Trustee Email Survey Results - May 2004
Trustee views email survey - May 2004
The information below is based on around 35 responses.
1. What will be the most important issue(s) for trustees over the next 12 months?
The most common response by some distance was scheme funding and related issues (agreeing contribution rates etc). Many of you also think pensions legislation will be a major issue, and within that several also mentioned the impact of the Pensions Protection Fund. Several trustees also said the continued fight to maintain DB schemes would be a major issue. And finally trustee training also got a couple of mentions.
2. What do you think is the most important role trustees play in delivering pensions?
A real mixture of responses here. The most common responses were ensuring the fund was separate from the sponsoring employer and the intrinsically linked issue of providing security for members/giving members a voice. Getting investment strategy right, and investing in a prudent way, also featured highly in responses. Other issues with less mentions included getting the best deal from service providers, working with the employer and deciding hardship cases.
3. Does the increasing scrutiny of how trustees do their job make you less likely to be a trustee in the future?
Very encouragingly not a single person replied 'yes' to this question, although a small number of you thought that it might deter others.
4. Do you think the trustee model is a suitable way of running pension schemes in the future?
Perhaps not surprisingly the large majority of you said you did think that the trustee model had a future. However there are some question marks. Several people suggested that it was the least worst option, or becoming less relevant, and a further couple said that there needed to be a rethink, with one suggestion that a new legal entity of a pension scheme could be created. Some of you also think that the shift from DB to DC is inevitably going to undermine the trustee model.
5. Do you feel the pensions industry is supportive of the trustee model?
Here the large majority again said yes, the industry is supportive of the model despite some recent comments. However a couple of respondents suggested that the industry liked the trustee model as it was easy system to milk! And a small number of you thought that the industry doesn't support the trustee structure.
6. How happy are you with the following service providers on a scale of 1-5 (1. Very happy 2. Quite happy 3. Indifferent 4. Quite unhappy 5. Very unhappy)?:
Given the small sample size it we should be wary of drawing too many conclusions from responses here. But about 1 in 5 of you were either quite unhappy or very unhappy with at least one of your fund managers, and about 1 in 6 of you feel the same way about your administrators. And in most cases it was very unhappy!
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