DC members to take compulsory exams

The telecoms giant is weeks away from piloting a scheme whereby the 8,500 employees in its money purchase arrangement will be given basic information about the plan and then required to pass a test on the subject.

The move would mirror the commonplace HR practice of compulsory evaluation for health and safety or corporate code of practice knowledge.

Its DC provider, Standard Life, has drawn up prototype ‘crib sheets’, which senior employee benefits managers will assess over coming weeks before suggesting refinements and ultimately producing a series of questions.

Pensions director Kevin O’Boyle said the plan has been in the pipeline for several months.

“Standard Life has supplied me with some electronic modules to educate people,” he added. “The aim is now to add the tests in.

“At the moment what happens with health and safety assessments is if I don’t take the test, I get repeated emails from HR asking me to, and eventually they will email my boss and get him to tell me to do it.

“The plan is to build up tests on a suite of things, such as what the difference between equities and bonds is, and what lifestyling is – basically how DC schemes work.”

BT’s DC scheme launched in 2009 and contains assets under management worth approximately £500m, with joint employer and employee contributions of approximately £100m a year.

But O’Boyle warned this growth has not translated into employee engagement, claiming just over a quarter of members have used Standard Life’s online account checking facility.

“Potentially we could be accused of entering Big Brother over this,” he said.

“But we could also find that with this new information they have to learn, people will start logging on and looking at their balance and investments.”