History

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South Yorkshire Pensions Authority - Our History

Read all about the pension fund history from 1972 where it all began to the present day.

History

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority is a unique organisation within the Local Government Pension Scheme as the only democratically accountable single purpose pension organisation in the UK. We are both a local authority and a pension fund.

You can view lists of the Councillors who have chaired the Authority and the individuals who have held statutory roles running the Authority through its history

SYPA and its pension fund have a history which has seen them at the forefront of many developments and debates within the Local Government Pension Scheme and the wider pensions industry as can be seen in the timeline below.

In this section

Annual Reports

Our Corporate Plans and Policies
» Corporate Performance Reports

Our Finances

» Debt Recovery
» Our Accounts
» External Auditors

Our History

» Chairs of the Pensions Authority
» Statutory Officers

Our Organisation

» Senior Management Team

Big Events In The Past And Important Plans For Future

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1972

Local Government Act creates South Yorkshire County Council largely from parts of the West Riding but with some areas from other neighbouring counties. The Superannuation Act draws the previously scattered local government pension arrangements into a single Local Government Superannuation (or Pension) Scheme.

1974

The new South Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council becomes operational with its new pension fund which inherited assets and liabilities from the West Riding County Council Fund, the West Riding (Local Authorities) Joint Superannuation Committee Fund and funds run by the predecessor authorities of the four South Yorkshire Districts. The fund is largely managed by an internal team directly managing its assets from the County Council’s offices in Barnsley.

1985

Local Government Act abolishes the 6 Metropolitan Counties created in 1974 together with the Greater London Council.

1986

Responsibility for the South Yorkshire Pension Fund passes to the South Yorkshire Residuary Body (based at 18 Regent St in Barnsley) which is responsible for the orderly wining up of the County Council’s affairs. The District Councils in South Yorkshire debated how best to manage the Fund following the winding up of the Residuary Body and unlike in the other 5 Metropolitan Counties agreed to jointly take responsibility for the Fund through a free standing Joint Authority.

1988 Apr

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority came into being on 1st April 1988 when the Pension Fund has an asset value of around £491m, around 50,000 members and fewer than 100 employers. The Fund continued to employ its own internal investment team.

1990 July

In July then Cllr Clive Betts the Chair of SYPA convened a meeting of local authority pension funds to discuss the opportunities for collective action on shareholder issues of various sorts, recognising the potential benefits created by funds acting collectively. This led to the creation of the “Like Minded Pensions Authorities Group” which over time has developed into the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) of which SYPA remains a member and which now includes 83 funds from across the UK as members.

1993

As a result of changes in the bus industry the portion of the Pension Fund related to the employees of the former municipal bus companies was transferred to a separate South Yorkshire Transport Fund. The Pensions Authority continued to manage money for this fund through its investment team and as a result had to become a regulated fund manager operating under the rules of what eventually became the Financial Conduct Authority. This was a unique arrangement in England and Wales.

2008

Changes to the structure of the pension scheme as a result of negotiations between the Government and Trades Unions result in a change in the accrual rate to 1/60 and more choice for scheme members in terms of their lump sum.

2013

SYPA adopted its first policy statement in relation to the risk posed by climate change to the Fund’s investments.

2014

Changes to the structure of the pension scheme as a result of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013 were introduced moving from a pure final salary scheme to a Career Average Revalued Earnings (or CARE) basis.

2015

SYPA implements Civica’s UPM pension administration system, marking a major change away from the Axis system the origins of which lay in the 1970’s CLASS (Computerised Local Authorities Superannuation System) The South Yorkshire Local Pension Board was created as a result of the Government’s wider public sector pension reforms.

2016

As a result of the Government’s policy requiring the pooling of LGPS investments the Authority determined to join 11 other LGPS funds in participating in the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership.

2017 Oct

First Group the sole employer within the Transport Fund decided to consolidate its Local Government Pension Scheme liabilities in the Greater Manchester Pension Fund and the Transport Fund was closed in October 2017.

2018

As a result of the closure of the Transport Fund the Authority was deregistered with the Financial Conduct Authority. In April the Authority celebrated its 30th Anniversary with the Pension Fund valued at £8.03bn with around 157,000 members working for 479 different employers. In July more than 50 years of internal management came to an end when the Authority’s internal investment team transferred to the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership. In December the Authority left 18 Regent Street and moved to Gateway Plaza in Barnsley.

2019

SYPA adopted its new corporate identity and made its first direct loan to support property development in South Yorkshire.

2020 Sept

In September the Authority committed to making its investment portfolios net zero in terms of carbon emissions by 2030.

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority - Our History

History

Big Events In The Past And Important Plans For Future

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