…pensions!”

John Flynn of the Association of Member Nominated Trustees calls out in a fine article in Professional Pensions 

“Never forget, that in DC and collective DC (CDC) schemes, members will be the only real stakeholders, yet their voice remains almost silent within the largest arrangements”.

The issue is whether trustees can operate as overgrown compliance officers for the Pensions Regulator or speak out for the members of the schemes they represent.

Professional Pensions ran a poll which agreed with the AMNT though I’m not sure that anyone can call out CDC when it only has one scheme up and running and one that has strong union influence (Royal Mail)

The question is whether there is a way of getting large groups of people engaged with their pensions and to be honest – most of us don’t get engaged with anything long-term unless there is an immediate reason to.

That reason must include there being a feeling that engagement will be noted and acted upon and not just filed in “member responses”. There have been instances of members making a difference – Royal Mail was such a case – through its union it got change in pensions and USS was saved from a pension downgrade by members martialled by its union the UCU.

I spoke on this to Neil Waugh of Prospect this week, asking him whether he would push for a member nominated trustee and he surprised me by saying that the effort his union could make would be in gathering the views of members and making a difference as the members’s representative.

The alternative is not just a silent but a voiceless membership.

I am not sure that consolidation into multi-employer schemes, even DC and CDC schemes where members are ultimately the sole stakeholder, gives members a voice though a member nominated trustee. In this I agree with Neil and Prospect’s view that members will be less silent if their voice is better organised.

I reckon that social media has worked in giving organisation to members. There are several groups on Linked in, on Facebook and increasingly using exclusive messaging groups on WhatsApp.  Increasingly, ideas are disseminated on YouTube and reels and GIFs that allow ideas to be shared. Not all of this is responsible, a lot of it a bit of fun and some of it – pure evil, but if you want members to have a voice you need a moderator which might be the new role of what was the member nominated trustee.