The West Midlands Pension Fund Committee has its next meeting on Wednesday 30 September 2026.   It is possible to download minutes and agendas from previous meetings. 

WMCND has been asking the committee to consider its position on weapons investment since June 2023.  In 2025 we received the following statement:
“We recognise there are concerns regarding armaments manufacturers, including those producing nuclear weapons. In June 2024, we issued a statement on our approach to companies operating in the aerospace and defence sector. We continue to monitor the situation closely with our advisers and Governing Bodies and will update our position as needed.”  The updated version of this statement can be found on the Committee’s website.   

The Committee is made up of councillors from each local authority in the West Midlands Metropolitan area.  The next meeting will be on 30 September – please write to your delegate and ask them to consider disinvestment from nuclear weapons manufacture.  There is a list of delegates here.   Birmingham has now appointed Councillor Duncan Ali as its delegate and I have written to him as below.  Feel free to use this as a template.

Dear Councillor Ali
 
I am a beneficiary of the West Midlands Pension Fund and a council tax payer in Birmingham. I understand that you have been appointed as Birmingham’s delegate to the committee of the West Midlands Pension Fund, which has its next meeting on Wednesday 30 September.  
 
Item 6 on the agenda refers to a report on Responsible Investment Activities, which contains negotiations regarding climate change, resource efficiency and social equality.  Clearly the Fund is concerned that its investments are used in a socially responsible manner, but weapons and particularly nuclear weapons are not mentioned, even though the use of weapons contributes massively to the carbon footprint.
 
Nuclear weapons programmes divert public funds from health care, education, disaster relief and other vital services. The nuclear-armed countries spend more than $173,000 per minute on their nuclear bombs, over $90 billion each year. Meanwhile, the companies producing these weapons of mass destruction and their investors make billions in profit.  Nuclear weapons affect all of us, so it’s up to all of us to push back against the absurd sums of money wasted on them.
 
One year of nuclear weapons spending could…..
  • Convert more than 16.5 million homes to solar power
  • Secure a year of clean water & sanitation for 1.2 billion people
  • Hire 1.5 million high school science teachers
  • Vaccinate 2 billion people against coronavirus
  • Pay for ⅓ of the costs for climate change adaptation in developing countries 
I understand that the Pension Fund has investments in firms that make nuclear weapons or their components, including Lockheed Martin, BAE systems, General Dynamics and many others.  Nuclear weapons could kill millions of people, and built up areas such as the West Midlands would be particular targets.  It should be part of the responsibility of local councils to try and prevent nuclear bombs falling on the West Midlands.  It is therefore important that the Pension Fund stops investing in nuclear weapons manufacturers.
 
Please convey my views to the committee next Wednesday – I hope to be in attendance.