Trustees should avoid doing the bare minimum to comply with new disclosure regulations

Barnett Waddingham is encouraging trustees to increase member engagement and avoid ‘doing the bare minimum’ whilst working to comply with the new disclosure of information regulations, which take effect on 6 April 2014.

Part of the new regulations require trustees of defined contribution schemes who adopt a lifestyle strategy, to give members information about the strategy as part of the basic scheme information on joining, and again between five and 15 years of a members' retirement. Trustees who fail to comply with the new regulations could face fines of up to £50,000.

Phil Duly, associate, says: “First and foremost, trustees should check the information they send to members complies with the new regulations to avoid a costly fine. However I would encourage trustees to do more than just the bare minimum needed to comply.

“Engaging staff interest in retirement saving is particularly important in the defined contribution world where most members simply don’t realise how much they need to contribute to get a decent pension income. It is imperative that trustees and employers do all that they can to ensure that communications convey vital information as effectively as possible – this could involve profiling, i.e. analysing cohorts of members to model their likely outcomes, and gearing communications based on this.”