Punter Southall, a UK consulting actuarial firm, has made its breakthrough into the local authority market with an appointment to provide actuarial services to the £700m (€1.02bn) Dorset County Council pension fund.

The mandate win is a boost for Punter's aspirations to break the stranglehold that the four largest consulting firms, Hymans Robertson, William M Mercer, Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow, Watson Wyatt, have had over the local authority market.