Hackney's Green administration, elected in May, has yet to divest any pension funds from companies linked to alleged human rights abuses, despite campaign promises to do so immediately. Council officers have warned of a "major and likely" risk that councillors might disregard the law to honor the party's manifesto pledges, raising concerns about the fund's integrity.
Campaign Promise vs. Reality
Before the election, Mayor Zoë Garbett told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "People don't want their money invested in firms like Elbit and Palantir – pension funds could be used to invest in housing, to help people locally instead." Both companies have been accused by Amnesty International of alleged complicity in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, including genocide.
At a Pension Committee meeting on September 22, former Labour councillor Vincent Stops challenged the Greens, brandishing a campaign leaflet that read: "Hackney Green Party told residents Labour councillors and Hackney council supported genocide in Gaza: investing in 'companies like Elbit'. You, the Greens, demanded 'divest now' [of] £30million from its pension fund 'from companies directly involved in Israel's genocide'." Stops asked for a list of companies and the investment values slated for divestment.
Committee chair Cllr Izzy Castello-Cortes (Green) said the council would provide these details in writing later, reaffirming that the council was "looking into a policy that uses a series of lists and highlights core beliefs we believe are in the interests of pension scheme members." When pressed if this meant no divestment had occurred, she said: "As of today, we have taken some big steps in terms of looking into this."
Disputed Investment Figures
The amount Hackney has invested in firms linked to alleged abuses is contested. In 2024, the council stated the total pension fund was worth £1.994bn, with roughly 0.2 per cent "indirectly" exposed to firms on the OHCHR database of companies operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, "mainly through its equity portfolios." The council has offered figures ranging from £1.9m to £3.5m.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) claims a much larger figure, estimating £106m of Hackney's pension was invested in "companies complicit in Israel's grave violations of Palestinian human rights," based on an analysis of 81 LGPS funds. The PSC previously cited £30m, and the Green Party's 'Divest Now' leaflet used "over £30m" without citing the PSC.
However, the £30m figure was not in the Green Party's manifesto, which pledged to "initiate a full ethical divestment process from companies complicit in genocide, apartheid or ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the West Bank, and other occupied Palestinian territories, as well as in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti and other regions facing genocide, conflict and exploitation." In June, the LDRS asked the Mayor's office if she stood by the "over £30m" figure; she did not answer.
Legal and Financial Risks
Former Pension Committee Chair Cllr Kam Adams (Labour) said in 2024 that the fund did not invest in individual companies but in "pooled" funds managed externally. The then Labour-run council was advised that leaving its pooled fund for a "highly customised" alternative would cost over £2.1m in the first year and over £10m over five years, "which would risk financial detriment to the Fund and would therefore breach Law Commission guidance."
In September 2025, the council said it would "engage with" the London Collective Investment Vehicle (LCIV) to create a framework for future exclusions of investments linked to conflict or genocide. The LCIV, which manages London boroughs' pension assets, says it "must remain neutral except where led by the UK government." It requires a "critical mass" of member funds for ethical exclusions.
Hackney's Pensions Committee agreed on June 24 to review its Responsible Investment strategy. Cllr Castello-Cortes confirmed that government statutory guidance, published June 29, "stipulated that we cannot exclude specific named companies." Council officers have warned of a "major" and "likely" risk that committee members might "make decisions based on [a] party manifesto, disregarding existing legislation, legal advice, financial impact and fiduciary duty."
Assistant Director for Pensions Investments and Administration Miriam Adams said new statutory guidance made it "very clear" that the Pensions Committee was "not political," and acting politically could result in the Secretary of State intervening and "taking over a fund." She added: "hope that's not going to be the case." Cllr Charlie Lawrie (Green), however, argued the committee was a "political body" with a duty to observe risks like "environment and investment governance."
Vincent Stops said the Greens were "backtracking from their demands for immediate divestment now," and has previously called on Garbett to "apologise to Labour councillors accused of supporting genocide in their squalid campaign." The council has not yet provided the specific holdings list promised by Cllr Castello-Cortes.
