Council leader explains how Reform UK will shake up pension
The leader of Derbyshire County Council, which is now controlled by the right-wing populist Reform UK, tells AOX why they are shaking up how the pension scheme he now controls is invested (EPA/Neil Hall)
Reform UK has been making a splash in British politics over the past year.
The right-wing populist party now controls several councils around the country and, with that, their pension funds.
Running on plans which seek to reduce government waste, lower tax and change hate crime laws, Reform UK was able to win 41 per cent of all seats in local elections held in May, gaining control of 10 councils and Local Government Pension Scheme assets of almost £52.4bn.
These assets are now subject to Reform UK’s policy that “net zero is crippling our economy”.
Among these is the £7bn Derbyshire County Council Pension Fund.
Leader of Derbyshire County Council Alan Graves told AOX the fund was “overstated in terms of ESG” and the allocation was “too high and puts the pension fund at risk”.
Graves added that Reform UK county councillors were intending to reduce the fund’s exposure to less than 10 per cent “despite government pressure to invest heavily in ESG funds”.
Some perusing in the fund's latest investment report shows it has a 33.8 per cent or £2.4bn allocation to global sustainable equities as at July 31, 2025. Its external and internal advisers have recommended running an underweight of approximately 2 per cent citing the portfolio’s higher interest rate sensitivity and a higher than usual price-to-earnings multiple on US stocks.
“ESG funds are poorly performing in terms of the overall range of investments. Whilst they do not lose money there are better investments that can and will help Derbyshire pension shareholders,” Graves concluded.
Over a three-year period the global sustainable equity portfolio returned 13 per cent per annum to June 30 2025. Over a five year period, it returned 11.9 per cent.
Matt Benefield, chair of the Derbyshire’s pensions committee, did say that “ESG in itself is not a problem”, adding, “what we are cautious about is being restricted to specific ESG-labelled strategies that may limit our ability to look across the entire market and seek the best overall returns for the fund”.
Benefield has requested a review of its existing ESG holdings at its next committee meeting to ensure decisions are “based on performance, not labels”.