Notes
The Barnet Pension Fund is the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) fund administered by the London Borough of Barnet. It is one of the largest LGPS funds in London, managing assets exceeding £1.5 billion (£1,465 million as at 31 March 2023). The fund provides pensions for council employees and other participating employers.
Governance
The fund is overseen by the Pension Fund Committee, which is composed of four Conservative and three Labour councillors (as of 2018). Mark Shooter chaired the committee from June 2014 to May 2022. The committee meets quarterly and receives investment advice from Hymans Robertson LLP. Meeting records are publicly available through the Barnet Council ModernGov system.
Sources: Barnet Council - Pension Fund Committee; Barnet Council - Browse Pension Fund Committee meetings; Pensions Expert - Barnet pension scheme votes to join LAPFF
Fund Size and Performance
The fund was valued at approximately £1.1 billion circa 2018, when a Government Actuary’s Department review ranked it in the bottom 10% of LGPS funds by funding position. The fund’s net assets stood at £1,465 million as at 31 March 2023, having decreased by £36.5 million during the 2022-23 financial year. Mark Shooter claimed to have transformed a 70% funding position into a 120% surplus (over £250 million) during his tenure as chairman.
Sources: Pensions Expert - Barnet pension scheme votes to join LAPFF; Barnet Council - Pension Fund Annual Report 2022/23; Barnet Post
Investment Strategy
The fund invests only in pooled funds (no segregated mandates). It is a partner of the London CIV pool. Key investment strategy features include:
- Fund managers: Legal & General (index trackers), LCIV (various pooled funds), and private asset managers. The fund’s investments with Legal and General and LCIV represented 44.2% of investments as of March 2020.
- Tracker funds: Chairman Shooter noted the fund was “invested in trackers” as a reason for not disinvesting from fossil fuels when Mayor Sadiq Khan wrote to London boroughs requesting pension fund divestment.
- ESG shift: In 2022-23, the fund switched approximately £220 million from RAFI and Global Index equity holdings to the more ESG-tilted “Future Worlds” equity fund.
- Diversified Growth: Diversified Growth Fund assets were sold during 2022-23 as the fund no longer had a strategic allocation to them. Shooter had criticised Newton Investment Management’s Real Return Fund performance as “disastrously poor.”
- Private assets: The fund holds allocations to private equity, venture capital, infrastructure, real estate, and debt funds.
- Investment advisor: Hymans Robertson LLP.
Sources: Barnet Council - Pension Fund Annual Report 2022/23; Barnet Council - Pension Fund Annual Report 2019/20; Pensions Expert - Barnet pension scheme votes to join LAPFF; data.gov.uk - Barnet Pension Fund Alternative and Private Funds
LAPFF Membership
The fund voted to join the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) in 2018, becoming its 76th member. The vote passed with six committee members in favour. At the same meeting, the committee rejected London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s request to divest from fossil fuel companies. Chairman Shooter stated: “I don’t think it’s a good idea at the moment to alter our investment strategy per se because we are invested in trackers… so we can’t disinvest from there.”
Source: Pensions Expert - Barnet pension scheme votes to join LAPFF
London CIV and Israel-Related Investments
The fund pools its investments through the London CIV, which manages the combined pension assets of all 32 London boroughs plus the City of London (total approximately £34 billion). In March 2026, a campaign group called “Shake the CIV” published a report claiming the London CIV invests over £7 billion in companies “complicit in Israel’s crimes,” including nearly £1 billion in arms manufacturers, £10 million in Elbit Systems (Israel’s largest arms manufacturer), and £228 million in BAE Systems. The LCIV disputed these figures, stating its actual exposure was £713 million (4% of total assets), with £6.5 billion being in “passive strategies” managed by third-party fund managers entirely outside the pool’s control. The LCIV noted that 85% of their £713 million exposure comprised Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft.
Over 150 London councillors signed a letter demanding LCIV divest from companies enabling Israeli violations. Notably, no Barnet councillors were among the signatories.
Sources: Barnet Post - London councillors join campaign to divest pension pots; Hackney Citizen - London mega-pension fund divest Israel; WYPF - London Borough of Barnet Pension Fund
Broader LGPS Israel Investment Context
Across the UK, LGPS funds collectively invest over £12 billion in companies described by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign as “enabling Israel’s genocide, military occupation and apartheid.” LGPS funds also hold over £28 million in Israel government bonds directly. This data comes from Freedom of Information requests covering 81 of the 86 LGPS funds. The LGPS Divest campaign maintains a searchable database of these investments. Barnet-specific data on Israel-related holdings has not been identified in public sources, though as a London CIV pool member, its investments would include exposure to the same companies flagged in the CIV-level analysis.
Sources: Palestine Solidarity Campaign - LGPS funds invest over £12 billion; LGPS Divest - Investment Database; Byline Times - UK Local Council Pension Funds
Anti-BDS Context at Barnet Council
In 2018, Barnet Councillor Brian Gordon proposed a motion to ban organisations supporting BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel) from using council premises, citing the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Barnet was the first UK local authority to adopt the IHRA definition (January 2017). The motion was referred to the Policy and Resources Committee. This anti-BDS stance at the council level is significant context for the pension fund, as it suggests institutional resistance to any Israel-related divestment pressure.
Additionally, the UK Government’s Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill would explicitly prevent LGPS funds from making divestment decisions based on foreign government conduct, with a special clause preventing Israel, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and the Occupied Golan Heights from being exempted without primary legislation. 52 of 86 LGPS funds hold a combined £1.1 billion in firms supplying weapons or systems to Israel.
Sources: Palestine Solidarity Campaign - London council to debate banning BDS; House of Commons Library - Economic Activity of Public Bodies Bill; Middle East Monitor - London council seeking to outlaw BDS
Capita Administration Scandal
From approximately 2013 to 2020, the fund’s administration was outsourced to Capita Employee Benefits, during which time severe problems emerged:
- Data errors: Over 6,000 critical data errors discovered in December 2018. More than 40,000 lines of data ultimately corrected.
- Fraud: The scheme was twice defrauded by Capita employees.
- Regulatory fine: In 2017, the Pensions Regulator issued its first-ever fine against a public service pension scheme (£1,000) for failure to submit a scheme return.
- Improvement notice: In July 2019, the Pensions Regulator issued an improvement notice (its first for internal control failures in a public service scheme).
- Late contributions: £1.7 million of late contributions and payment delays.
- Leadership instability: Four different people were nominally responsible for the scheme over two years.
- System failures: Capita’s IT systems failed in August 2019, making the administration system unavailable for two days.
The fund switched its administration to the West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) in February 2020, which oversaw significant improvements.
Sources: Pensions Regulator - London Borough of Barnet regulatory intervention report; Pensions Expert - Barnet Pension Fund back on track; Pensions Age - Capita criticised; This Is Local London - Capita warned over Barnet pension fund problems
Section 114 Notice (January 2025)
In January 2025, Barnet Council’s executive director of resources issued a section 114 notice following the discovery of unlawful transactions relating to the pension fund. In April 2020, the council made a one-off prepayment of £20,477,000 to the pension fund to cover three years of secondary contributions (2020/21 to 2022/23) in order to secure an actuarial discount. However, in addition to this prepayment, the council also continued to make secondary contributions based on payroll, effectively paying double. Officers could not trace any specific authorisation for the prepayment from any committee or under delegated authority. The monitoring officer and section 151 officer concluded the payments were unlawful “by reason of a failure to take appropriate advice.” However, the council stated that “no money has been lost” and the notice did not require cessation of spending.
Sources: Local Government Lawyer - Officers jointly issue section 114 report; Room 151 - Barnet Council’s section 114 notice; Barnet Post - Barnet Council makes unlawful pension payments
Potential Conflict of Interest: Mark Shooter
Mark Shooter chaired the Barnet Pension Fund Committee from June 2014 to May 2022, during which period he simultaneously held personal business interests in Israel through his role as Director (from May 2020) and later CEO of Gold Wynn UK Holdings Limited, a company with significant Israeli property investments including on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv. He also took a position at Civ Robotics (formerly Civdrone), an Israeli construction technology startup. No evidence has been found that the Barnet Pension Fund directly invested in Israel bonds or that Shooter lobbied for Israel-related investments. However, his dual role as chairman of a major LGPS fund while having business ties to Israel represents a potential conflict of interest that warranted disclosure. His register of interests with Barnet Council does list Goldwynn UK Holdings Limited and other business directorships, though the Israel connection of these businesses would not be apparent from the register alone. His rejection of fossil fuel divestment while chairman, and the absence of any Barnet councillors from the 2026 London CIV divestment campaign, are consistent with the fund maintaining existing investment exposures under his leadership.
Sources: Companies House - Mark Richard Shooter appointments; Barnet Register of Interests; Gold Wynn Israel
Edges
Mark Shooter
Chairman of the Pension Fund Committee from June 2014 to May 2022. Rejected fossil fuel divestment. Joined LAPFF. Criticised Newton Investment Management’s performance. Claimed to have transformed a 70% funding position into a 120% surplus. Simultaneously held personal business interests in Israel through Gold Wynn UK Holdings Limited.
London Borough of Barnet
The pension fund is administered by the London Borough of Barnet as part of the Local Government Pension Scheme. A section 114 notice was issued in January 2025 over unlawful pension fund payments made in 2020 and 2021.
London CIV
The fund pools its investments through the London Collective Investment Vehicle, the investment pool for all London borough LGPS funds. The London CIV has been the subject of a major divestment campaign over alleged Israel-related investments totalling up to £7 billion across the pool.
Gold Wynn
Mark Shooter’s role as Director/CEO of Gold Wynn UK Holdings Limited (a company with Israeli property investments) while simultaneously chairing the pension fund committee represents a potential conflict of interest.
Civ Robotics
Mark Shooter took a position at this Israeli startup, adding to the potential conflict of interest alongside his pension fund chairmanship.