Speaking at the conference, Michelle Cracknell, Chief Executive of The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS), said: “The message to employers and schemes needs to be clear - don’t forget the members! People have far more complex lives than 20, even 10, years ago as we are living longer, working for more employers and there are many more split and non-‘traditional’ families with a lower probability of inheritance for example. People don’t know what they don’t know and need support they can trust to understand their pensions and the options available to them. The shift in the market from DB to DC needs to be accompanied by a change programme that moves people from recipients of pensions to consumers of pensions. This is desperately needed so that people are equipped to be accountable and responsible for their retirement income and have access to the necessary support of course.”
Lesley Williams, Chair of the Pensions & Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), used her platform at the conference to urge schemes to better diversify their trustee boards to ensure power was in capable hands. Williams commented: “Think about making sure that your trustee board has people who think differently from you, as being challenged and being able to challenge is a key skill for any board. In this way pension schemes can improve their governance and, ultimately, deliver a better service to members.”
David Weeks, co-Chair of the AMNT, commented: "The aim of this conference was to discuss one of the most pertinent questions in the industry at the moment – Who really runs pension schemes? What is clear is that by making some relatively small changes we can make a big difference to the future of pension scheme members – which is ultimately the responsibility of everyone involved in the industry. By tackling key issues such as transparency, public engagement and empowering trustees, we can make real strides in solving some of the hurdles that members face when planning their financial futures.”
Janice Turner, co-Chair of AMNT, added: “The AMNT is clear that as the buck stops with trustees, it is our aim to empower our members to carry out their duties to the best of their abilities. Our flagship campaign on responsible investment, Red Line Voting, has produced the UK’s first comprehensive set of policies for trustees covering environment, social and governance matters. Some pooled fund managers are proving reluctant to accept trustees’ responsible investment policies so we are now consulting on whether our members would welcome a new pooled fund with a responsible investment policy governed by the Red Lines.”
She added: “We also share the views of Lesley Williams that trustee boards should redouble their efforts to ensure the widest diversity of trustees.”
Also speaking at the meeting were Jack Jones, Editor of Pensions Insight and Engaged Investor, Malcolm McLean OBE and Lee Hollingworth amongst many others.
For full versions of the presentation slides, please visit www.amnt.org
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