This is an offer to the trustees and participating employers of the UK’s workplace pensions , inviting you to be part of the AgeWage benchmarking service. The service allows your scheme to compare itself to others, so that you can benchmark your workplace pension for its value for members and its data quality. We are offering participation in this service for free between now and the end of September.

The wider  context

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sushak are challenging trustees of DC schemes to invest with greater social purpose. The agenda for change is clear. The Government’s intent is to mobilise the wealth within workplace pensions to “build back better”. The DWP is calling for consolidation and you are being asked to consider the value your pension scheme is giving its members

Public evidence of value for money

Workplace schemes will need to show they are working in the best interests of members through outcome-based value assessments. The aim is to get clear evidence of which schemes are delivering good outcomes and which are not.

I do not mean by this to require any scheme to have to reveal their position relative to others, but those who wish to , can do so. Our intention is to enable all the stakeholders in workplace pensions from Government to Saver, to get an understanding of the range of outcomes and of data quality in our workplace pensions.

My and AgeWage’s credentials

I have been working with sponsors, funders and fiduciaries of workplace DC pensions for 8 years to find a common way to compare pensions using value for money metrics. My new venture AgeWage has created a way of scoring individual pots which allows schemes to compare each other for value and data quality using a consistent and easily understandable score.

AgeWage has already analysed over 2.5m pension pots and our aim is to map the whole workplace pension market [genome] using quantitative analytics. This allows DC schemes to compare the returns members are getting and assess the quality of their member record keeping.

Call to action

I would like to invite you to join this project by allowing us to analyse your scheme’s data. This will be at our expense and at no cost to trustee or sponsor. As an FCA-regulated organisation, AgeWage has the processes and controls in place to ensure your scheme’s data is kept safe. We analyse data that is anonymised, and do not need individual members’ personal information.

Our immediate target is to analyse data for 1,000 employer schemes – whether trust or contract based – to enable trustees and sponsors to see how they compare against the market. All participants will have access to charts mapping their scores against their peers, consolidators and schemes of different types. Participants can also choose to remain anonymous.

The only condition is that your employer scheme must have in total 100 members (including deferred members). This type of data analysis required a certain amount of scale to deliver meaningful results.

What will you get for participation?

You will be able to see your scheme’s positioning against your peers. You will also see a range of multi-employer schemes keen to discuss the opportunity to consolidate your scheme.

You will not appear on anyone else’s report unless you request to have anonymity lifted.

Please click here to see a sample report

Next step

All that you have to do is reply to this mail with an expression of interest. Please mail henry@agewage.com

I or one of my team will then be in touch to discuss the data request and answer any questions you may have.

I look forward to hearing from you and thank you for reading this blog.