Issue date: 15 December 2025
Full Council considered a petition during its meeting on Friday 12 December regarding the management of the West Sussex Local Government Pension Fund (the West Sussex Pension Fund). The county council participates in this as an employer to provide retirement benefits for its staff.
The petition called on the County Council to “urgently commit to divesting its Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) investments from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide, military occupation, and apartheid against Palestinians’”
During the debate, information was provided to assure members that the West Sussex Pension Fund does not have exposure to controversial weapons or arms manufacturers selling directly to Israel. The investment portfolio does not include companies considered by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to be supporting Israeli settlements impacting the Palestinian people. There is also no information connecting the financial institutions held within the fund to any weapons manufacturing involving the Israel-Gaza war.
Following the debate a proposition was put forward by Cllr Pete Bradbury as follows:
“This council notes that the Pensions Committee already integrates environmental, social and governance principles throughout its investment decision-making process, from setting investment strategy to monitoring the fund’s investment managers, and that investment managers adhere to the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investment when approving investments. No further action is therefore required.”
A vote was carried out with 32 supporting the proposition, 20 against, and 10 abstentions.
