Policy paper

Pension funds and social investment: final response

This is the government鈥檚 final response to the Law Commission鈥檚 report on pension funds and social investment.

From:
Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Work and Pensions, Law Commission and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Published
18 June 2018
Last updated
19 June 2018 鈥� See all updates
This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Documents

PDF, 926 KB, 28 pages

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Details

In November 2016, the government asked the Law Commission to look at how far pension funds may or should consider issues of social impact when making investment decisions.

The Law Commission鈥檚 report found there are no substantive regulatory barriers to making social impact investment by pension funds. Most of the barriers are in fact structural and behavioural, including the need for clearer legislation and guidance.

This is the government鈥檚 final response to the report. It includes plans to clarify the requirements for trustees of occupational pensions and the independent governance committees of workplace personal pensions around:

  • consideration of broader long term financial risks
  • pension schemes鈥� ability to consider members鈥� non-financial or ethical concerns
  • the role of engagement alongside voting as an important aspect of stewardship of pension scheme assets

Consultation

We published a consultation on the draft Occupational Pension Schemes (Investment and Disclosure) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 with this final response.

Read the Law Commission report 鈥� .

We published the government鈥檚 interim response in December 2017.

Updates to this page

Published 18 June 2018
Last updated 19 June 2018 show all updates

  1. Changed page 10, paragraph 8 to read: "The FCA is also considering other possible extensions to the remit of IGCs and intends to consult on a single package of rule changes in the first quarter of 2019" (not the first half of 2019).

  2. First published.

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