Smart Pension has published the UK’s first ‘human capital’ analysis of a pension portfolio — highlighting boardroom action on a range of DEI issues taken by the companies it invests in.
This analysis, which relates to its Sustainable Growth Fund default, was published with Denominator. It offers both portfolio-level and company-level insights on a number of factors: such as gender and cognitive diversity at boardroom level, workforce practices, employee turnover and pay gaps.
While pension schemes routinely publish data on the environmental credentials of their investee companies, this is the first time a UK scheme has sought to provide portfolio-wide metrics that relate to the governance and ‘social’ aspects of wider ESG objectives.
Smart Pension says this audit can provide a baseline for asset owners, with a view to driving improvements across these different metrics, as well as highlighting potential risks and opportunities which could have a financial impact on future valuations.
Smart has issued an invitation to other pension funds to participate in this initiative.
Denominator is a provider of social and human capital data and works with a number of institutional investors, financial institutions, and corporates. This study for Smart Pension in the UK builds on its work with a number of Nordic pension funds, with its most recent report for them covering 38,000 equity investments worth $3 trillion across 25 asset owners, including the Norway’s Government Pension Fund.
The report for Smart Pension shows that 99 per cent of portfolio companies have one or more women on the board of directors; for the executive management, the figure is 88 per cent.
It also provides sector analysis showing the sectors with lowest exposure to poor employee turnover rate include utilities, technology, and industrial goods. Sectors with highest exposure include business/consumer Services, basic materials/resources, and transportation/logistics.
The analysis covers the public equities in the Smart Sustainable Growth Fund which had around £4.4bn in assets as of March 31, 2025. Public equities accounted for 80 per cent of the fund at the time of reporting, spanning 1,751 holdings across 51 countries and 66 industries.
Smart Pension head of responsible investment Fiona Smith says: “Denominator’s analysis on human capital within the companies in our portfolio offers valuable insight into long-term sustainability and governance practices.
“This data can be an indicator of a company’s risk management and resilience. We look forward to using these insights to empower us to engage more effectively and drive meaningful change.”
Smart adds adds that in today’s post-industrial economy, where intangible assets increasingly drive corporate value, human capital is a critical determinant of long-term performance.
While climate and biodiversity risks are now widely embedded in investment frameworks, human capital assessment remains comparatively underdeveloped. This is even though CEOs routinely describe employees as a company’s greatest asset, highlighting a persistent gap between how businesses articulate value creation and how investors assess it across portfolio companies and supply chains.
Smart Pension says that delivering long-term value for members is a core objective – and human capital plays a central role in achieving this.
Smart Pension adds that this partnership with Denominato allows it to apply a diagnostic approach to risk management, resilience, and long-term value, while also strengthening voting policies on these issues.
Denominator CEO Anders Rodenberg says: “Our collaboration with Smart Pension shows how human capital intelligence can power more informed, responsible, and resilient investment strategies.
“Portfolio-wide visibility into people related risks and opportunities enables asset owners to act with greater confidence and consistency.” –
The findings are published across two complementary reports: an asset owner perspective, focused on how human capital data can strengthen decision-making and active ownership, and a data provider perspective, highlighting the underlying results for risks and opportunities.