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As agreed in its Committee meeting of 28 March 2025, the Avon Pension Fund will survey members on Aerospace & Defence investments. 

We will work with an independent research organisation to ensure expert guidance and best practice in research methods.  

We are seeking enthusiastic volunteers from our membership to serve as member representatives on the Board. You'll amplify the voices of Fund members, offering informed advice and guidance alongside a diverse group.

All our active members’ Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) pensions were revalued in April 2025. The value of the CARE pension increased by 1.7%, in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure for September 2024. 

Our deferred members have also had their total pension increased by 1.7%, again in line with September 2024 CPI.

In a public meeting in Bath on 28 March, the Avon Pension Fund Committee voted to maintain its current approach to investing in Aerospace & Defence. 

Now that the Committee has made a decision in principle, we will consult our members, which will inform the Committee’s final decision. 

On 28 March the Avon Pension Fund Committee will meet to review its aerospace and defence investments. 

This follows significant work which the Fund has already undertaken, following petitions in December and appeals from Bristol City Council to divest from aerospace and defence companies which supply Israel.

The pension fund has £18m or 0.3% of its £6 billion assets invested in such companies, which primarily supply NATO partners and the UK government.

It has been a year of encouraging progress and development. 

The Fund is in robust financial health, with an improved 98% funding level at 31 March 2024. 

This improved position has enabled us to deliver stable employer contributions, critical given ongoing strain in local government finances. 

Our old website had to be replaced. We decided to take the opportunity to make our website more user-friendly.   

We’ve designed this website to help members do more of the tasks they want to do online, making content easier to find and simpler to understand. 

Councillor Paul Crossley, Chair of the Avon Pension Fund Committee and Councillor Shaun Stephenson-McGall, Committee Vice-Chair and Chair of the Investment Panel, are signatories to a letter calling for action on the global stocktake.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has published a member factsheet - The McCloud judgment and your LGPS pension - that summarises the McCloud judgment and changes the Government are making to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

On 9 March 2023, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) laid the LGPS (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (‘the regulations’). The regulations move the annual revaluation date from 1 April to 6 April. The regulations are effective from 31 March 2023.