Welcome

Welcome to the Website for the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund.

The pages of this website contain information about the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and how it is administered in Berkshire. It sets out details about your membership of the Scheme and the benefits of contributing to a highly regarded, final-salary occupational pension scheme.

The right-hand navigations will take you to pages that are relevant to your membership status. The left-hand navigations provide information that is relevant to everyone.

Awards Success for the Berkshire Pension Fund

We are delighted to announce that The Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund won the Best Investment Strategy category at the Engaged Investor Trustee Awards 2010. The award was accepted by Kevin Taylor, Pensions Administration Manager on behalf of the Berkshire Pensions Fund Investments team. The award ceremony was held on Wednesday 7th July 2010. These awards were open to all UK-based occupational pension schemes and aims to recognise the schemes that have made a significant difference to the performance of their Fund.

Changes to Pensions Increase

In the recent budget it has been announced that with effect from April 2011 public sector pensions will rise in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). Currently pensions increase is calculated in accordance with the Retail Price Index (RPI) which is measured as at September each year.

Revised Statement of Investment Principles published

A revised Statement of Investment Principles policy statement has been published from June 2010. Please follow this link to view the full document.

Important news release from The Berkshire Pension Fund

Exposure to BP PLC

The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead ("RBWM") acting as the administering authority for the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund ("the Fund") notes the substantial fall in the value of BP shares following the on-going problems in stopping the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

RBWM note that the exposure of the Fund to shares in BP is 0.15% of the total value of the Fund. Consequently the impact of the recent fall in BP's share price has had a negligible effect on the total value of the Fund.

Councillor John Lenton, Chairman of the Berkshire Pension Fund, commented that "the fact that the value of the Berkshire Pension Fund has barely been affected by the substantial fall in the value of BP's shares is a result of our recent diversification policy which avoids over-dependence on any one company or type of asset".

Pensions Personality of the Year 2010

We are pleased to announce that Nick Greenwood, Pension Fund Manager for the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund is through to the final five short-listed candidates for the Pensions Personality of the Year Award 2010. Voting will take place at the Professional Pensions Awards ceremony to be held on April 20th. Mr Greenwood would like to take this oppotunity to thank everyone who voted for him.

Active Member Newsletter - Spring 2010

The latest edition of The Quill for is available to download here

Retired Member Newsletter - Spring 2010

The latest edition of The Scribe is available to download here

Important Information for High Earners

With effect from 1st April 2010 onwards tax changes are being introduced which will affect high income employees with income (from all sources) of over £100,000. In view of these changes The Local Government Employers Organisation (LGE) has produced a guide which provides as much information as possible on the implications of these changes and also includes some worked examples. Please click on the link below to view our leaflet.

Tax Relief Restrictions on Pension Contributions Leaflet

Response to Resolutions on TarSands

Please see below a response to the 2010 AGM Agenda of Shell and BP which will include shareholder resolutions regarding their Canadian oil sands projects.

"Our holdings in BP and Shell (if any) are managed by our global equity manager (IPM Informed Portfolio Management AB in Sweden) who employ GES Investment Services a leading research and service provider for responsible investment.

Voting decisions are delegated to IPM and they are required to take into account environmental issues when deciding how to cast their vote. IPM take their responsibilities extremely seriously and they will seek appropriate advice before casting votes on behalf of the Berkshire Pension Fund. They will, of course, have to balance the environmental issues against their legally over-riding fiduciary responsibilities to produce the highest risk-adjusted returns for the Fund commensurate with the risk budget they have been given so that the Fund can meet its legal obligations to pay pensions as they fall due."

Nick Greenwood, Berkshire Pension Fund Manager

Pension Panel Election Results

In our Spring 2009 edition of the Quill we invited our members to nominate themselves for a position on the Berkshire Pension Fund Advisory Panel. There were two vacancies for panel representation - one active and one retired or deferred Scheme member. Votes have now been cast and we are pleased to confirm the elected members below:

Active Member Representative: Mr Graeme Herd

Retired/Deferred Member Representative: Mr David Nicholson

Thank you to all members who voted and further information on the new panel representatives will be available in our Spring 2010 edition of the Quill and Scribe newsletters which will be issued in April.

News Release from the Berkshire Pension Fund - 15 December 2009

The Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund, has entered into an innovative longevity hedging insurance contract with Swiss Re. Click here to view the news release...

Awards Success for the Berkshire Pension Fund

We are delighted to announce that at the ninth annual IPE European Pension Fund Awards held in Dublin on November 18, that the Royal Country of Berkshire Pension Fund won the IPE Themed Award for Best Pension Fund investing in Commodities.

The fund's submission for this IPE Themed Award was selected by a panel of independent judges, appointed by Investment & Pensions Europe. Please click here to view the full press release.

In addition the Fund was also runner up in the following categories:

Best UK Fund (won By Barnardo Staff Fund)
Best Public Pension Fund (won by the Danish State Fund ATP)

The IPE awards are open to Pension Funds across Europe and the Berkshire Pension Scheme were one of only 4 English funds to win an award.

Annual Report and Accounts 2008/2009

The Annual Report and Accounts for 2008/2009 are now available to download here. If you would like a hard copy of this document please contact Joanne Brazier on 01628 796754.

Future Pension Events

The Berkshire Pensions Team is currently organising a series of pension surgeries to be held at the six main unitary authorities within the Berkshire area. These surgeries will be run throughout the year and will provide an opportunity for you to meet the Pensions Team face to face and raise any questions you may have about your pension benefits.

Please visit the Pension Events section to find out more.

Publications, Forms and Guides - available to download

You can now access all of our pension scheme guides, leaflets and newsletters online by visiting our publications section. Our scheme guides contain everything you need to know about the Local Government Pension Scheme.

State Pension Age Calculator

Click here to access the online calculator produced by The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and calculate the date you will be entitled to claim your State Pension.

What's New

Visit the What's New page for details of the scheme changes that apply from 1st April 2008 and where you can view the new-look scheme 2008 video. You can download a key features comparison table that looks at the main differences between the LGPS both before and after amendments were made.

Tell us what you think...

As always we would welcome your views particularly on our new website or about the service we provide in general. Please feel free to contact us.

Disclaimer: The information contained in the pages of this website has been prepared by the Royal County of Berkshire Pension Fund. It should not be treated as a complete and authoritative statement of the law. Whilst every attempt is made to ensure the accuracy of the website, it would be helpful if visitors could bring to the attention of the Pension Fund any perceived errors or omissions. Please contact us on 0845 602 7237