Achievements for 2023
2023 has been a busy year for the North East Scotland Pension Fund (NESPF). During the course of the year, we have achieved a number of accomplishments.
Technology
One of the biggest projects this year has been the enhancement of our online member portal, My Pension. The Fund was the first Local Government Pension Scheme to adopt the redeveloped site and following extensive testing, the new platform known as My Pension+, went live in June 2023.
In addition to the site becoming much more user friendly and easy to navigate, the revamped site offers a number of improvements including video pension statements and a helpful retirement planner.
With over 43,000 members now registered for My Pension+, more developments are currently in progress in order to keep making positive improvements to the site. To view My Pension+ click here and register or sign in.
Once again in 2023, The Fund issued Annual Benefit Statements digitally through My Pension+. Providing statements online has several advantages including reducing the Fund’s environmental impact – issuing statements online saves around 145,500 sheets of paper each year.
Investments
2022/23 was a difficult year in terms of investments, with issues such as global conflict, the Cost of Living Crisis, the fall in the value of the pound, and increasing interest rates. These financial challenges affected the Fund, however, we continue to outperform the benchmark returns over longer periods and similar comparators such as CPI and Average Earnings over the longer term. This provides assurance that our Investment Strategy works and will continue to deliver the required returns over the longer term.
The Fund takes its role as a responsible investor very seriously and 2023 saw its continued commitment to engaging in environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. At present the NESPF is a signatory of:
- 2022 Global Investor Statement;
- 2022 Non Disclosure Campaign (NDC);
- Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety (the Accord);
- Climate Action 100;
- Carbon Disclosure Project;
- Principles for Responsible Investment.
More information on this can be found here.
Administration
In terms of administration of the Fund, this year saw almost 900 additional cases completed. In 2023, work continued to increase efficiency with teams delivering incremental development through regular project work.
The Fund relies on the employers within the scheme to provide consistent and accurate data. In 2022/23, good quality, timely data for all active members was provided by employers through our secure online employer portal. Over the year more than 1 million data ‘events’ have been uploaded to our pension database, these include new members commencing employment and those leaving employment.
Staff
The NESPF saw several new members of staff join the Fund this year, including apprentices and trainees. This expansion is exciting for the team and means more knowledge and a greater skillset can be harnessed to improve our customer service offering. 2023 saw the Fund adopt Agile working practices, utilising individuals from across the department to solve challenges and work together, which will be continued throughout 2024.
