Fund of the year (large)

Essex Pension Fund

Essex Pension Fund is proactive and innovative, responding swiftly to address the rapidly changing regulatory, governance and investment frameworks to ensure that we fulfil our primary fiduciary responsibilities as a public sector pension scheme, while maintaining the highest levels of service for our stakeholders.We collaborate across the LGPS and wider pensions industry, helping to develop solutions to national issues. We are dedicated to being responsible investors and to achieving Net Zero by 2050. We are one of the leading pension funds within the LGPS and challenge our peers to strive for more, and to help build a better tomorrow.

Greater Manchester Pension Fund

The Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) is the largest Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) fund in England and Wales with approximately 420,000 member accounts, 650 contributing employers and assets of around £30bn. We consider ourselves leaders in the LGPS and have been at the forefront of innovation and best practice for many years.GMPF's mission is to provide pensions, giving our members a secure income and peace of mind when they retire. To deliver this mission, GMPF believes it must excel in all areas by having robust governance arrangements, strong investment performance and excellent administration services.

Lancashire County Pension Fund

Lancashire County Pension Fund covers the county of Lancashire providing pensions for over 300 employers and 197,490 members with £11.7bn assets. The pensions team has expanded over the past three years from three to ten team members reflecting the increasingly complex and demanding regulatory environment that we operate in. The team is responsible for making strategic decisions around funding, governance, administration and investment. This requires innovative thinking and collaborating with others to ensure successful delivery of Fund services. This submission highlights some key successes of the Fund over the past year or so.

NILGOSC

NILGOSC is the public body which is the sole administrator of the LGPS for Northern Ireland. In the year 23/24 it saw its fund value increase by 9.87%. It supported a wide range of global ESG initiatives, maintained its UK Stewardship code signatory status, voted at 192 AGMs and published its TCFD report.Scheme membership grew by 5.3%, customer satisfaction sat at 91% (good or excellent) and it provided information seminars to 3,809 members and employers.It continued to actively contribute to the UK’s pension bodies such as TPR, PLSA, LGPS Scheme Advisory Boards, Pension Ombudsman, OPSC, GAD and MaPS.

North East Scotland Pension Fund

The North East Scotland Pension Fund (NESPF) is one of the largest Local Government Pension Schemes in Scotland, with an asset value of £6.2 billion and 77,865 members. 2023/34 has been an exciting year for the Fund, with Net Asset Value increasing from £5,804m to £6,237m and an increased commitment towards ESG ventures. In 2023, NESPF became the first fund in the UK to go live with a new member portal. Employing AI technology, members can now access their pension information in more engaging and friendly manner, which ties in with our ethos of continually improving the member service.

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority

For 23/24, our fund has shown strong financial performance, with long-term returns surpassing benchmarks and actuarial assumptions. This success has been achieved while shifting towards climate-positive investments and reducing risk, as highlighted in CEM's benchmarking study. We’ve transformed our agricultural portfolio into a Natural Capital investment and expanded our place -based impact portfolio. We’ve created a new focus in the organisation on dealing with employers while members continue to benefit from comprehensive communication and educational initiatives. We’ve undertaken and will shortly publish an independent governance review and actively contribute to the wider LGPS community through collaborations and innovative solutions.

Strathclyde Pension Fund

Highlights from our 2023/24 Annual Report include:• +9.9 investment return for the year• £2.7 billion increase in value • £30.6 billion closing value • +8.5% p.a.10-year return • £827m pensions and lump sums paid • Membership increased to 286,000• >£2 billion investments in our UK Direct Impact Portfolio (DIP)• DIP investments produce enough green energy to fuel >317,000 homes• A+ rating for responsible investment (PRI)• Signatory of UK Stewardship Code 2021, 2022 and 2023• Signatory of Paris Aligned Investment Initiative (PAII)• 2023 funding level 147% - now even higher.

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