Premier League football champions Manchester United and football’s governing body, The Football Association (FA), have become the latest employers to score the top mark of excellence for their defined contribution (DC) pensions.
Manchester United is the first football club to attain the Pension Quality Mark (PQM) PLUS standard for its £578m Group Pension Scheme, which has around 6,000 active members. And The FA has been recognised by a PQM award for its scheme, which has 530 savers.
PQM was set up by the National Association of Pension Funds to recognise good quality DC pension schemes that have high standards of governance, good contribution levels, and member communications that are clear, regular and engaging.
The football club’s latest news follows the retirement of one of the most successful managers in British football history. Sir Alex Ferguson won 40 trophies – including 13 Premier League titles – during his time in charge of Manchester United.
Chris Hitchen, PQM Chairman, said:
"Manchester United and the FA are two of the biggest brands in British and world football. We are delighted to have these big names come on board.
“Both these sporting giants recognise the importance of providing good pensions to their staff and view PQM as the symbol of a quality pension. The club and the sporting body are demonstrating leadership and success both on and off the pitch.
“By achieving the benchmark Manchester United and the FA can show their current and potential staff the quality of their schemes, and the valuable benefit it provides in helping them save for the future.”
Philip Townsend, Director of Communications at Manchester United, said:
“With all the changes in pension arrangements, the trustees felt it was very important that our staff could have confidence in their scheme in order to achieve our key objective of increasing member engagement.
“Securing this independent recognition for the Manchester United Group Pension Scheme is an important step in the way we communicate the benefits of retirement planning to staff.”
Andrew Crean, Group Chief Financial Operator at The FA said:
“Having the Pension Quality Mark enables us to offer reassurance to our staff that the pension benefit that we provide is of high value. It is a positive message that has been well received especially as pensions are being brought to the forefront of people’s minds due to the auto-enrolment legislation.”
PQM was launched by the NAPF in September 2009 and 181 pension schemes covering over 300,000 active scheme members have been awarded the PQM to date.
There are two levels, PQM and PQM PLUS. PQM recognises DC schemes whose total contributions are at least 10%, with a minimum employer contribution of 6%. PQM PLUS is the highest standard that can be attained through PQM. Under PQM PLUS, the scheme’s total contributions must equal at least 15% of an employee’s salary, with a minimum employer contribution of 10%.
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