The North East Scotland Pension Fund (NESPF) released its 2020/21 Annual Report and Accounts, highlighting a year of significant achievement and development.
Despite the initial uncertainty and volatility of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, the Fund rebounded strongly with total asset value increasing from £4.4 billion to £5.7 billion as at the 31 March 2021.
The resilience at the outset of the pandemic and subsequent recovery of the Fund demonstrates the effectiveness of NESPF’s investment strategy, outperforming benchmarks across all periods with an annual return of 32.2% against a benchmark of 23.7%.
The 2020 triennial valuation, which assesses the long-term funding and solvency of the Fund, reaffirms the Fund’s strength and security, reporting funding levels of 103% and 114% for the NESPF and the ACC Transport Fund, respectively.
Mirroring the strong financial performance, operationally the Fund continued to deliver key administrative projects and services. The ACC Transport Fund completed and obtained a buy-in policy, securing liabilities for pensioner members of the Transport Fund. The buy-in is the first of its kind for the LGPS Scotland and marks the completion of 2-year project which included the transfer of all member and assets from the Strathclyde No.3 Transport Fund to the ACC Transport Fund. Additionally, in the past 12 months the Fund launched a new website, rolled out several new features on its online self-service platform and, most importantly, continued to process and pay pensions without any disruption.
Pensions Committee Convenor Councillor M. Tauqeer Malik said: “The 2020 results demonstrate the resilience of NESPF during one of the most challenging crises to hit the global economy.”
“We recognise that Fund has a fiduciary duty and responsibilities towards pension fund members, participating employers and local taxpayers. These results provide reassurance in both the value and efficiency of the Fund.”
“I am proud of how Pension Fund staff have adapted to new ways of working during this turbulent period. Their commitment has ensured disruption to key services has been minimal and has enabled the successful completion of crucial projects.”
The Annual Accounts are out for public consultation from 28 June until 19 July 2021 and can be found on the Aberdeen City Council’s website.
