On the go: Remuneration levels for trustees and chairs are not sufficient to attract skilled applicants to the roles, while fears are growing that too few trustees are entering the profession, according to a new report by Winmark and Barnett Waddingham.
The report lists the results of a study that surveyed 190 chairs and trustees of pension schemes on a variety of topics.
It found that 34 per cent of those polled felt remuneration rates were too low to attract talented applicants to the roles of trusteeship and chairmanship of pension schemes, an increase of 10 per cent over last year’s figure.
Thirty-nine per cent said they did not feel their pay reflected the complexity of their role, while 36 per cent said they felt their pay did not reflect the pressures of their role.
Additionally, only 15 per cent of those polled said their remuneration increased in line with their responsibilities as their scheme approached its endgame.
The report found that 61 per cent of those polled did not expect an increased remuneration rate this year, largely as a result of Covid-19, albeit a third of respondents demurred in predicting an increase.
Diversity was a focus of this year’s report. Although in terms of remuneration female chairs continued to outperform their male counterparts, continuing a trend in evidence since at least 2014, the results of the survey “show that attracting a younger pool of candidates to trustee and chair positions is the most important aspect of diversity for most respondents”, the report stated.
Sixty-three per cent of respondents said they felt trusteeship “is not diverse enough in terms of age”, while 53 per cent said the same in terms of gender, and 37 per cent for professional background.
Only 40 per cent of respondents said their scheme had taken active steps to increase diversity in the past year.
“Given that 79 per cent of respondents agree with at least one of the statements about lack of diversity, this indicates that some schemes have not been able to prioritise or address the issue,” the report said, going on to cite “a lack of available candidates” as an explanation.
This contention was supported by 47 per cent of respondents, who said “there is not a sufficient pool of candidates to recruit from". Where candidates are available, they are not interested in trusteeship or lack the necessary skills.
“In order for the industry to help feed a more diverse trustee pipeline, it will need to think beyond immediate recruitment practices and consider outreach initiatives that will encourage broader interest, engagement and involvement from employers, members and professionals at a more fundamental level,” the report concluded.
Writing in his foreword to the report, Barnett Waddingham partner Danny Wilding said: “One key theme from last year, which remains in evidence, is that trustee chairs continue to look for increased diversity in their trustee Boards, particularly by age and gender.
“However, there is no evidence of any positive movement in this area over the last 12 months, with chairs citing a lack of candidates coming forward as the main barrier.
“Hopefully, efforts in this area can persist, as chairs continue to assert that trusteeship presents attractive future development opportunities for candidates, and with no apparent gender pay issues (with the female chairs surveyed receiving higher average remuneration than the men, as was also the case last year).”
