Herefordshire Council, together with Worcestershire County Council, Telford & Wrekin Council and Shropshire Council, is one of the member authorities (the ‘Owning Authorities’) of West Mercia Energy (WME) Joint Committee, formerly known as West Mercia Supplies. At the point of sale of the West Mercia Supplies stationery division (WMS) in 2012, the existing pension deficit relating to the former WMS staff was retained within the continuing WME business and is overseen by the WME Joint Committee.

The West Mercia Energy Joint Committee formally approved a request to the Owning

Authorities to take direct responsibility for this pension deficit liability on the 24 September

2019. Having undertaken discussions via their respective senior Finance Officers, the

Owning Authorities are each seeking approval to take on this liability, which is proposed to

be achieved by the transfer of this pension deficit to a newly created ‘employer body’ within

the Shropshire County Pension Fund (‘WMS Pension’) managed and overseen by a new

‘WMS Pension Joint Committee’ comprising the same Owning Authorities