Latest protest held against Shropshire County Pension Fund's alleged links to Israel

The fund administers the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) for employees of local authorities and other participating employers within Shropshire, which also includes Telford and Wrekin.

It collects contributions, calculates and pays pension benefits to members and their dependants, and invests the fund’s assets to ensure “long-term financial security” for its members and employers.

However, data uncovered by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) showed that £142,458,890 has been invested into companies believed to have been complicit in the genocide being carried out by Israel.

This includes Northrop Grumman, which reportedly supplies the Israeli Air Force with missile delivery systems for its fighter jets and helicopters; and Honeywell, which allegedly supplies components for bombs, missiles, and drones used against Palestinian civilians including infants and children.

In September, the PSC issued a notice to all councils in England and Wales overseeing an LGPS fund that they “must take steps to divest from companies enabling and profiting from Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians” and outlined the legal risks of not doing so.

Later that month, a pensions committee met at the Guildhall in Shrewsbury where the issue was raised.

Peter Chadderton, pensions investment and responsible investment manager, said then it is something that “the fund has wrestled with” since the conflict began.

He added that legal advice was sought last year through the Scheme Advisory Board, which confirmed that, provided the fund was "engaging with and taking account of the UN practices", it was its duty to ensure it protected the benefits of the fund.

The committee again met at the Guildhall on Friday, December 5.

Prior to the meeting, people from across the county protested outside with banners asking the pension fund to withdraw from companies that are "profiting from genocide".

A total of 21 fund members urged the committee to consult with the 50,000 members on how their pension contributions are being invested, stating they have no wish to be complicit in genoide.

“Shropshire residents are appalled that the county’s flagship pension is accused of investing in genocide,” said fund member Paul Cooper.

"People do not want the blood of innocent Palestinian civilians on their hands.

“The pensions committee needs to urgently address this, especially since there is a very real and robust legal threat to Shropshire Council as the administrating authority.”

A corporate governance monitoring report showed that the majority of companies identified by the PSC as supporting Israel are multinationals that operate globally, such as Amazon, HSBC, Mitsbubishi, Barclays, and McDonalds. It said the fund does have direct exposure to some Israeli companies through its pooled passive investment companies with Legal & General Investment Management Limited.

This is in the form of Israeli banks and IT companies and totalled around £5.5m as of June 30.

“The committee has a fiduciary responsibility to run the fund on behalf of their stakeholders,” said Mr Chadderton.

“In respect of those stakeholders, only employer contributions are variable, i.e. only employers are impacted from any under or over performance of the fund’s investment strategy.

“Employee pensions are guaranteed and employee contributions rates fixed irrespective of investment performance.

“The fund has regular engagement with employers, including an annual meeting. To date, no employer outside of Shropshire Council has requested divestment of any of the fund’s investments.

“The fund’s investment policies have led to a fully funded scheme which has enabled many employers to see reduced contribution levels, protecting local jobs.”

Jamie Russell, a campaigner from Shrewsbury, also asked if the wishes of employers who pay into the fund had been taken into account.

Mr Chadderton said: “Whilst the fund had not specifically requested employers’ view on controversial investment issues, the fund regularly engages with employers and holds an annual employers meeting in which employers can raise any concerns.

“Given that employers are the primary risk holders in the fund in respect of investment performance, we hold regular engagements with them.”

Following the meeting, Dr Russell said: “The question now becomes ‘do employers like Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Councils, Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service, schools and others know that their pensions are invested in genocide?’ Are they happy to support this?

“We are urgently calling on employers and unions like the GMB and Unison to pay attention to what is happening. This is a moral issue.

“Should Shropshire’s flagship pension fund be investing in companies making missiles and drones that are killing innocent civilians, children and babies?”