job of the Cumbria Pensions Committee is to manage the Local Government Pension Scheme on behalf of the county council which is the “administering body.”

The fund has 50,000 members, with around 18,000 pensioners on the pay roll.