Stakeholders of Derbyshire Pension Fund are being asked for comments on the Fund’s proposed:
- Investment Strategy Statement
- Responsible Investment Framework
- Climate Strategy
Background
Our Fund is part of the national Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The LGPS provides retirement and death benefits across the whole of the UK for local government employees and those employed in similar or related bodies.
The Fund currently has over 340 participating scheme employers and around 93,000 individual members. The primary duty of our Fund is to pay pension benefits to our members when they fall due.
LGPS benefits are set out in government regulations. The level of pension paid is primarily based on length of service and salary. We invest the contributions collected from employees and employers across a range of asset classes, including:
- equities
- bonds
- property
- infrastructure
- cash
These assets generate long term income and capital returns to support the payment of pensions.
Employers meet the balance of the cost of providing benefits over the longer term, and a return seeking investment strategy aims to reduce employer costs. The risk associated with a return seeking strategy is carried by employers and ultimately in most cases, by local taxpayers.
The Fund currently has assets of approximately £5.8 billion.
Investment Strategy Statement
The Investment Strategy Statement (ISS) sets out the long-term investment strategy of the Fund and includes:
- the Fund’s investment objectives
- the strategic asset allocation benchmark
- descriptions of the asset classes that the Fund invests in
- the Fund’s approach to managing risk
- the approach to pooling the management of investments with other LGPS funds
A revised ISS has been developed to reflect a new proposed strategic asset allocation benchmark.
Responsible Investment Framework
The Responsible Investment Framework (RI Framework) sets out the Fund's approach to responsible investment, which includes the integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations into the investment process and Fund Stewardship, and governance activities. The RI Framework includes examples of ESG factors that are considered as part of the investment process.
Responsible investment is relevant both before and after an initial investment decision, including considered voting on shareholder resolutions and engagement with investee companies.
Climate strategy
The Fund supports the ambitions of the Paris Agreement and aims to achieve a portfolio of assets with net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The Climate Strategy sets out the Fund’s approach to addressing the risks and opportunities related to climate change. It includes targets to reduce the carbon footprint and financed emissions of the Fund’s investment portfolio and to increase the Fund's low carbon and sustainable investments.
Consultation
The proposed Investment Strategy Statement, Responsible Investment Framework and Climate Strategy were presented to the Pensions and Investments Committee on 6 December 2023 and approved for consultation with the Fund’s stakeholders.
You can access the agenda, previous minutes, reports and related documents on Derbyshire democracy. Stakeholders are now invited to review the documents attached to this page. This includes:
- Derbyshire Pension Fund members
- Derbyshire Pension Fund employers
- residents of Derbyshire
- local authorities or government organisations based in Derbyshire
- businesses and other organisations based in Derbyshire
How to respond to the consultation
You can respond to the consultation using our response form. If you have a Microsoft account, you can save, revisit, and edit your response prior to the consultation deadline by clicking “Save my response to edit” after you have selected the submit button.
Some questions require a response from the multiple-choice options before you can submit your response.
Go to the consultation response form
If you require any of the documents or the consultation form in an alternative format, please contact the Fund’s Regulations and Communications Team at pensions.regs@derbyshire.gov.uk.
You may find our consultation frequently asked questions page helpful.
Please contact us if you have any queries about this consultation.
Opening and closing dates
This consultation will open from 13 December 2023 and close on 31 January 2024.
Links to useful documents