Every pension scheme should have at least one accredited trustee on its board

The Association of Member Nominated Trustees (AMNT) said the accredited trustee on the board can either be lay or professional, and that pension schemes and scheme sponsors should encourage and pay for all trustees' training and accreditation.

AMNT submitted these recommendations to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) as part of its call to evidence entitled Pension trustee skills, capability and culture.

It also suggested that lay trustees should be given a statutory right to a specific minimum number or formula of days away from their day job, and if necessary, reduction of their workload, to enable them to carry out their trustee duties, training and preparation effectively.

Janice Turner, co-chair of the AMNT, said: “We believe that pension schemes and sponsors should be compelled to encourage training and accreditation and pay the costs of Member-nominated trustees becoming accredited, including exam fees and any additional fees for training.”

Trustee toolkit

The recommendations also said that every pension scheme should be required to send The Pensions Regulator (TPR) the toolkit completion certificate for every trustee.

It argued that this requirement would cost virtually nothing and would require little effort from anyone other than trustees who failed to complete toolkit training.

Turner added: “TPR’s online Trustee Toolkit is the bedrock of all trustee training and should remain so. All trustees are required to have completed it within six months of becoming a trustee. Upon completion, the trustee can download a certificate from the TPR website confirming that they have completed the training.

“However, to our knowledge, this requirement has hardly ever been enforced and so any trustee who lacks the time or inclination to complete it would be able to continue without this basic knowledge in the absence of internal pressure. This is seen by their fellow trustees as a problem because it is obvious to trustees who has knowledge and who does not, and it is unfair and irresponsible for trustees to have to carry others.”

AMNT also said that the trustee toolkit needs to be updated urgently to ensure trustees are kept abreast of latest developments.

Turner said: “The trustee toolkit has not kept up with the fast pace of developments in pensions. AMNT proposes that TPR should update the toolkit with urgency as it remains a key element of trustee knowledge and understanding but it is becoming very out of date.

“For example, someone completing the toolkit might wrongly assume that the regulator does not consider ESG or climate change as important.”