Keeping pensions safe

The Pensions Regulator today launches a campaign aimed at encouraging good governance and administration and better management of pension scheme risks.

A statement published alongside results of the 2009 pension scheme governance survey outlines the regulator's key focus areas.

The regulator makes clear that trustees responsible for running pension schemes need to be sure that:

they have the right skills, and they get the right people to help them run their pension scheme;
they have the right processes in place to manage scheme risks.

Pensions Regulator chief executive Tony Hobman said: "Good governance underpins secure pensions.

"Scheme members entrust their pension savings into the hands of others to a total estimate of more than £1 trillion in assets, often for decades of their working lives.

"The scale of the market and the importance of the task of managing people's life savings to secure their income in retirement require robust standards of pension scheme governance.

"This campaign is designed to build on progress made in recent years, recognising that trustees perform a critical role in protecting and managing pensions, and are faced with challenges in this difficult economic context."

Executive director Bill Galvin added: "We seek to support trustees as they manage and monitor their scheme risks and the people they employ to help them.

"There are over 60,000 occupational pension schemes in the UK, so this is important right now. With the introduction of auto-enrolment, millions more people and over one million employers will be brought into occupational pension saving for the first time. Good governance will be critical to ensuring the safe and proper management of people's savings.

"In partnership with our regulated community, our intention is to raise the standards of governance to secure robust foundations for reform."