To achieve accreditation, applicants will be required to complete the Pensions Regulator’s Trustee Toolkit and both parts of the PMI’s Certificate of Pension Trusteeship. This sets a high bar, ensuring that accredited lay trustees demonstrate professional standards.

Each year, lay trustees will be required to complete 15 hours of relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and to complete any new or updated modules in TPR’s Trustee Toolkit to maintain their accredited status.

The accreditation has been developed to enable lay trustees to demonstrate a high degree of competence in driving best practice decision-making and so they can navigate the complex challenges of modern scheme governance. It builds on the PMI’s 45 years of experience promoting education and learning standards for pension trustees.

The initial cost of accreditation will be £300 per applicant. The annual cost of renewal will be £150 for PMI members and £300 for others. These costs are net of VAT.

Accredited trustees will receive an annual certificate and have the option of being listed on an online register. They will be allowed to use the designation LTPMI (accred).

Applications for accreditation are now open and more details can be found at www.pmitap.org

Gareth Tancred, CEO of the Pensions Management Institute, comments:

“As the official qualifications provider for pension trustees, we’ve created this new accreditation to help raise standards and promote excellence within the industry. Our accreditation programme for lay trustees is built to professional trusteeship standards. We’re committed to maintaining the strength of this accreditation by continuing to meet the ongoing development needs of trustees.”

David Weeks, Co-Chair, Association of Member Nominated Trustees, comments:

“AMNT members are recognised across the occupational pensions sector for the experience and commitment that they bring to good scheme governance. The Pensions Regulator’s recent consultation exercise confirmed the widespread support for the MNT role that exists across the industry. AMNT now welcomes PMI’s new accreditation scheme, which gives formal parity of esteem between lay and specialist trustees. We look forward to working with PMI to see how best to put the scheme into operation.”

David Fairs, The Pensions Regulator’s Executive Director of Regulatory Policy and Advice, comments:

“TPR rightly expects trustees to meet high standards of trusteeship, governance and administration and welcomes initiatives such as the PMI’s accreditation scheme.

“Every saver deserves to be in a well-run, well-governed pension scheme. Our Corporate Plan is clear that one of our top priorities is to ensure decisions made on behalf of pension savers are in their best interests.

“To properly consider what’s in members’ interests, trustees need the appropriate level of knowledge and understanding. With the Pension Schemes Act including new duties on climate change and stopping scams, the degree of knowledge trustees need is likely to increase.”