Investors into the market

Members of the Fund include people who work for Wiltshire Council, as well as organisations such as local Colleges or Town and Parish Councils. More than 180 employers allow their employees to join the Fund, and they currently have over 86,000 members. Because LGPS is a Statutory Scheme, Wiltshire Pension Fund needs to be very secure as the amount members are paid in retirement is defined and set out in law. Therefore, the Fund’s investments need to be responsibly managed to ensure that sufficient returns are generated, thus helping to maintain the employer’s contributions rates at stable and affordable levels.

In April 2022 the Fund committed £120m to three different property fund managers, and they currently have plans to add one more to their housing portfolio. Each of the three managers specialises in different areas, including shared ownership, affordable rent, supported housing and mixed tenures. The portfolio is also diversified across geographical locations and situation; there is no concentration in areas of highest relative unaffordability (i.e. Southeast England) nor to urban areas (projects include a mix of developments in rural villages, town and fringe as well as those in cities). Whilst it mainly focuses on achieving social impacts, the portfolio has also seen significant environmental progress from its managers and continues to hold them to account on matters related to climate risk and means for achieving this.

Chris Moore, Investment and Accounting Team Lead, at Wiltshire Pension Fund, comments on the Fund’s investment in social and affordable housing:

Since 2015, 5% of JRF’s endowment (currently set at £20m) has been allocated to social investment in order to fund and support organisations that further the foundation’s overarching vision and mission. Social investments into both impact funds and social enterprises span across the three-part framework which JRF applies to categorising contributions of its work to its mission:

• Directional change – working through the power structures and systems as they exist now to reduce destitution and increase levels of economic security.
• Systemic change – exploring new approaches and field-building in collaboration with others in order to deepen understanding of and foster the conditions for radical change.
• Infrastructure for change – funding and supporting development of new movements and power structures that help shape change, especially by giving voice to those furthest from power.

Alongside meaningful social impact, social investments are also expected to deliver a modest financial return so that funds can be recycled and invested again. Meeting these dual objectives requires flexible and patient capital. JRF works with investees and other funders to develop suitable funding structures. The range of financial instruments through which JRF has invested includes loans, bonds, shares, community shares, and limited partnerships.

To date, JRF has made social investments in 21 social enterprises and 14 impact funds. Examples of investments aligned with its directional change pathway that works with existing power structures and acts quickly to address hardship and insecurity include Resonance’s National Homelessness Property Fund and the impact venture Lightning Reach. Investments contributing to systemic change by creating deeper, more foundational shifts needed for a more equitable and just future are BelleVie Care and Resolution Foundation’s Workertech Partnership. The foundation also recognises the need to build infrastructure for change in the social investment sector and to that end invested in Pathway Fund, the UK’s first impact investment wholesaler dedicated to catalysing opportunities for Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities across the UK.

Denise Holle, Head of Social Investment, JRF:

In 2013, the company became one of the UK’s first certified B Corporations, part of a global movement of companies reinventing business as a force for good in society, with James co-founding the movement in the UK, and serving on the boards of B Lab Global (based out of the US), and B Lab Europe.

With businesses like COOK meeting demands to help improve the planet, James became increasingly focused on increasing the supply of investment capital to fuel more impact-driven ventures. He co-founded Snowball Impact Management in 2017 to enable this 360 approach for regenerating the economy, by offering clients a comprehensive investment solution which takes impact and returns seriously.