UoDSS Implementation Statement 2024

This Implementation Statement (‘Statement’) has been prepared in accordance with applicable legislation, taking into account guidance from The Department for Work and Pensions for the period from 1 August 2023 – 31 July 2024 (‘the Scheme Year’). 

The Scheme’s reporting period for each fund is the holding period of that fund across the Scheme Year. 

The Statement sets out how, and the extent to which, the Trustee’s policy in relation to exercising voting rights has been followed during the year by describing the voting behaviour on behalf of the Trustee of the Scheme.

The Trustee has appointed Minerva Analytics (‘Minerva’) to obtain voting and investment engagement information (‘VEI’) on the Scheme’s behalf. 

This Statement includes Minerva’s report on key findings on behalf of the Trustee over the Scheme Year. 

A summary of the key points is set out below. 

abrdn

abrdn stated there was no voting information to report due to the nature of the underlying holdings.  The manager provided detailed fund level engagement information that was in line with the Scheme’s reporting period. From this, Minerva was able to confirm that the activity appeared to broadly comply with abrdn’s own engagement approach and so complies with the Trustee’s policies.

Partners Group

It was determined by Minerva that Partners’ public voting policy and disclosures contain minor divergences from good practice due to limited disclosures in Audit & Reporting, Board, Corporate Actions, Remuneration, Shareholder Rights and Sustainability. Partners provided a summarised voting record although this was not in line with the Scheme’s reporting period. As the manager voted at all investee company meetings for the Fund, this was in line with the Trustee’s expectation of its managers. Partners did not provide significant votes and stated this was because listed equities account for less than 3% of the portfolio and are used for liquidity purposes.

Partners provided basic fund-level engagement information, although this was not in line with the Scheme’s reporting period. Despite the basic level of information, Minerva was able to confirm that the activity appeared to broadly comply with Partners’ own engagement approach and so complies with the Trustee’s policies. 

LGIM

LGIM stated that there was no voting information to report for the LDI Matching Core funds, Sterling Liquidity Fund, Short Dated Sterling Corporate Bond Index Fund and Synthetic Leveraged Equity Fund (including GBP hedged variant) due to nature of the underlying holdings. For this reason, there was also no engagement information to report for the LDI Matching Core funds, Sterling Liquidity Fund and Synthetic Leveraged Equity Fund (including GBP hedged variant).

In relation to the Dynamic Diversified Fund, it was determined by Minerva that LGIM’s public voting policy and disclosures broadly comply with the International Corporate Governance Network (‘ICGN’) Voting Guidelines Principles and good corporate governance practices, bearing in mind the Scheme’s stewardship expectations. A summarised voting record was provided although this was not in line with the Scheme’s reporting period. Significant votes were also provided for the Dynamic Diversified Fund. From this, Minerva was able to confirm that the manager’s voting activity is consistent with the manager’s stated approach and therefore, the Trustee’s policies. 

For the Dynamic Diversified Fund and Short Date Sterling Corporate Bond Index Fund, LGIM provided basic fund-level engagement information although this was not in line with the Scheme’s reporting period. Despite the basic level of information, Minerva was able to confirm that the activity appeared to broadly comply with LGIM’s own engagement approach and so complies with the Scheme’s approach.

Final Comments 

Since last year, abrdn have continued to provide good levels of information. 

In line with last year, further improvement is needed from LGIM to provide more detail on engagements and to provide information in line with the Scheme’s reporting period. 

Partners Group have maintained limited disclosures in their public voting policy and disclosures this year. However, the manager has shown improvement by becoming a signatory to the UK Stewardship Code 2020 across the Scheme Year. 

The full report, including all figures, is available to download.