Pension fund to consult on its arms investments

A major consultation on whether a public sector pension fund in the West should continue investing in arms will begin in September.

- John Wimperis

The £6 billion Avon Pension Fund administers the local government pension scheme for the former county of Avon and has 140,000 members from more than 450 employers.

But it has been under pressure to divest from companies involved in the arms trade after campaigners warned their pensions were being used to fund Israeli forces in Palestine.

Campaigners had initially called for the fund to divest from companies specifically connected to Palestine but, after warnings that an investment strategy based on a particular conflict would be hard to defend legally, the Avon Pension Fund Committee debated divesting from all companies in the aerospace and defence sector.

At the meeting in March, the committee voted 10-3 to keep the status quo - but the decision is only in principle until the scheme's 140,000 members have been consulted on what they want to happen. Now the fund has said that a procurement process for someone to run the consultation has been completed, and the survey will begin in September.