Avon Pension Fund

Open Letter to the Avon Pension Fund Committee: Concerns over Arms Investment Report


On 28th March 2025, the Avon Pension Fund voted 10 to 3 against divesting from weapons manufactures, based on advice provided by a council officer. There are serious issues of concern about the report on Aerospace & Defence (A&D) investments. It appears to:


  • Misrepresent legal advice from the Nigel Giffin KC opinion and Law Commission guidance, creating an artificially high threshold for ethical divestment.
  • Frames low member response as insufficient by treating disengaged members as supportive of the status quo.
  • Promotes misleading, emotive narratives linking shareholding with national defence, job creation, and NATO support.
  • Ignores significant profits that would be gained from selling arms shares while divesting - which could easily offset divestment costs.
  • Presents inflated cost estimates, failing to explore cost-effective alternatives like segregated mandates.
  • The fund displays political bias by applying fiduciary standards inconsistently — swiftly enacting local investments aligned with government policy while applying barriers to member-driven ethical concerns.
  • The fund acting on this advice potentially undermines fiduciary duty, raising questions of honesty, fairness, and legal compliance.

The letter concludes with a formal request for corrective action, a response from the Council’s Monitoring Officer, and assurances that future member consultations reflect accurate, balanced information.


Read the letter here Avon Pension Fund Open Letter

Sign the letter

If you are an Avon Pension Fund scheme member please add your name to the letter. Every name counts but it is really important that the request for divestment is made by scheme members, so make sure you select the fund you are in, if it is not Avon please don't say you are, as it would be counter productive.




If you are a member of another LGPS fund

Please fill in the same form and indicate which fund you are in. You can choose to be alerted about petitions/letters or can be automatically added to similar letters to your fund when they occur.

Whether you are an LGPS member or not, if you would like to be involved in the campaign to raise awareness among scheme members, the vast majority simply don't know what their money is invested in, please email pensiondivest@pm.me and we can put you in touch with your nearest local campaigners.