New name, new game for UK pension fund association

The association, representing 1,300 pension schemes and handling around £900bn in assets for more than 17m people, today announced it would become the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

The new brand name is aimed at reflecting the fact people increasingly rely on property, Isas, or even continuing work to fund themselves in later life, while cliff-edge retirement is becoming a thing of the past.

Chief executive Joanne Segars said the NAPF had sought views of its members before taking its decision about the association’s future direction.

"You encouraged us to be bold. We’re prepared to be bold. We need to be bold," she said.

You encouraged us to be bold. We’re prepared to be bold. We need to be bold

Joanne Segars, PLSA

"As a strong organisation, with clear goals and a clear purpose behind them, we are looking forward into the future. And I believe that now the time is right for this association to give people across our industry and government a reason to take a fresh look at us."

In line with the developments in pensions and its members’ views, the association has put forward a strategy for the future. By 2020 it wants to speak for all of the workplace pensions sector as well as talk about lifetime savings. It also wants to support savers in reaching a better retirement income.

"We know savers are crying out for support to navigate their way to old age. And I know – because you told us – that you want our help to help you do that," Segars said.

"We do all that because savers are at the heart of our purpose as an organisation. In a confusing and crowded agenda of change, we need to be clear about what we’re here to do.

"To me, it’s pretty simple. It’s about helping everyone achieve a better income in retirement."

Industry reactions

Laurie Edmans, chair of the Trinity Mirror pension scheme, said: “The recognition that retirement provision is not just about pensions is long overdue. I wish the PLSA the very best. Anything that moves us in [that] direction is great.”

Kevin LeGrand, president of the Pensions Management Institute, said it was a logical step for the association to take.

“We like the brand and it makes sense in the current landscape that it recognises... that pensions are becoming an integral part of the wider savings world.”

Stuart Stephen, pensions director at drinks company Diageo, and member of the association's Scottish local group, said that while the NAPF knew what it wanted to achieve it used members as a sounding board for its ideas "and the nice thing was, they listened”.

Perhaps the NAPF felt that if it continued to focus narrowly on occupational pensions it would get marginalised

Tom McPhail, Hargreaves Lansdown

Adrian Boulding, policy strategy director at the Tax Incentivised Savings Association, said the rebrand was a sensible move and better serves those employers who do not run their own pension fund.

“It’s very sensible. It’s moving with the times,” he said. “It’s recognising the fact that some employers still run a pension scheme but others just adhere themselves to a mastertrust, or to a group personal pension plan, and they’re running a savings element as part of the total reward scheme.”

However Tom McPhail, head of retirement policy at investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, said the move was a tacit acknowledgement that the body needed to evolve to stay relevant.

“Perhaps the NAPF felt that if it continued to focus narrowly on occupational pensions it would get marginalised,” McPhail said.

He added: “It will be fascinating to see whether other organisations such as the ABI, the Platform Group and TISA feel this move by the NAPF will necessitate any evolutionary movement on their part.”

Support for savers could become guidance

The step towards lifetime savings also pushes the PLSA closer to individual savers, who it is aiming to support. White said the association could help to do so by “raising awareness, connecting the community, bringing different groups into the association and [through] more collaboration”.

The PLSA is also planning to do more to speak directly to savers, as some members have asked for help with this.

In June it launched a pre-retirement education service together with financial education provider Wealth at Work, holding seminars across the country.

DB members in favour of change

The inclusion of lifetime savings also means the association will be drawing more widely for its membership base.

Lesley Williams, the association’s new chair and group pensions director at Whitbread, said expanding the reach of the association is unlikely to alienate existing DB members.

“It reflects what large DB arrangements are having to deal with,” she said about the increased focus on savings other than DB pensions.

Members will be able to express their views in a vote on the legal name change at next year’s annual meeting, while the association has already started trading under its new name.