Wales Pension Fund

About Us

The Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) was established in 2017. The WPP is a collaboration of the eight LGPS funds (Constituent Authorities) covering the whole of Wales and is one of eight national Local Government Pension pools.

We have a long, successful history of collaboration, including examples that pre-date the Government’s pooling initiative. We are proud of our unique identity as a Pool – our Constituent Authorities represent and span the entirety of Wales. Being democratically accountable means we provide the best of strong public sector governance and transparency.

Our operating model is designed to be flexible and deliver value for money. We appointed an external Operator and make use of external advisers to bring best of breed expertise to support the running of the Pool. The Operator is Waystone Management (UK) Limited and they have partnered with Russell Investments to manage the investments and assist in the reduction of investment management costs for all the Constituent Authorities.

We have a clear vision and are in control of the pace we take to ensure we meet our goals.

Latest Notices

Latest News

Wednesday 28 January 2026

WPP remains a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code

We are delighted to announce that the Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) remains a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code.

https://www.frc.org.uk/investors/uk-stewardship-code/uk-stewardship-code-signatories

WPP strives to maintain high standards in its approach to responsible investment (RI) and considers that the Stewardship Code is reflective of its ambitions. We are therefore delighted to have retained our signatory status for 2025.

One of WPP’s strengths is the collaboration between the Pool’s underlying partner funds, who we would like to thank for their continued contribution and support, in progressing our work on RI and stewardship. Highlights of our work included completing the establishment of the private markets programme with the launch of our real estate proposition. Our focus on local investment was demonstrated by our partnership with Pluto Finance through investment in their local impact programme, funding affordable housing.

Progressing the recommendations of the All-Wales Climate Report (AWCR) was also a key area of focus and collaboration as we worked to develop a new climate focused passive equity fund. This proposition involved consultation with multiple stakeholders to ensure that the fund met the requirements of all partners. This project was completed and the new fund launched in November 2025.

Stewardship remained a particular focus over the last year. We worked with Russell Investments and Robeco to put in place escalation principles, ensuring that we continue to make our partners accountable for their activity. Building on this, we also commenced work on evolving our investment framework to establish minimum standards that we can implement across our portfolios.

WPP’s stewardship work would not have been possible without our external partnerships. Robeco, our Voting & Engagement Provider, voted on more than 16,000 resolutions and had over 900 engagements with over 230 companies covering a range of environmental, social & governance issues.

As we look forward to the evolution in governance arrangements and the launch of the WPP Investment Management Company, our ambition to stay at the forefront in our responsible investment practices continues.

WPP statement on exclusions and divestment

WPP statement on exclusions and divestment

The Wales Pension Partnership (WPP) takes its responsibilities as an asset owner seriously. We aim to be responsible stewards, and work closely with stakeholders to make sure our investments reflect our values and legal obligations. We build environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into our investment and stewardship work. This covers issues such as climate change, human rights and violations of international law.

We are committed to listening to, understanding, and responding openly and responsibly to our members’ concerns, following our legal duties and the latest guidance from the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board.

We take a multi-layered approach to stewardship. Robeco is our appointed Voting and Engagement Provider, and we are also members of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum. Both parties engage with companies on our behalf to drive improvements in practices and reporting, and to help us reduce risks in our investments. We receive regular reports on their progress, which guide our decisions. If engagement with a company that does not reflect our values and legal obligations fails, we discuss potential courses of action with our investment managers, with divestment as a possible outcome.

Some of our investment strategies already have specific exclusions, meaning we don’t invest in companies involved in, for example, tobacco, palm oil, controversial weapons and coal mining. We are currently reviewing our investment framework, including exclusions that could apply to all WPP investments, where possible. We expect to finish this review by early 2026.