Marks and Spencer Group Pension Scheme: recommendations
From the information provided it appears that the Marks and Spencer Pension Scheme has an underlying commitment to responsible investment, but has not yet fully translated this into detailed policy, implementation, monitoring and especially transparency. Our recommendations would include:
RI policy, implementation and monitoring
Identification of specific ESG risks and opportunities for incorporation into research and investment decisions.
- Incorporating assessment of the capacity of fund mangers to carry out the Scheme's ESG policy into its fund manger selection process, and into its investment management agreements
- Expansion of RI policy across non-equity asset classes
- The use of internal and/or external dedicated resources to undertake ESG engagement on behalf of the scheme.
- Consideration of membership of the UN PRI.
Transparency
Given that basic transparency is fundamental to responsible investment, we recommend that the Marks and Spencer Group Pension Scheme creates a scheme website, which would include public disclosure of:
- The Statement of Investment Principles
- Detailed statements of RI policy, policy implementation and performance monitoring
- Full voting records and summary voting analysis
- Specific and detailed ESG engagement strategy, and reporting the Scheme's annual reports, which should include a detailed section on responsible investment
Download Marks and Spencer Group Pension Scheme's full scoresheet
If you are a member of this pension scheme, why not email your pension scheme to ask whether they have implemented all or any of these recommendations.
