18 civil society organisations raise concerns over reforms to Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
Originally posted by Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
London, 21st January 2025- As a group of civil society organisations we advocate for public bodies not to invest in, or procure from, companies involved in human rights abuses, abuse of workers’ rights, destruction of our planet, or any other harmful acts. Many of our organisations have called on Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds to divest from companies enabling violations of international law or climate destruction.
We believe it is essential that scheme members are able to have a meaningful say over where their deferred wages are invested, and are able to ensure their money is not being used to further or enable human rights abuses or climate destruction.
Reforms to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) should not reduce the ability of scheme members to direct where their deferred wages are invested.
We are concerned that the government’s proposal to remove responsibility for the implementation of investment strategy, including asset allocation, investment manager selection, stock selection and investment stewardship, from administering authorities and delegate it to pools places too much power in the hands of unaccountable fund managers, removing channels through which scheme members can have a say over where their money is invested. We believe it is essential that administering authorities retain the ability to make concrete decisions about where the fund is invested, and have the ability to ensure the fund is not invested in a way that contributes to violations of human rights or climate destruction.
Further, we believe it is essential that the UK government recognises that public sector pension funds, such as the LGPS, have a clear responsibility to end any assistance to violations of human rights or climate destruction. As such, we believe the government should provide guidance to ensure that the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) ends investment in companies enabling grave violations of international law, including situations of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, unlawful military occupation, and climate destruction, in line with the wishes of scheme members.
Signed:
Amnesty International UK
Amos Trust
BRICUP (British Committee for the Universities of Palestine)
Campaign Against Arms Trade
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Cuba Solidarity Campaign
Ethical Consumer
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
International Centre of Justice for Palestinians
Institute of Race Relations
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions – UK
Jewish Voice for Labour
Labour & Palestine
Labour Outlook
Palestine Solidarity Campaign
Sabeel-Kairos UK
Unitarians for Justice for Palestine
War on Want