How to handle pension reform

Earlier this month we hosted an all-day event, where we invited members of HR and benefit teams into our offices to discuss the legislative changes to pensions and how best to implement them. We were delighted to be joined by our keynote speakers, Paul Johnson, Director at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, and Stephen Timms, the Shadow Employment Minister. During the event we hosted targeted seminars, which focused on the different areas of reform and change. We would like to share the take-aways from our ‘Pensions – Choose your route’ day.

Governance:

-- The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidance issued in respect of Workplace Pension (WPP) default funds effectively means that a robust pension governance process is now really a must-have, rather than a want-to-have. Ongoing successful member communications will be key.

-- Clients should re-assess their relationships with their providers and advisers to establish who will be responsible for the different aspects of governance of their WPP scheme default fund.