Vision

Every employer staging auto-enrolment will be able to demonstrate they have taken reasonable steps to make an informed choice over their workplace pension.

Objectives

To ensure that employers are aware that they have a duty to choose a suitable pension in readiness for auto-enrolment.

To work with the Pension Regulator to articulate “what makes a good workplace pension”.

To work with intermediaries (AE software providers, agents and advisers) to improve understanding of the importance of choice , what makes for good and how to choose.

To encourage due diligence to be carried out in the choice of pensions.

Scope and deliverables

The Pension Regulator has produced guidance to help employers choose a pension – click here.

However many employers are not expected to be offered choice. There is a trend to offering deals through affinity groups or to books of clients. While we understand the importance of default mechanisms, this task force will encourage employers to look beyond the “pre-selected” solution.

The task force will lobby Government to improve not just the quality of decision making , but the documentation of “how and why” the choice of workplace pension was made. We see this as essential to the old governance of auto-enrolment and to always be in the member’s interest. We will lobby for not just choice, but evidence of choice to be a duty of the employer.

For the vision of the task force to be realised, employers will need to engage, get educated and feel empowered to sign off such a document.

Stakeholders, roles and responsibilities

The group will initially comprise of the following individuals

Henry Tapper – Pension PlayPen (Chair)

Jeremy McGahan  – Financial SatNav

Liz Cole – ICAEW

Andrew Evans – Smart Pensions.

David Rich – Accurate Data Services

Jonathan Parker – Dimensional

Richard Hulbert – Defaqto

Emma Jones – Employer representative

The Pension Regulator will be invited to all meetings and copied to all correspondence.

Dr Ian Clacher will also attend on an occasional basis

Engaging, educating and empowering employers to take informed decisions depends on ready access to relevant information and data, the Choices group will lease with other task forces to achieve this.