Responsible Investment Survey 2024- The Results!

In early January, we announced that we were going to be running our Responsible Investment Survey again, for all members of the scheme.  We are genuinely interested in the views of our members, and the information we gain from the survey helps us to make decisions on what we do, and on what we communicate to our members.

We are now excited to share the results!  Highlights are below, and members can find the full report below :  Responsible Investment Survey 2024- The Results (PDF) [454KB] (opens new window)

So, who responded?

• An amazing 2,914 of our members responded to the survey!  That is a 30% increase on last time we ran this survey, in March 2021, when 2,251 people responded.  This demonstrates how much our members care about this topic.
• 50% of responses came from our pensioners, 30% from active members, and 20% from deferred members.
• 41.4% of responses were from members aged 60-69, and only 33 members under the age of 30 responded.  We know that engaging with our younger members is really important, and we have lots of ideas in progress in this area.

And what did they tell us?

• A very key finding was that although our members were not sure whether ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues and climate change in particular represented a financial risk to the Fund (most voted "maybe"/"don't know", with low levels of responses being directly "yes" or "no"), it was still really important to them that the Fund invests in sustainable and/or low carbon assets.  85% answered "yes"/"maybe" to this question!
• Members are interested in how we invest, and think that it is important for us to take account of ESG issues are when investing.  They also value the stewardship work that we do.  Around 2/3 of respondents said it was important/very important to them that we seek to influence the behaviour of the wider financial community and the companies we invest in to bring about better environmental and social outcomes.
• Our members consider a wide range of issues to be important.  74% of members said "climate" was important to them, 53% said "social issues" and 52% said "equality, diversity and inclusion".
• We asked our members how they felt about specific types of company, and they were very clear in their responses.  For example, 85% felt "negative"/"strongly negative" about tobacco companies.  Luckily our exposure to this type of company is minimal.
• We also asked about our communications and for any other comments, and received lots of interesting feedback.

So, what's next?

• We were pleased that the opinion of the vast majority of our members is aligned with our investment approach, so much of what we will do is to continue what we are already doing.
• It was very useful to understand what issues are of most interest to our members.  Our comms have focused on climate in the past, but members are also very interested in social issues.  Therefore, we will be publishing a report on social issues in investments this year.
• We will expand our efforts to engage with our younger members, ensuring that they understand their pension and are connected with their financial future.
• We will continue to adjust our communications to meet the needs of our members.

We would like to thank our valued members for taking the time to share their views!