West Sussex Pension Committee set to consider its approach to Responsible Investment
The West Sussex Pension Fund is a part of the national Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) provided for in statute for public service workers in local government. The Pension Fund in West Sussex manages some £6 billion of assets, which is the accrued deferred wages of public service workers like you in our county who agree for part of their wages to be handed over in exchange for an income in retirement.
Over 90,000 people and 250 employers are members of the Pension Fund.
How the Fund invests that £6 billion of members’ money matters – it is not a small sum of money!
The West Sussex Pension Fund is overseen by a Pension Committee. Every 3 years it signs off on a new Investment Strategy Statement to set out its approach. Within that broad strategy, the Pension Committee also sets out its views and approach on ethical investments and the balance of these against the need to make a return on investments to fund the pensions of members. That is done in a section called ‘Responsible Investment’. The Pension Committee is obliged to consider and accommodate where it can the views of LGPS members on ethical investments.
You may recall in June UNISON sharing with its members a survey the Pension Fund was running to understand the views of LGPS members on investment matters. A very large number took part in the survey – 1,566 people – much higher than ever before. Thank you for taking part, if you did. The Pension Committee considered the survey results at its meeting on 29th July. The Pension Committee is predominantly made up of county councillors. But UNISON Branch Secretary Dan Sartin is a member of the Pension Committee too, representing LGPS members, and he tabled at the meeting some changes to the proposed Responsible Investment section before the Committee.
This particularly was to ensure that the expressed views of members were taken fully into account. A number of changes were proposed but of most interest to readers might be that the three items that received strongest support in the survey were suggested by Dan to need explicit reference in the new Responsible Investment approach. If members do not want to see their wages invested in certain activities, they should not be. It is our money after all!
LGPS members were unequivocally clear in the survey they were either ‘Concerned’ or ‘Extremely Concerned’ to see their money invested in:
- companies with operations in conflict-affected or sensitive regions, e.g. where there are concerns about human rights or breaches of international law. [71.2%]
- sectors which are known to be harmful to health e.g. tobacco. [67.4%]
- companies whose activities had negative social impacts on communities, for example by promoting gambling. [61.3%]
The Pension Committee agreed for Officers to consider the points raised by Dan in the amendments and report back to the Committee with updated recommendations. The next meeting of the Pension Committee is on 6th November where this will be considered again with a view to agreeing the Responsible Investment section along with other remaining areas of the Investment Strategy Statement yet to be signed off.
This next meeting on Friday 6th November will be really important. The West Sussex Pension Fund has never before adopted an Investment Strategy Statement with the benefit of so much evidence of what its members actually think and want. If the proposed changes are adopted, it will also be a first for the West Sussex LGPS in its history.
Pensions might sometimes seem a dry matter – and perhaps they are!
But where pension funds invest their billions are a matter of life and death in the real world.
Care needs to be taken, therefore. UNISON members want to see a peaceful and just world – it is why we choose to work in public services. The branch is doing its utmost to ensure that your pension investments therefore reflect your values.
We will keep you up to date.