HR Managers should encourage lay pension scheme trustees to upskill in 2016

By Declan Morris

As a lay trustee, upskilling has really helped me

Why upskill as a lay pensions trustee?

Like many people I was asked in recent months to become a trustee of a small Defined Contribution Pension scheme – a scheme of 46 members, which is typical of many such small schemes around the country. My background is not as a full-time qualified pensions professional but I had a connection with the Executive Management team in the organisation for many years who believed I had the requisite skills and judgement to fulfil the role of a trustee, safeguarding the assets of the scheme and to act in the best interests of the scheme members.

As with most jobs and roles it’s only possible to have a full understanding of the demands and expectations once the position is taken up. Having served for a few months as a lay trustee it was clear that it would be advisable to upskill for the task at hand. In a way it surprised me that no formal qualifications are required for lay trustees given the importance of the work undertaken and the scale of assets under management. I can perhaps see why, on one level, this is the case as there is a delicate balancing act needed between lay and professional trustees – both of which have important roles to play. However, it was encouraging to see that The Pensions Authority open up the whole debate on trustee qualification by encouraging lay trustees to upskill while seeking to preserve what lay trustees bring to the table. When you consider the scale of change in the sector, increasing complexity and a growing compliance burden it makes perfect sense to increase the competencies of trustees in general.

As a first step I competed the Pensions Authority online training for trustees in DC & DB schemes last year which I found very informative. However, the online training module, as useful as it was, highlighted the need for me to have a greater understanding of the legal and governance aspects of pensions. I felt that in order to serve in the role to the best of my ability I believed it necessary to take on a dedicated course – hence my decision to enrol on the Irish Institute of Pensions Management’s Law and Governance Programme for Trustees.

How have I benefited from the course to date?

I don’t possess the professional network that experienced members of the IIPM would have so one of the great benefits of course participation was to meet with likeminded lay trustees, many of whom will face the same challenges in their role as I do. The course has married the concepts of theory and practice well and the approach involves a good deal of interaction and class participation. This dynamic has been helpful in challenging course participants by sharing experiences and maximising learning outcomes. By teasing out each other’s views it reinforces material learnt as any weaknesses in arguments you make can expose shortcomings in your understanding in a way that a course focused entirely on lectures cannot. And it was through those many useful debates that important considerations and issues were addressed – considerations that are no doubt faced in many pension schemes. It will be helpful to know that if faced with a difficult decision in the future that in addition the course learnings that I can also call on my course colleagues and get the perspective of another lay trustee – knowing that someday they may also call on my perspective too!

How will I bring learnings into my role as a lay trustee?

The long term benefit of undertaking this course is that I now have a set of guiding principles that I can bring to my role. The course content is laid out in a series of checklists and templates which will add a layer of objectivity to how I fulfil my role which will, no doubt, increase my competency and ensure I become a more valued trustee of the scheme. For instance, by having a best-practice checklist for something like risk assessment it can bring a level of reassurance to a trustee uncertain whether all relevant issues have been considered appropriately and I can see how beneficial this will be in the future.

About

Declan Morris is a lay trustee of the Veritas Company Ltd – DC Scheme

More information on the professional programme for trustees can be got on the IIPM website www.iipm.ie