Funding can be used for a variety of purposes, such as boosting working capital, purchasing equipment, recruitment, marketing and product development.

The opening of the Sheffield office marks the latest step in FW Capital’s regional expansion. Joe Parikh is the first member of the Sheffield team  and will be working with businesses in the area to provide funding to accelerate growth from the South Yorkshire Debt Fund
Before joining FW Capital, Joe worked in banking audit at KPMG Manchester, conducting statutory audits for large and listed financial institutions. He also holds a First-Class BSc (Hons) in Accounting and Finance from the University of Liverpool.

Joanne Whitfield FW Capital Fund Director said: “South Yorkshire has a rich history of innovation and change. By bringing investment opportunities to the region, we can drive further economic success and prosperity. We’ve been working hard since the launch of the South Yorkshire Debt Fund to support local entrepreneurs access finance to develop and scale up. Having a base in Sheffield is key to the successful delivery of the South Yorkshire Debt Fund, and we are building a team of  locally based people, who will be on the ground working with business owners across the region. We’re pleased to welcome Joe to the team and his appointment strengthens our presence in South Yorkshire.  Joe lives in Sheffield and is keen expand his local network and provide businesses with even more localised, personal support.”

Joe Parikh, Assistance Investment Executive, FW Capital added: “I’m looking forward to working with local businesses, enabling them to secure the financial resources necessary for growth and job creation. The client facing aspect of the role is something I am passionate about, bringing added value to businesses and seeing the direct impact of how the right funding can change the direction of a business and bridge the funding gap. This is a great opportunity for me and I’m excited to join the FW Capital team.”

Councillor Donna Sutton, Chair of South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, said: "The opening of FW Capital’s Sheffield office marks an important step forward in delivering the South Yorkshire Debt Fund. We’re proud to see our investment supporting local businesses, creating jobs, and driving sustainable economic growth across our region. This fund shows how pension investments can deliver real value – not just strong financial returns, but tangible benefits for the communities our members live and work in."
 

FW Capital has a strong track record of providing flexible finance to dynamic SMEs and manages UK-based funds of £410.8m businesses across various funds including the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II which drives sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North of England

Coming this Autumn

This year’s video will again feature:

• Highlights from our 2024/25 Annual Report
• Fund and investment performance updates
• Progress on our Corporate Strategy
• Developments in pensions administration
• Updates on key industry topics like McCloud and the Pensions Dashboard

Get involved – submit your questions

Your questions help shape the video content. If there’s something you’d like to ask about the Fund, please submit it by 5pm on Friday 25^th July 2025 using this short form

We’ll cover as many relevant questions as possible in the video, and publish a full set of Q&As in the News section of our website on the SYPA In Focus page. (Please note: questions should relate to the general Fund, not contain personal pension details or be related to individual circumstances.)

You can, of course, still submit questions at any time during the year by email to customerservices@sypa.org.uk or post – and we’re always happy to provide individual responses or arrange a meeting if needed.

Thank you for helping make last year’s SYPA: In Focus such a success – we look forward to building on that this year and continuing to improve the way we connect with you.

The draft Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 is available on the Our Accounts page of our website

The accounts and other documents will be available for inspection; application should be made initially via the email address below.

Contact:
Gillian Taberner, Assistant Director – Resources, Chief Finance Officer:
Email: gtaberner@sypa.org.uk
South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, Oakwell House, 2 Beevor Court, Pontefract Road, Barnsley S71 1HG

Notice is also given that from Friday 27 June 2025 to Thursday 07 August 2025 the auditor, at the request of a local government elector for the area to which the accounts relate, will give the elector or their representative an opportunity to question them about the accounts. Any such elector or their representative may attend before the auditors and make objections to the Statement of Accounts, provided that such objections have been made in writing to the auditor at the following address before Thursday 07 August 2025. A copy of that written notice must also be sent to the Authority at the email or postal address shown above.

Auditor Name and Address:
Richard Lee, KPMG LLP, 1 St Peter’s Square, Manchester, M2 3AE
Email: richard.lee@kpmg.co.uk

Date of this Notice: 26 June 2025

Gillian Taberner
Assistant Director – Resources, Chief Finance Officer

On her appointment, Councillor Donna Sutton said: “I’m proud to be taking on the role of Chair of the Pensions Authority. It’s a privilege to serve an organisation that plays such a vital role in the lives of our members, employers, and South Yorkshire communities. I look forward to working with colleagues to ensure the Fund continues to be well managed, responsible and focused on delivering for our members.”

George Graham, Director of South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, added:

“We’re pleased to welcome Cllr Sutton as our new Chair and Cllr Bowser as Vice Chair. They bring valuable local insight and experience to the Authority, and I’m looking forward to working with them as we continue to build on our strong foundations and push forward with our long-term goals.”

You will need to register for a free Vimeo account first so please give yourself time to do this before the session starts. 

Follow our 5 easy steps below to get started:

1. You will need to either click the link for the event on the email we have previously sent inviting you to the session, and you will get a log in / sign up pop up or click here: https://vimeo.com/ and use the grey ‘join’ button in the top right of the screen.
    
2. From here you can register by entering your name, email address and then you will set a password which must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least one number and one symbol. For example: password9!
    
3. It will then log you in, if you accessed through the link for the session, you will be ready to go on the right screen.
    
4. If not, you will need to find that link on your emails and then you may need to log in again using your new Vimeo account details. 
    
5. You will then see the screen that will show the presentation. If that chat box isn’t already open, click on the ‘chat’ icon on the right hand side of the screen to open up the chat box to ask any questions you may have during the presentation.

If you’re unable to attend or miss out this time, don’t worry—further sessions will be available later this year, so keep an eye out for future announcements! We will also upload the recording next week to the website.