Making sure local government pension funds are not supporting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land

In amongst all the other things that have happened this year, looking back, an important victory for local government - and for local government workers - was won back in April (on a day when I was somewhat preoccupied) - when the Supreme Court released their decision in the case of R(on the application of Palestine Solidarity Campaign and another) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

I should declare a personal interest in the case to the extent that the “another” who took legal action along with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign was Jackie Lewis, a friend, comrade and UNISON Convenor in Lambeth. Lambeth UNISON has a proud tradition of practical solidarity with the people of Palestine, as has our national trade union, which has long supported boycott and divestment to contest the illegal occupation of Palestinian land by Israel.

Jackie - and PSC - took legal action to challenge the Government’s statutory guidance intended to prevent local government pension funds from taking positive steps to divest themselves of investments in companies implicated in the occupation of Palestine (that this guidance had wider implications is reflected in the fact that the Campaign Against the Arms Trade made submissions to the Supreme Court).

The Supreme Court - on a majority verdict - found that the Government guidance, which had overstepped the mark by going beyond giving guidance about how pension fund administrators should approach “non financial considerations” and trying to dictate “what” investments they should or should not make.

This is important because Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) funds invest billions of pounds all over the world, drawn from the pension contributions of local authorities and their staff, so as to be able to pay out pensions to members of the scheme who have retired (such as your humble blogger). Thanks to the Supreme Court decision, scheme members (serving and retired local government workers) can legitimately seek to influence where our money is - or is not - invested.

PSC have now launched LGPS Divest - a campaign  for LGPS members who want to ensure administering authorities implement adequate investment screening and due diligence procedures  to guarantee that pension holders money is not used to support Israel’s violations of international law. UNISON has - this month - issued a practical guide to members of the Local Government Pension Scheme who want to campaign to ensure that the investments held by their own pension fund are supporting Palestinian human rights - rather than the illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

Any readers who are LGPS members looking for a New Year’s Resolution for 2021 could do worse than sign up to LGPS Divest and read the UNISON guide.