1. For the most recent annual accounts, how much of all council tax received was allocated for paying current and retired employees pensions?
Benefits paid to retired employees would come from the Pension Fund from previous years’ contributions from both the employee and employer.
The Council receives income from a number of sources including council tax, business rates, government grants and fees and charges. The largest grant is Dedicated Schools Grant of just over £290.6 million in 2021/22 which covers the costs of teacher pensions and the pension costs of school support staff such as teaching assistants where the cost is not supposed to fall on council tax payers. For statutory accounting purposes these costs and grant income are included in the Statement of Accounts.
If these school costs are excluded then pension costs for Devon County Council in 2021/22 (the most recent full year of information) amount to £37.2 million against total (non schools) income of £1,127.4 million.
The Council meets pension costs from all sources of income, not only council tax.
2. What is this figure as a percentage of total council tax income?
Employer pension costs (excluding school grant funded costs and the contributions made by employees) amount to 3.3% of all Council income (excluding Dedicated Schools Grant).
3. What investment funds do you invest in for pensions or otherwise?
This information is already publicly available information on the latest Investment Management Report.