From thought leadership to technical pieces, knowledge hub keeps our members and pensions professionals up to date with the recent developments in the industry.
Playing to win: how should DB trustees plan for the endgame?
Soon, Defined Benefit (DB) trustees will be obliged to set an endgame strategy to get to a long-term objective – whether low dependency on the employer covenant, buy-out with an insurer, or consolidation with a DB superfund. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) will expect trustees to aim for low dependency by the time schemes are significantly mature. How should trustees play this daunting game?
How pensions administration used technology to rise to the challenge of lockdown
March 2020. We’d got winter out of the way and we could all start looking forward to the joys of springtime, maybe book a holiday for the summer, when BOOM.
Rise of the machines (in pensions administration…)
The events of 2020 have shone a (sometimes unfavourable) light on existing scheme administration arrangements and many trustees will be considering their future options in a climate of market uncertainty and increased scrutiny from the Pensions Regulator.
How innovation in technology can smooth the path through GMP equalisation
For those of us that love Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) equalisation it is an enjoyable conundrum; an epic journey with exciting twists and turns along the way. However, for everyone else, it is a horrendous mess involving all manner of stakeholders (trustees, employers, actuaries, administrators, communications experts, scheme members, lawyers, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA), the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), regulators and – if it all gets too much – therapists), and bits of kit (administration systems, actuarial valuation software, data analysis tools, conversion calculators, mail merges and – if it all gets too much – Minecraft).
Technology will need to keep up with rapid changes in the pensions world
One would be forgiven for not being up-to-date with all the pension changes that have occurred recently, or even over the last decade. State pension age has risen and is continuing to rise; people can now access pension savings freely from age 55 (rising to age 57 from 2028), with only their marginal tax rate to pay; automatic enrolment has brought over 10 million people into workplace pension saving; the Government is applying increasing pressure on schemes to take into account climate change in their investment decisions, and Defined Contribution (DC) schemes have overtaken Defined Benefit (DB) schemes as the main provider of workplace pensions (at least in the sense of active members, though not yet assets under management).
Administration – such a simple word. Trustees could be forgiven for thinking overseeing administration is the easy part of governance. But times have changed. Whether you’re a trustee of a Defined Benefit (DB) or Defined Contribution (DC) scheme – technology underpins how benefits are delivered to your members. Innovations in technology mean that many members can now interact with their schemes online. Even with DB schemes, enriched functionality is allowing people to transact and engage online with their schemes. Administration platforms are now largely cloud-based which helped enormously during lockdown when remote working was forced on the nation. Similarly, biometric identity verification (IDV) means people don’t have to post precious certificates in order to receive their benefits; they can prove conclusively who they are simply by using a mobile device.
Playing to win: how should DB trustees plan for the endgame?
Soon, Defined Benefit (DB) trustees will be obliged to set an endgame strategy to get to a long-term objective – whether low dependency on the employer covenant, buy-out with an insurer, or consolidation with a DB superfund. The Pensions Regulator (TPR) will expect trustees to aim for low dependency by the time schemes are significantly mature. How should trustees play this daunting game?
How pensions administration used technology to rise to the challenge of lockdown
March 2020. We’d got winter out of the way and we could all start looking forward to the joys of springtime, maybe book a holiday for the summer, when BOOM.
Rise of the machines (in pensions administration…)
The events of 2020 have shone a (sometimes unfavourable) light on existing scheme administration arrangements and many trustees will be considering their future options in a climate of market uncertainty and increased scrutiny from the Pensions Regulator.
How innovation in technology can smooth the path through GMP equalisation
For those of us that love Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) equalisation it is an enjoyable conundrum; an epic journey with exciting twists and turns along the way. However, for everyone else, it is a horrendous mess involving all manner of stakeholders (trustees, employers, actuaries, administrators, communications experts, scheme members, lawyers, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA), the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), regulators and – if it all gets too much – therapists), and bits of kit (administration systems, actuarial valuation software, data analysis tools, conversion calculators, mail merges and – if it all gets too much – Minecraft).
Technology will need to keep up with rapid changes in the pensions world
One would be forgiven for not being up-to-date with all the pension changes that have occurred recently, or even over the last decade. State pension age has risen and is continuing to rise; people can now access pension savings freely from age 55 (rising to age 57 from 2028), with only their marginal tax rate to pay; automatic enrolment has brought over 10 million people into workplace pension saving; the Government is applying increasing pressure on schemes to take into account climate change in their investment decisions, and Defined Contribution (DC) schemes have overtaken Defined Benefit (DB) schemes as the main provider of workplace pensions (at least in the sense of active members, though not yet assets under management).
Administration – such a simple word. Trustees could be forgiven for thinking overseeing administration is the easy part of governance. But times have changed. Whether you’re a trustee of a Defined Benefit (DB) or Defined Contribution (DC) scheme – technology underpins how benefits are delivered to your members. Innovations in technology mean that many members can now interact with their schemes online. Even with DB schemes, enriched functionality is allowing people to transact and engage online with their schemes. Administration platforms are now largely cloud-based which helped enormously during lockdown when remote working was forced on the nation. Similarly, biometric identity verification (IDV) means people don’t have to post precious certificates in order to receive their benefits; they can prove conclusively who they are simply by using a mobile device.
