The Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) has today launched a Trustee Effectiveness Service in collaboration with KPMG.  It helps trustee boards review their governance and ensure that it measures up to The Pension Regulator’s (TPR) best practice expectations.

As part of the service, the tool anonymously captures and reports the views of each trustee board member as well as other relevant stakeholders.  KPMG reviews the report adding commentary, insights and suggestions for each step before they work with the PLSA to prepare and facilitate a workshop to discuss the findings and agree next steps.  The Trustee Effectiveness service – available to both members and non-members – aims to provide trustees with practical guidance as well as the reassurance of knowing their schemes governance has been reviewed by knowledgeable experts.

David Fairs, Partner at KPMG, said:

“While Trustee boards put a significant amount of time and effort into ensuring that their pension schemes meet the high standards demanded of them by the regulator, it can be a daunting task.  We are delighted to be working with the PLSA to offer this service.  It is designed to provide trustee boards with a tool to assess how they are doing and set practical steps to improve future governance as well as the reassurance that these decisions have been reviewed by independent specialist third parties.”

Frances Corbett, Head of PLSA Academy and PINNACLE, said:

“This service was developed following feedback from our members who wanted the Association to use its extensive expertise and knowledge to provide practical support.   One area that was of particular interest was Governance so we are extremely pleased to be working with KPMG to launch the new Trustee Effectiveness service, which aims to ensure that schemes governance meets TPR’s best practice expectations.”

Lesley Titcomb, Chief Executive at The Pensions Regulator, commented:

“The Pensions Regulator welcomes the development of tools like this, which provide ways for trustees to assess their current levels of governance and set targets for improvement.  As part of our work on 21st Century Trusteeship we would like to encourage trustees to regularly assess their board effectiveness and we welcome initiatives developed by industry to support TPR’s drive to improve governance.”