The Role of the Trustees

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The trustees of the pension scheme have significant responsibilites. The law requires that trustees have knowledge and understanding of (among other things) the law relating to pensions and trusts, as well as the principles relating to the funding of pension schemes and the investment of scheme assets. The law also requires them to be familiar with certain scheme documents including the trust deed and rules, the statement of investment principles and the statement of funding principles.

To help trustees, trustee boards will appoint specialist advisers to provide information and guidance on the status of the scheme and how decisions might affect it in the future.

While a trustee can delegate responsibility for fulfilling certain scheme functions to advisers or service providers – for example, issuing annual statements to members or filing reports with the regulator – they cannot delegate their accountability. 

The decisions taken on your pension scheme may have a significant effect on the pensions members receive, and the accountability for these decisions rests with the trustees alone.

Advisers are there to support, rather than lead, the trustee board.  Trustees have to ensure sufficient  is available to discuss the advice and support on offer. The trustees are not afraid to challenge advisers and will ask them to provide justification for the advice they recommend. 

Trustees are  responsible for the decisions taken on their schemes, so decisions are taken only  when they feel they have received all the information needed.